Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson, Liard Hot Springs, Whirlpool Canyon

(posted from Belvedere Hotel Coffee Shop, Watson Lake, Yukon Territory)
(This post covers 27-29 June, 2008)

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Sunday, 29 June-

We awoke to the spectacular view of the super-green river valleys below and the blazing-white snow-capped peaks of the Northern Rockies in the distance. Our goal today was Liard Hot Springs there we’d decide whether to stay there for the night or move on. We spoke with a local biker atop Stone Mountain and he said Watson Lake is quite expensive and joked that hamburgers are probably about $15 each by now. He said there’s not much difference in gas prices along the way though they drop a few cents per liter once you cross the line into the Yukon Territories.
We chugged along into a fairly strong headwind and climbed hill after hill. Mocha Joe isn’t gear very well for these climbs (because the previous owner had gotten an extra-low-ratio differential for his annual vacation trip to Florida) and we’re paying the price. Though the speed limit is generally 100 or 110 (kph, not mph!) we routinely climb the long hills at 60-70 kph or 35-45 miles per hour.
We were only about an hour into our drive today when we came upon an impressive bull moose just off the road— maybe 15 feet away at the closest point. His antlers were in velvet and he looked massive yet still proportioned on the lanky side. We had stopped well ahead of him but traffic was approaching from behind so I idled past. As we came abreast of him, his eye seemed to bulge a bit wildly, as if he’s about to bolt. That jogged my memory of footage I had seen about an elk attacking a pickup in Yellowstone so I kept moving and pulled away.
As we approached Muncho Lake the road narrowed and began descending down through rock cuts. In this area we came upon stone sheep along the road’s edge, licking the stones for salt leftover from winter road maintenance. We spent quite a lot of time photographing the group only to see five or six more groups just like them over the next 50 miles. Shortly after the first group of stone sheep, we came upon six caribou about 50 yards off the road but with an embankment between. Labashi bowed down low and sneaked up to the embankment to snap their picture with as little disturbance as possible.
After lunch in a roadside pulloff, we photographed another bull moose in velvet very close to the road. Approaching Liard Hot Springs we saw a lone bison, then small herds of them—as many as 30 at once.
At Laird Hot Springs Campground we checked on camping availability and they were full but said we could stay in the day-use area overnight for $19. The girl invited us to check out the day-use area and let her know if we wanted to stay. We were surprised to easily find parking right in front of the walkway to the springs (I call this “Labashi Luck”). The boardwalk is very similar to the Yellowstone boardwalks over hot springs and led us about a quarter mile to the ‘alpha pool’. This is a natural river setting with walkways and steps leading down to water about four feet deep. The water is 105 to 120 degrees and it was apparent the upper areas were a little too hot. We’d see people enter there very briefly then move downstream. We had heard from the guy at Steamboat Lodge that the secret is to colder water up from the bottom to mix with the too-hot surface water but didn’t notice anyone doing that.
After watching awhile we decided not to go into the spring. Both the Steamboat guy and the biker guy had said the time to go to Liard is winter or at least a cool fall day. Otherwise you just get overheated. And today was an 80-some-degree day (okay, a high-twenties-day in Celsius). We knew we’d just overheat our core and since there’s no shower or cooler water flow for cooling down it just didn’t make sense.
We walked on back to the ‘Hanging Gardens’, a mineral flow of stone covered in moss but it was dry and not very impressive today. The ‘beta’ pool was even hotter than the alpha and is a deeper one intended for swimmers rather than waders. The swimmers we saw seemed a bit uncomfortable in the too-hot water and didn’t stay in long. We had a brisk walk back out to the van and then drove out of the park. We loved seeing what Liard is all about but today just wasn’t the day for a hot swim.
North of the springs we came upon a mid-sized black bear feeding voraciously upon plants. It never looked up. He/she reminded me of someone in a hot-dog-eating contest.
We passed a largish herd of bison, then a smallish black bear before reaching Whirlpool Canyon turnoff, our goal for the night. We had found it in The Milepost. A short road leads back to a small turnaround with ten or so primitive campsites cut into the woods. The road leads on through to a very impressive view of the Liard Rapids. And these are no slackers as rapids. As the river makes a right turn the left side is inundated with hundreds and hundreds of trees, some of them two and three feet in diameter—the biggest game of ‘pickup sticks’ you ever saw. Standing waves in the rapids were easily over six feet high. The water is a glacier-melt gray-brown and the river absolutely roars with power. I don’t think we’d want to camp here in a tent because the sound would keep us awake but Mocha Joe’s hard sides reduce it to a constant white-noise sound and that’s fine for sleeping.
Late in the evening we once again walked down to the rapids and took some photos then returned to the van to read and plan the next day. Among my reading was “Forests West: Canada’s Business-to-Business Forestry Magazine” (from the Forestry Centre museum we visited a few days ago). And there I learned the following:

