Saturday, March 15th
2014
(Fort Nelson, BC –
Watson Lake, YT : 318 miles)
At 5:00 am we woke up to bunch of dogs barking and
making bunch of noises. There were some people with dogs for sledding
competition in the motel. Cold and gray morning. Coffee. J. had
pretty much normal breakfast (eggs and potatoes). Gasoline and
coffee. And … surprisingly … driving and driving. The road became
a bit worse and more twisty. The maximum speed limit dropped to 80
kilometers per hour. The country though started to look more rugged
and empty. But again, pretty much all parks and side roads were
closed and covered with a lot of snow. This was the landscape we were
kind of expecting on our road trip. Twisty road (still very nice
one), hills and mountains with a lot of snow and pretty much nothing
else. Northern Rockies Lodge was the first real sign of civilization,
still there was nothing to do. Muncho Lake – big lake (mostly
frozen) and the road winding around it (about 7 miles). Great views
from the top. And … more and more driving. Almost no cars on the
road. Very quiet and peaceful. More snow. Some snow and ice on the
road. I guess this would be the best case what we were expecting. So
far we were lucky and drove on dry and clear roads (as good as in any
state). Liard River Hot Springs – according to the Milepost “must”
on this part of the road. I added that in winter it is pretty much
the only thing. Parked. Surprisingly there were few cars parked. A
bit less than half a mile walk on partly snow covered board walk –
two structures and steaming pools surrounded by snowy land. We did
not have swimsuits out so we just walked there to check it out. It
looked good, there were people in the pools (natural ones, deck and
few stairs into the water). Walking back to the car we debated if we
should grab some clothes and go in. We did, walked back, changed and
really enjoyed nice and warm water. It was great. It was definitely
highlight of the day. The road got better, it was pretty much
straight and again never ending. Before the springs we saw four or
five stone sheep by the road. It was time to see some wild life.
Driving and driving … some nice views and landscape but nothing
else. Few businesses – mostly closed. After all the road signs and
few portable signs warning against bison and other wild life, we were
kind of fed up of not seeing anything. Within a short while after
such a conversation we saw few bison along the road. Just standing
and digging in the snow. And there were about ten more sightings of
bison within next 40 miles. Finally there was some wild life for us
to see. The traffic was pretty much non existing but unfortunately we
got hit with bigger rock and got first real spider web crack on our
windshield (small one). Watson Lake – our destination. Tiny
community covered by snow. We entered Yukon. Sign post forest – one
of the few attractions in the area. It was pretty cool, mostly
inaccessible because of snow. Northern Lights observatory (or museum)
– closed. We got gasoline (looks like two gas stations in the
town). Bed and breakfast cottages place for the night: really nice
place. Some issues with the credit card: 50 minutes wait on the line
to talk to somebody. Easy and relaxing evening. The trip is starting
to feel too long and tedious. Other than that: so far so good. I
mean, we are driving to Alaska and in the middle of the day we were
in warm water looking at snowy peaks in the distance. Life is good.
