Day 5: Liard River Hot Springs, BC to Teslin, YT – 291.8 Miles Traveled (May 2, 2016)

It’s an overcast morning when we wake up but the birds are still singing in the trees. After breakfast, we walk to the hot springs for one last soak before we get back on the road. We enjoy another nice walk through the wetland and the forest, a lovely relaxing soak in the hot pool, and then the cool pool, and then finish up in the hot pool. People come and go, and sometimes Mike & I have a pool all to ourselves, which is magical. We don’t so much talk to other people as we listen to the conversations around us. One couple is traveling from Georgia to their home in Alaska, 140 miles from Haines Junction. They have property on a lake there that the moose like to use for calving. Another couple discusses local music festivals with them. They’d like to go to the Haines Fair but they can’t make it because it’s at the end of July and that’s when sheep hunting season opens. A man tells us that when he drove the opposite direction on the Alaska Highway last week, there were no Wood Bison calves; they must have been born this week.

We reluctantly get out of the hot springs and walk back to the RV on the boardwalk. The day is now warm and sunny, and we see several colorful butterflies and hear a woodpecker. It has really been a relaxing couple of days here at Liard River Hot Springs at our campsite with no electricity, let alone cell phone connectivity or the Internet. Nothing to do but observe nature, soak in the hot spring, and enjoy each other’s company.

We get the RV ready for travel and we back driving west on the Alaska Hwy by noon. This time we don’t see any Wood Bison on the side of the road around the campground entrance, but we do see a lot of piles of Wood Bison poop!

We had planned to eat lunch at the Coal River Lodge, which The Milepost pronounces has “good bison burgers” (that seemed appropriate for some reason), but it’s still closed for the season. This is a common problem traveling on the Alaska Highway in late April or early May. Many restaurants, campgrounds, and gas stations have signs: “Closed until May 15” or even later. Eventually, we stop at a viewpoint overlooking the Liard River rapids. We enjoy the beautiful view while we eat tuna sandwiches for lunch.

It starts to rain after lunch. We stop for gas in the tiny town of Contact Creek, which is still in British Columbia. We’ve been told that gas is cheaper here than in Watson Lake, which is in the Yukon Territories, and in fact, CN$0.999/liter is a good price. I take a little walk in the rain while Mike gets the gas and take a photo of a sign that says “Welcome to Yukon, even though we’re really not in Yukon yet. There’s no cell phone connectivity; I can hear the telltale sound of a generator running to provide electricity.

As we continue to drive, we see five male magnificent Wood Bison grazing on the side of the road. Then, just a few minutes later, we see a Black Bear eating grass & leaves. Then we see more Wood Bison, this time grazing on the opposite side of the highway. We pull over to watch them and they walk within feet of the RV.

It’s sunny and there’s just a few puffy white clouds in the sky by 3:30 pm when we cross from British Columbia into the Yukon Territories. The only “Welcome” sign is for travelers entering B.C. The “Welcome to Yukon” sign is a few kilometers further across from Lucky Lake. The Alaska Highway becomes Yukon Hwy 1.

Watson Lake, population 1,563, is known as the “Gateway to the Yukon”. We stop to walk around the Signpost Forest, a little piece of land along the Alaska Highway where literally thousands of town signs are posted by those traveling along the Alaska Highway.

Mike & I discuss the possibility of stopping in Watson Lake for the night but since we got a late start from Liard Hot Springs, we decide to continue driving for a few more hours.

At 5:00 pm we pass the 1,000 km Alaska Highway signpost. Everywhere there’s an embankment along this stretch of highway, people have used stones to spell out their names, messages, or designs.

We continue on to Rancheria Falls Recreation Area. Our first Yukon Park! We take a lovely ten-minute walk, first on a gravel trail through the boreal forest and then on a boardwalk over the rocks to see two picturesque falls on the Rancheria River.

The trail is the perfect length to walk to get our blood flowing after we’ve been driving for a while. We return to the RV energized to drive some more before it gets dark. Mike brings the bear spray “just in case” but the only wildlife we see us a reddish-brown squirrel.

