Bears, and....

Note: Tthis was written on Friday evening, but no opportunity to load it. I'll have another one about today (what a day!!) tomorrow. 

I  had begun to wonder if I would really see any wildlife along the road – there are cars and trucks and huge campers whizzing along the road, albeit at long intervals. I was afraid that the traffic would have scared them all into the forest beyond the road.

But today, oh today, I saw plenty.  I hadn’t gone more than about 15 minutes down the road from Fort Nelson when I saw some black things moving in the distance .  Bears!! Two of them.  And they let me take their picture.  Twenty minutes later, there was another one on the other side of the road!  I was ecstatic! I hadn't seen a bear in the wild since my last trip to Alaska 20 years ago when I visited my sister in Fairbanks. We did the Denali trip, and saw 4 bears on that trip. 

Another 45 minutes, and there was a moose browsing among the trees at the treeline. He let me take his picture too (luckily there was nobody in sight behind or in front of me).  These photos were all taken from inside the car – I DO know better than to get out when there is wildli

fe close by!!

This was the shortest day of the trip (Fort Nelson to Liard Hot Springs) but it took me much longer to get here than I expected; I kept stopping by the side of the road to see the sights. They were amazing. The road is changing.  It's still that two lane ribbon with wide enough shoulders, but now the trees are a little closer to the road, and there are often cliffs on one side.  At the top of Steamboat Mountain, you could see just forever – the mountains and valleys went on and on.  Soon after that, the road went through a canyon with steep walls on both sides, and down into a lovely valley. 

Oh, wait, there's something by the side of the road, and it's at a turnout.  A Stone sheep (a relative of the bighorn sheep).  The angle wasn't too good but then I noticed the man in the other car looking behind us – there up on the hill was a whole herd of Stone sheep.  This called for my super long lens, and my monopod (a tripod with only one leg – easier to carry, but it steadies the camera just fine).  Stayed here watching the sheep for quite a while; I'd never been so close to animals like this. 

All day, it seemed like I never drove for more than about ½ hour without pulling over to see something.  Next up was Muncho Lake.  I think if it had been a sunny day, I might have stayed longer, but it was cloudy and cold.  The lake was still beautiful with its green glacial water. It was almost like a piece of jade.

A little further down the road (after a sign that said watch for buffalo) whoa, the biggest darn buffalo I've ever seen. Holy cow, he was huge.  I didn't stop there (I was afraid to) so went a little further along where a couple of big rigs were pulled over. We all marveled at its size, and I got out the monopod and long lens again, but he had moved up into shrubs and wasn't as visible. So I turned the car around and drove past him again, stopping only for about 10 seconds to get the photo, then turned around again and continued on.

Next stop was my destination for the day, Liard Hot Springs. I'm in a Provincial Park in a primitive campsite (no hookups, pit toilets, but I'm prepared for all that).  After lunch and a nap, I walked down to the hot springs and spent a very nice
1 ½ hours soaking.  The water is quite hot – about 108^o so I was in and out and in and out, but it was so relaxing. I forgot to take my camera with me, so I'll be going back again tonight to get some pictures. I can't let this site go unphotographed – that would be unthinkable!!

 This last photo was taken from the path back from the hot springs to the campground.  It was about 9:30 PM, and the sun was nowhere near going down.  Luckily it clouded over and rained a little during the night, and I managed to sleep till almost 6 AM!  

To Whitehorse tomorrow!!