Fort Nelson, BC to Watson Lake, BC

We stayed two nights in Ft Nelson, BC so that we could rest on Sunday. We did our laundry and caught up a little on the blog. Monday, June 15th, we drove to our next stop, Watson Lake, Yukon Territory.This shows a gravel section of about 10 miles where they are "improving" the road. I guess that means they are doing construction. It sure does make our coach & jeep really dirty, even though we drive slowly here. Sometimes large trucks go barreling past at high speeds which gets dirt all over us. We often pull over to the side and stop when we see them coming.

This is Summit Lake, milepost 392, which is near the highest summit on the Alaska Highway at 4,250 feet above sea level.

Here the road travels alongside Macdonald Creek.

Here the road drives along the Toad River.

This was a cow moose grazing alongside the road in a swampy area. She looks a bit thin, don't you think?

These are her two calves with her in the marshy area.

This is a stone sheep. They like to lick the salt off the road, which is dangerous to both the animals and motorists. That's why they use gravel or sand on the roads in the winter in some places.

This is approaching Muncho Lake, which is a very beautiful lake, in the higher elevations. We ate lunch while parked beside this lake. Unfortunately it was windy, cold, & raining so we did not get outside much, but we still could enjoy it's beauty!

Our next stop was Laird Hot Springs, where we spent an hour or so soaking in the spring water. It smelled of sulphur. Because of the hot springs, many plants grow here which would not ordinarily. They call it a boreal area. (Guess I will have to look that up! :-) ) Here is one example of a pretty little blue flower surrounded by fern ilke plants.

These are white flowers, surrounded by those fern-like plants. Obviously, they are very beautiful.

Laird Hot Springs is in a more natural setting that the other hot springs we saw enroute. I think these may be even hotter, also.

Jim is enjoying the stimulation of the waterfall on his back & shoulders, as he sits in the Hot Springs.

Here we both are by the water falls, which was neat to have against our backs.

After we left the hot springs, within a mile, we saw this black bear on a grassy slope beside the road. What a treat!

There was a fire in the forrest along the way and these pools of water were spaced at intervals along the road. We weren't sure exactly what they were for but maybe one of you will know. Are they for the survival of trapped firefighters?

Because of the smoke from the fire, we had to follow a "Follow Me" type guide truck at very slow speed in one-way traffic. This shows how bad the visibility was at 2:15 in the afternoon, driving in the smoke for about 8-10 miles. The road had been closed the day before. When we got there, the fire was contained but still smoldering. We did see some small flames burning.

We stopped to help another RV'er who had blown a tire which knocked loose his filler pipe to the diesel tank. He was spilling diesel all over the road. We drove another 10-15 miles to call and get him help. There was no phone service where he broke down. His tires looked good but were 10 years old.

This Bison was just grazing beside the road and let me snap his picture!

Here are two bison just taking it easy beside the road!