1. Canada’s rate of deforestation is zero compared to a global rate of 2 per cent per year.
2. Canada retains more than 91 per cent of its original forest area- more than any other country in the world.
3. Only 25 per cent of Canada’s forests are managed for commercial use. The vast majority of the boreal region remains untouched. Only 0.5 per cent is harvested annually and all harvested areas are promptly regenerated as required by law.
4. Canada’s forest products industry is a global leader in climate-change mitigation. Members of the industry have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 44 per cent since 1990—which is seven times Canada’s Kyoto targets.


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Saturday, 28 June-

We awoke late this morning, mixed up a bit because of the time zone changes and long days. We still have today’s sun above the horizon when we go to bed about 2200 and tomorrow’s sun will be well above the horizon by 0430. Some days we’re ready to get up and go by 0600 but today I slept until 0830.
We decided we’ve got to get out of the habit of getting up and driving all day. That was fine while we were approaching the start of the Alaska Highway but now we’re on it and don’t want to rush.
We headed for Fort Nelson, about a two-hour drive. The road is still very good. Most of it is very smooth and we’re surprised to see the shoulders are paved. We did hit a few stretches marked ‘Loose Gravel’ and those were indeed gravel and very dusty but there are very few potholes.
About 150 miles south of Fort Nelson we saw our first bear of the trip… and this one was a beauty. We were climbing a mountain pass and came around a turn and there it was— a very large black bear looking about in the grass off our left side, about five yards from the road’s edge and perhaps 30 yards ahead. The bear didn’t immediately react to us until I braked and pulled off the road slightly ahead of it. Once I stopped, it looked up and reacted strongly, bolting across the road behind us and continuing on into the woods. We never had a chance to get our cameras—they were too buried.
Some 20 miles south of Fort Nelson we saw a roundish black blob near the right side of the road and the car up ahead pulling off, signaling it worth a stop. The black blob turned out to be a bear’s back sticking up above the longish grass. We pulled off and had time to get our cameras ready before the bear looked up and then chose to ignore us. It went back to work, digging away at the roots or insect nest.
At 10 miles south of Fort Nelson we saw another roundish black blob ahead and to the right and this time we knew to get on the brakes immediately. This one was a smaller bear than the other two and it wouldn’t cooperate for photos— it kept its head down for a long time. Then we noticed the weeds twitching nearby—something else was there. And in a few minutes we saw it was a cub. We had a hard time seeing it in the grass. And then we saw another twitch in the weeds the other direction—another cub! We took a few shots and eventually mama bear wandered off into the woods with the cubs in tow. The cubs couldn’t have been over 15-18 inches standing. What luck!
In Fort Nelson we stopped at the Visitor’s Center and chatted with the college kids manning the post and did a quick check of email from their free internet terminal. We asked questions about things we had seen along the way—like “what are the ‘open camp’ signs we’ve seen?” Those indicate a place set up for the oil and gas workers to live temporarily while working in the area. They’re often a series of trailers making up a sort of small motel—sleeping rooms, lounging room, kitchen and dining room, etc. Companies contract with the provider for their workers to stay there for anywhere from a few days to months. Another: “What type of oil and gas production goes on here? Is it oil-sands?” Most of the production in this area is natural gas and some traditional crude oil. An oil-sands deposit is believed to have been located in this region (the Peace River region) which is larger than the well-known Fort McMurray oil sands. Another: “What are the Sour Gas Processing Plants we’ve seen?” Those are specialty facilities which remove the poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas from the natural gas before pumping it on. Another: “What are all the pickup trucks with campers marked ‘Mobile Treatment Facility’ used for?” They are first-aid and EMS vans. Companies working in the area contract with them for medical treatment and quick response for their workers.
We then drove to the nearby IGA market for supplies. This one didn’t seem so bad in price and I was finally able to find block ice. Ice is a funny thing in the north. Once you get into Wisconsin and Minnesota you notice the $2 ten-pound bag you’re used to now costs $3 and is only seven or eight pounds. Outside Edmonton, we had to pay almost $3 for a five-pound bag (and we needed two of them). But the IGA had ten-pound blocks for $3.40, a relative bargain. I should have bought a dozen of them.