We continue driving west on the Alaska Highway and cross the Continental Divide. Here it divides two of the largest river drainage systems in North America: the Yukon River & the McKenzie River watersheds. We enjoy fantastic views of the dark, snow-covered Cassiar Mountains.

Then just after 7:00 pm, we see the sign “Welcome to British Columbia”! It turns out that the Alaska Highway travels through B.C. starting here for about 42 miles before it returns to Yukon.

We pass pretty Swan Lake, covered in ice. It’s raining off and on, and the sun is behind the clouds, making dark earlier this evening. Even when it’s not raining, the highway is wet, keeping our speed down. Dark clouds hide the sun, which is actually a blessing since it’s not shining directly in our eyes as we continue to drive west.

At 8:00 pm we leave British Columbia for the last time and re-enter Yukon. According to The Milepost, we’ve done this seven times this afternoon but it hasn’t always been marked.

At 8:30 we arrive in Teslin, population 450, mostly First Nation Tlingit people. We pause to take in the view of the Nisutlin Bay Bridge at sunset and then cross the bridge (the longest water span at 1,917 feet on the Alaska Highway). and turn into Yukon Motel & Lakeshore RV Park.

We turn into Yukon Motel & Lakeshore RV Park, find a vacant site, and go to the restaurant to pay for it. It turns out that they’re still serving dinner. The cook comes out of the kitchen and announces that she has just two plates left of tonight’s special: meatloaf & mashed potatoes with gravy, carrots, and a fresh green salad. Do we want them? Yes! Mike & I enjoy a delicious home-cooked dinner, everything freshly prepared and well worth the price. The helping of meatloaf is huge – I have to give Mike half of mine (and he eats it all).

Day 4: Liard River Hot Springs – 0 Miles Traveled (May 1, 2016)

As we drink our morning coffee, we watch a female Wood Bison and her calf wander through our site. Wow – I’m so surprised that I forget all about my camera!

We can’t wait to go soak in the hot springs but first, we have to walk across the street to the commercial campground to get change so we can pay for another night at Liard River Hot Springs. They have a small convenience store but there isn’t much to buy. I finally end up buying a large jar of very expensive (CN$9.99) peanut butter. A herd of Wood Bison is hanging out by the side of the road next to the convenience store parking lot.

We can’t wait to go soak in the hot springs but first, we have to walk across the street to the commercial campground to get change so we can pay for another night at Liard River Hot Springs. They have a small convenience store but there isn’t much to buy. I finally end up buying a large jar of very expensive (CN$9.99) peanut butter. A herd of Wood Bison is hanging out by the side of the road next to the convenience store parking lot.

Mike and I walk back to the RV through the woods to drop off my camera & the peanut butter, and then we walk up to the front entrance kiosk to pay for another night of camping. We discover that prices for camping increased on May 1 from CN$16.00 to CN$26.00! We put CN$16.00 in the envelope and hope for the best – we haven’t seen any sign of park rangers or employees since we got here.

At 11:30 we’re finally able to walk over to the boardwalk and to the hot springs for our soak. Bird watching is excellent as we walk on the boardwalk that takes us through the wetland to the hot springs. We see fat American Robins, Canada Geese, Rusty Blackbirds, Pine Siskins, White-Browed Sparrows, and Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs.

We check out the hot springs, two pools with stairs and handrails to make it easy to get in and out, and changing rooms/toilets. There’s a strong smell of sulfur. There are about twenty people soaking in the hot springs, so it certainly isn’t very crowded.

We go in the lower pool first, since it’s cooler. It’s so pleasant to float around the natural pool, drifting through warm & cool (but never cold) areas. Once we’re acclimated, we go in the hotter upper pool. It’s a little too hot for Mike but it’s perfect for me. The closer one gets to the end of this pool (where the hot water flows in), the hotter it gets. I venture close to the end but it gets too hot even for me. We spent at least an hour soaking in this pool, getting out occasionally to sit on a bench & cool off and then going back in.

At about 1:00 pm the mosquitos start to bother us and we’re hungry so we decide to go back to the RV. Walking back from the hot springs along the boardwalk, we see a couple of Lesser Yellowlegs in the wetland. After lunch, we walk back to the hot springs for another soak. This time we see a moose grazing in a pond just off the boardwalk.

