My Trails

Big boy!

Today was a wildlife day. Shortly before I reached Fort Nelson I saw a black spot up ahead beside the road. I knew immediately that it was a bear, so I stopped and took a few pictures. He seemed not the least bit frightened at Minnie parked a few yards away and continued to munch the new grass along the shoulder. All in all I would see 5 more bears in the miles past Fort Nelson. The last one was a full grown beauty that must have weighed 500 pounds (or 226kg because he lives in Canada).

Stone Sheep

I entered the mountains today. The road became quite rough, narrow, and curvy so I didn’t make very good time. I passed by Summit Lake that was still completely frozen over with patches of snow along its banks. A mile later I stopped in the road to watch several Stone Sheep licking the edge of the shoulder. I think they like the salt left over from winter treatment of the highway.

I crossed numerous rivers. So many rivers to cross is what gave the early builders of the Alaskan Highway fits. All the early bridges constructed by the military were made of wood and most of them washed away in heavy floods. They are all replaced now with solid steel and concrete structures.

The highway passes by Muncho Lake for seven miles. This was another stretch of highway that gave the early military builders headaches. The highway was eventually rerouted, but one local told me that several machines went over the edge into the deep lake where they remain today.

I took quite a few breaks from driving today. With the twisting road, I couldn’t use cruise control and my leg got tired. It was 3:30 by the time I reached my destination for the night – Liard River Hot Springs Provential Park. They charge $26, have no hookups, not even a dump station, no wifi, but they have a hot spring you can go soak in, and that’s the main thing. I may go soak again in the morning before I leave.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 30th, 2017 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Alaska Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.