Since this is Canada-Day Long-Weekend (Canada Day is Tuesday) we thought we had better call Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park to see if they’re full yet, i.e., whether it makes sense to make the long drive up there. The silly BC reservations system only allows making reservations two days in advance but there are some walk-in sites held for those of us who can’t plan that far ahead. We were calling to see if any of those might still be available. Our Tracfones don’t work here so I have a Canadian Wal-mart pre-paid calling card for these calls. I learned the park had filled at 10:30 this morning, the overflow area was almost full already and the two other provincial parks along the way were also full.
Labashi and I talked about just staying in Fort Nelson and weren’t too sure what we’d do as we entered the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum. After paying for our tickets we chatted with the tickets lady and mentioned our problem. She asked what type of rig we had and then, since we need no hookups, suggested we use the parking lot of the Steamboat Lodge, a now-closed café and RV park about an hour north. That was perfect—we could take our time at the museum, then drive an hour to free overnight parking.
The museum was fantastic. While chatting with the tickets lady an older gent with a foot-long white beard asked where we were from. He is Marl Brown, the founder of the museum and an amazing, amazing old geezer. As we chatted he showed us a picture of him and his wife in a 1912 Buick—which they had just driven hundreds of miles up the Alaska Highway at no more than its top speed of 22 miles per hour, getting 25 miles per gallon, climbing hills mostly in high-gear, using less than a half-quart of oil, and with nary a mechanical problems. We later saw the car in the garage and it’s a wooden-wheeled (with rubber tires) open carriage with a little four-cylinder engine with exposed rocker arms.
Marl is a mechanical genius and has a great sense of humor. On the lower part of the Men’s Room door, for example, hangs one of the WARNING: H2S POISONOUS GAS MAY BE PRESENT signs from the natural gas production sites. He had two bicycle-based mechanical curiosities that tickled me. First was a bicycle made with two steering forks, one in the normal position, the other under the seat. I have no idea how one would ride such a contraption. Does the rear wheel trail or what? The other is a bike made to turn left when you steer right and vice versa. A simple set of gears is mounted between the handlebars and front-fork post. If you turn the handlebars left, the front wheel turns right. Otherwise it’s a regular cruiser-style bicycle.
The museum is a fantastic collection of Alaska Highway memorabilia, everyday-living antiques, dozens of guns I’ve never heard of before, fossils, a stuffed albino moose, a garage-full of antique cars in original, unrestored condition (all of them still running), tractors, bulldozers, road-grading equipment, the massive engine that once ran the town’s electrical generator (it’s at least 15 feet high and 30 feet long and has cat-walks mounted on it to service it), the entire, fully-furnished two-story house of the Hudson’s Bay Company manager, a trapper’s cabin, a NorthwesTel office full of old switchboards and telephone equipment, old radio equipment (I saw a twin to my Dad’s old Heathkit kit-built oscilloscope among the gear) etc, etc, etc.
And here’s a promotional item I liked. It’s a largish dial-thermometer with this printed on the dial: “It’s a cold country but you won’t find any prices lower than Zero” followed by: Zero General Store, Fort Nelson, BC.”
As you can tell, we had a great time at the museum and we didn’t get out of there until 1730 though we had started our visit around 1430. After thanking Marl and the tickets-lady we drove west through beautiful country, seeing snow-capped mountains in the far distance as we climbed and descended the rolling hills. About an hour out we came upon the old Steamboat Lodge which is, truth-to-be-told, little more than a closed old gas station and café, with an abandoned ‘RV park’ consisting of five or six gravel lots and an outhouse behind. We could see a car parked behind the RV park and an expansive view beyond. We walked over and talked for a half-hour with a local guy (whose name I didn’t get) there for the view. He’s a gas-line employee and former Parks Canada-employee from Fort Nelson who has lived at various times in Alaska, the Yukon, and now BC. As we marveled at the view across the Titsa and Muskwa Rivers to the snow-covered peaks of the Northern Rocky Mountain Park in the far distance, we spoke of our prospective visit to Liard Hot Springs (better in cool or even cold weather- right now it’s crowded and buggy) and about his enthusiasm for Alaska and the Yukon.
We then pulled the van up to the view area and had supper, then spent the evening blogging, reading, and staring at maps.

