We may be lost, but we're making good time.: Toad River, BC to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory

The day began with light rain and didn't seem promising. However before long the skies brightened and the sun appeared.

First critter of the day was a mule deer.

Driving along Muncho Lake.

Try to imagine it without the rain and ice.

Aluvian fan? Lots of runoff room, and history, no doubt.

Digression - we drove hundreds of miles of road without power or telephone poles, yet even remote campgrounds had good communications including high speed internet access, and the ability to process a credit card transaction. Even if the electricity was generated on-site, they were wired for communications.

There must be buried fiber optic line all along the Alaska Highway. Whenever we passed a stream crossing, there would be a pair of poles with cable rising out of the ground, crossing the stream overhead, then diving back underground. This scene was repeated dozens of times.

We came across the bison/buffalo sign (first warned by the electric sign outside Ft. Nelson yesterday).

and thirty seconds later, there they were.

First planned stop was a Provincial park at Liard Hot Springs. This is a natural geothermal pool near the Alaska Highway. There is a campground there, but our timing wasn't a good match to stay there, so after a night at Toad River, we just stopped for a soak at Liard. The story goes that most (some? ) truckers stop for a soak on the way by.

For $5 a head, we went in to check it out. Immediately behind us were Claire, Mike, and Claire's mother Shirley, fellow trekkers on this junket whom we'd gotten to know by bumping into them along the way. There were three other RVs from our fleet staying at the park. We all trooped off to the spring. The water was delightful with varying temperatures in different spots. There was a slight sulfur odor, but not bad. I just developed a craving for an egg salad sandwich. The hot soak led to a great state of mellowness. Om.

Highly recommended.

My support team.

We drove for a bit before stopping alongside the road for lunch.

Then things got interesting in a good way. First there was a solitary Grizzly that crossed the road in front of us. We stopped for a few pictures. Unlike the previous grizzly photos which were far away, these were the width of a road away, but I had the window shut and my foot on the gas.

We didn't learn until a few days later that you shouldn't make eye contact with a grizzly. I hope it was looking at the big (alpha?) eye of the camera lens, and not mine.