Sunday July, 23: Canadian Fun

It’s been one of our few rainy travel days (note the word “travel”.  This does not include our stay in Alaska) during the whole trip. We had pulled into Whitehorse very late last night and went straight to the campground we had stayed on the way up.  Nothing worked for online registration so we just pulled into one of the few unoccupied spots left and hoped no one else was planning to pull in and that  it would be ok to pay in the morning. Turns out it had been reserved but the family never showed up… thankfully for our sakes.  God took care of us again by providing a place to stay.  Showers, laundry, sleep, not necessarily in that order, and we got back on the road a little later than planned to head to Watson Lake.

It was still raining but I’m glad we stopped.  The Signpost Forest is such an unusual spot with posts covered in signs posted by travels from all over the world.  Every time we stop I wish I had thought ahead and brought some kind of cool sign but it has never worked out that way.  But you HAVE to leave your mark somehow since you made it this far.  I sacrificed the lid to a container for the occasion, Malachi happened upon two nails lying around, Hannah and I got it ready and wa-la!  We were in business.  It reads, “Mars Hill, NC to Seldovia, Alaska AND BACK.  Summer 2023, The Winters Family: Tim and Charity and kids, Abigail, Hannah, Micah, Malachi, Elias, Moriah, and Zipporah” with their ages.  We now have three signs here somewhere.  2004 on our move up, we used the front NY license plate from our jeep with our names and date (I wouldn’t recommend. NY state later sent letters looking for the missing plate… I can’t remember how I got out of that one.)  2012 move back we used our frisbee with our names and the 4 kids at the time and all that.  Now we have our 2023 container lid.  Perfect :). You gotta be resourceful in the wilderness lol.

Next stop: Liard Hot Springs.  This is an AWESOME spot.  I was happy the rain had let up for us to enjoy it and the cooler temps were perfect for a dip in the steamy water.  When we came here in 2004 you pulled up to the boardwalk and made your way to the springs.  Now things were a little more official with a Provincial park gate and a fee to get in (not too bad, thankfully. Pretty much anything we do on our trips has to be free or under $5 a person.  Which is nearly impossible to find these days. Even camping - a family is 2 parents and 2 kids.  Our 5 extra kids rack up the typical campground costs.  Thus, free camping whenever possible.  I love the west coast for those opportunities).  We made our way through the electric gate that surrounded the campground that was now there and down the quarter mile of boardwalk.

At the end are changing rooms and a natural hot tub.  The water is fed by a spring that is literally boiling from the underground.  The hot water from that flows into the pool and moves across the surface of cold water (cooler water sinks).  The closer you get to the source, the hotter it gets and it gets HOT.  You can push the cooler water up and make the temp a little more bearable, or move further from the source towards the end of the pool.  The kids had a BLAST.  Moriah especially had been asking the entire trip to go swimming.  And she had for a short stint in Tutka bay in a wet suit so she wouldn’t freeze to death.  This water was quite the opposite and everyone enjoyed relaxing for a spell.  We commented on how overcrowded a place like this would be on the east coast.  But up here, where people are few, only those who happen to be driving the Alcan stop by on their way through, keeping the numbers down in these beautiful places.  Absolutely fantastic.

The heat source of the pool. Too hot to get any closer!

It was already 8pm so Abbey went back to the camper to whip up some mac and cheese while everyone else enjoyed a few more minutes in the springs.  Unfortunately, our rig was too long to camp here so we had to move on that night.  The Muncho Lake area was coming up with a few campgrounds so we planned to try one of those.  It was getting to about 10pm when we hit the first campground.  Full.  As we headed to the next one, there was a pull off to the right.  We decided to make camp there rather than bother with the next campground that was probably also full.  Muncho Lake is GORGEOUS, so I could understand why the campgrounds were full.  But our spot overlooking the lake for free was perfectly fine.  The mountains backdropped behind us and the lake in the foreground and no one for miles - hard to beat.