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Friday, 27 June-

After a blissfully-uneventful night in the Grande Prairie Wal-mart parking lot (with ten other RVs) we did a little shopping at our host Wal-mart, then used the GPS search to try to find a coffee shop with a wi-fi hotspot. We had the name ‘Esquires Coffee’ and an address for it from wififreespot.com but the GPS knew neither and our cell phones don’t work in Canada to try them by phone. It finally occurred to me to look up the visitor’s center and library. The former was only a few blocks away so we tried that and were rewarded with both excellent touring info and a reasonably fast wi-fi connection. We took care of email and the blog update, then used Skype to make phone calls to our bank and to our answering machine. All is well on the home front, it seems.
We finally got back on the road after lunch and crossed into British Columbia by mid-afternoon. We had briefly dipped into BC from Jasper, Alberta two summers ago and I’ve been looking forward to seeing more of it. By 1430 we made Dawson Creek, BC, which is Mile Zero of the historic Alaska Highway. We picked up a few items from the Visitor’s Center and took the obligatory touristy shots of us standing in front of the Mile Zero sign and cairn.
I then noticed a sporting goods shop nearby with a sign proclaiming it has the best ammo prices in northwestern Canada. We walked over from the visitor’s center and I asked for the slugs for my shotgun. I said I was from the States so was not completely familiar with their rules and asked if they needed anything from me for an ammo purchase. The clerk said she couldn’t sell me ammo without a PAL card, i.e., a Possession and Acquisition License photo ID. When I said I only had a Non-Resident Firearms Declaration but thought that was good for ammo purchases, she said she’s not sure but that form may only be good for bringing the gun through Canada but I may need another form to permit me to buy ammo! I thanked her for the info and went back to the van, where I had a copy of the Canada Firearms Centre’s web info. Thankfully, their website clearly said the certified Declaration is good for an ammo purchase. And once the clerk saw that info, she checked with a supervisor and I bought my ammo. In retrospect, I don’t think she was trying to avoid selling me the ammo, I think she merely had never heard of an alternate to the PAL procedure and it was up to me to show there is.
We then headed out of Dawson Creek while Labashi pored over a British Columbia Road and Recreation Atlas we bought at the gun shop. She had jumped on that one when she saw it has forest service recreation sites, including free campsites off the forest roads. After gassing up ($139!) we decided to try finding the free campsite closest to Dawson Creek even though we weren’t ready to stop for the day. But we struck out. We couldn’t find it. The area where it appears on the map has some recent oil-well work with signs saying “Danger— H2S Gas May Be Present” so that may have shut down the camping area. But I’d think we would have seen some remnants of it.
We drove on to the next forest recreation area at Inga Lake and that one turned out to be a good one. The lake was a pretty wilderness lake and our site sat in among the pines, well away from the other dozen-or-so campers. We took a short walk and had supper, then spent the evening blogging and reading.

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