We soak for another hour and a half, chatting with interesting people who are soaking too. We talk to a man who rebuilds old boats in Victoria, lives in the Yukon, and is driving back from Cabo San Lucas. Another couple is driving to their summer home in Alaska, Kasilof River Lodge, on the Kenai Peninsula near Homer. During the winter they live and work in Sebastopol! We talk to a young Israeli guy who is hitchhiking across Canada after spending six months in India. And another couple is from Maine; they just retired and are taking their first big trip in their RV together, driving across Canada starting in Montreal and ending up in Alaska (and after spending some time in Alaska, they’ll drive back to Maine across Canada via a different route). And we talk to a young man who is traveling to his job as a waiter at the Princess/Norwegian Cruises McKinley Lodge.

After our soak, we walk on the boardwalk and then stairs up to the Hanging Gardens, an area where lufa has built up from the warm water trickling through and lots of green plants are able to grow because of the heat.

As evening falls, the view from the Hanging Gardens of the forest and surrounding mountains in the Provincial Park is magnificent.

The moose is gone when we walk back to the RV after our soak but frogs are making a racket in the pond by the parking lot and we see more American Robins, Rusty Blackbirds, White-Browed Sparrows, and Canada Geese. We notice the car with Yukon plates that the man is driving from Cabo San Lucas; he’s towing one of those tiny teardrop trailers.

The campground that was so full when we arrived is now practically deserted – just the way we like it!

 

Day 3: Fort Nelson to Liard River Hot Springs – 196.0 miles traveled (April 30, 2016)

Before we continue down the Alaska Highway, we fill up the RV with gas – the most expensive gas to date at CN$1.219/liter but it’s the cheapest available in Fort Nelson. Interestingly, the only choice is between Regular and Diesel. It seems counter-intuitive that gas is more expensive here in the heart of all these oil and gas exploration activities!

This morning we walk several blocks from our hotel through the grounds of the British Columbia Parliament to a park with a bronze statue of author & artist Emily Carr (with her dog ‘Billie’ & her Javanese monkey ‘Woo’). I have no problem walking this morning – I wore my comfortable sneakers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We catch a bus to The Butchart Gardens, one of Victoria’s most iconic sights. Mike & I enjoy taking public transportation so we can see more of Victoria, including the “non-touristy” areas where people actually live.

We arrive at The Butchart Gardens at about 11:30 and spend three hours wandering around, drinking in the beauty. These 55 acres of gardens were created in the early 1900s by Jennie Butchard to beautify the worked-out limestone quarry on their property. Today the gardens are still owned by the Butchart family and receive about a million visitors annually!

 

 

My favorite garden is the Sunken Garden, an old quarry transformed with a riot of colorful tulips, daffodils, and other spring flowers.

 

At the end of the Sunken Garden, there’s Ross Fountain that rhythmically shoots the water in different designs, like the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas but without the music.

 

 

 

 

 

We also enjoy the Japanese Garden and the Italian Garden (it’s a bit too early  in the season for the Rose Garden).

After all that walking, we relax in the shade at Butchart Cove Lookout and just gaze at the water.

At the greenhouse, we take a moment to ask the question we’ve been wondering about: “How many gardeners are needed to keep Butchart Gardens so beautiful?” The answer is anywhere from 50 (in the off-season) to 70 gardeners! We’re also shocked to find out that when all these beautiful flowers are done blooming, they’re simply pulled up & turned into mulch.

 

We take the bus back to downtown Victoria and then walk the rest of the way back to our hotel. We take just a minute to freshen up before heading out again, this time walking west (the opposite direction than we usually walk to the Inner Harbour).

 

We walk along the waterfront trail and see a community of charming houseboats. The houseboats turn out to be a in Floating Home Village that also includes shops, restaurants, & fishing boats in an area known as Fisherman’s Wharf.

 

 

 

 

We get a dozen oysters at The Fish Store (another “Buck a Shuck” special) and eat them at one of the picnic tables by the marina.

 

 

Five harbor seals are gathered there, begging for fish. The Fish Store sells cut up pieces of fish for the tourists to feed the seals! There are also river otters but there are also warnings not to feed them (Mike is told “They’re vicious creatures – they’ll bite your finger right off.”).

We don’t buy any fish because we can watch everybody else feeding them. The seals get impatient if they have to go a while without being fed and splash the people.

 

 

 

 

After we finish our oysters, we share an order of fish & chips from Barb’s Fish & Chips, which we also eat at the picnic table while we watch the antics of the harbor seals.

 

 

 

 

Then Mike & I walk through the marina looking at the working fishing boats, and stroll around the Floating Home Village. The eclectic houseboats are fascinating!

After dinner we walk back along the Inner Harbour waterfront. The sunset is so pretty and the British Columbia Parliament Building is all lit up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning Mike’s brother Gary really went above & beyond his brotherly duty and got up ridiculously early to drive us to the Seattle Waterfront to catch the Victoria Clipper ferry to Victoria, British Columbia. We leave our RV in guest parking at the RV park for a few days.
They call us to board at about 7:30 am and soon we’re settled in our comfortable seats at a table in the upper cabin. We have a great view as our ferry gets underway promptly at 8:00 am.

Our route from Seattle to Victoria, BC takes less than 3 hours. I venture outside to the back deck to take some photos but it’s very cold & windy – the speed of the boat is deceptive from inside the cabin but we’re actually moving quite fast. The view as we transit the Puget sound is especially beautiful as we pass Whidbey Island, the Cascades rising behind it. Mike is excited to see a submarine as we pass Port Townsend.

 

The boat slows down as we enter Victoria Harbour so I’m able to step out on the back deck and take photos.

 

We dock at 10:38 am. After we clear Customs, we walk the short distance from the ferry terminal to our hotel, Harbour Towers. Unfortunately, it’s too early for us to check in but they do allow us to store our luggage so we can explore Victoria unencumbered.

 

 

 

We thoroughly enjoy walking through small parks full of colorful tulips & other flowers down to the waterfront, which is called the Inner Harbour.

 

We stroll along the waterfront watching the seaplanes take off & land from their terminal, the huge yachts & small fishing boats mingling, and a beautiful tall ship.

 

 

 

 

We talk to Jeff who is a painter on the tall ship, the Pacific Grace. The tall ships aren’t actually not old; the Canadian government commissioned the ships to use for teaching high school students how to sail. The students sail the ships, even taking them in & out of the harbor, under the supervision of a few instructors.

 

 

 

Mike & I stop for lunch at a cute pub near the waterfront called The Local. It’s very warm & sunny but luckily they’re able to seat us outside but partially in the shade.

After lunch we wander around the shopping area by The Local and enjoy the interesting murals.

 

Towards the end of the day, Mike & I walk along the waterfront again and notice a “Buck a Shuck” (CN$1.00 per oyster) promotion at Steamship Grill & Bar. It’s 4:57 pm so the manager tells us we’re just in time. We’re seated on their lovely deck overlooking the waterfront and order two dozen raw “Paradise” oysters (from Baynes Sound), which are served on a heaping bed of ice with lemon juice in one cup, cocktail sauce in another cup (too sweet for our taste), and shaved horseradish. The oysters are absolutely delicious and we thoroughly enjoy our Happy Hour together – we even see HARBOUR SEALS (as they spell it in Canada) & RIVER OTTERS swimming in the water!

After Happy Hour Mike & I wander down to the water taxi dock and catch one to Swift Street, the nearest stop to Victoria’s Chinatown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A short walk uphill and we’re exploring the few blocks of the oldest Chinatown in Canada, what’s left of what was once a large Chinese community. We enjoy walking up Fisgard Street & down Fantan Alley and end up eating a Chinese dinner at Ocean Garden Restaurant.

I’m wearing “cute shoes” instead of my comfortable sneakers so of course I’ve developed blisters and walking is painful. We go back to the Swift Street dock and call for a water taxi, which takes us back to the dock close to our hotel. I actually take off my shoes and walk barefoot for a while along the waterfront, my feet hurt so badly, but (of course) I make it back to our hotel. Obviously tomorrow I’ll be wearing my sneakers!