Once we crossed the Canadian border we decided to take the Alaska Highway instead of the Cassiar Highway like we normally do. We thought since we weren't in a huge rush it would be nice to stop by Liard Hot Springs on the way.
We saw so many bears (like normal) driving through Canada. This was the only grizzly we saw, but we saw at least fifteen black bears. During this time of year the first things to turn green are the roadsides, so all the bears head there to graze.
#39...his/her ear is tagged...it must be a roadside regular
We only took pictures of a couple of the black bears we saw. The night the cop was giving us a ride back to Ft. Nelson, we saw a bear on the shoulder and he pulled over so we could take pictures. Although we had to do it through the bars on the windows.
Nice sunset colors at a provincial park we camped at one night. The only reason we paid to camp this night was to fill up our five gallon water jug, but the water had not been turned on for the season yet. I think it was still frozen and we still had to pay full price!
We drove by Summit Lake five times during the whole alternator issue. The first time we drove by we saw this really cool sheep, called a stone sheep. We thought it was a goat at first, then we saw some signs about them.
The last time we drove by we saw this moose standing out on the frozen lake. We hung out and watched it for about thirty minutes and it never moved.
Roadside flowers
More stone sheep.
We watched those guys for over an hour.
Finally made it to Liard Hot Springs. We soaked three times during our stay. Funny story...as I mentioned in an earlier post about our ride with the Canadian mounty, the cop pulled two cars over while we were in the vehicle. We witnessed one breathalyzer, luckily the guy passed it because we were worried about what would happen to us if the cop had to arrest this guy and his three friends...would we be kicked out of the car and become stranded again? Anyways, we ran into that guy at the hot springs. We recognized him and asked if he had been pulled over a few days earlier. Sure enough, it was him. We all had a good laugh about the whole thing.
It's a good half mile walk out to the springs on the boardwalk.
The day we got there it was the end of a holiday weekend (the Queen's birthday), so it was pretty busy. We did get in a quiet, less populated soak the next morning before hitting the road again.
I love the plant communities right at the edge of the water.
Another frozen lake...
The ice rings reminded us of the salt rings in Death Valley.
Ice shards sticking up everywhere.
Kluane Mountains...in there somewhere is Mt. Logan, Canada's highest peak at 20,000+.
Kluane Lake...still frozen
Tundra swans are some of my favorite birds.
In Alaska now, passing a river (forget which one) that has overflow ice surrounding it 10-15 ft. thick. This was an incredible sight. Wrangell/St. Elias range in the background.
Looking down stream
Homeward bound...the home stretch. That is the Healy ridge in front of us. Our cabin is about 3-5 miles as the crow flies from the start of those mountains! :) Current note...we got about an inch and a half of rain in the past couple of days and the mountains received fresh snow!!
Turning onto our road, off the Stampede Trail. Across the Nenana River from us, near the Usibelli Coal Mine, a wildfire is burning. It's doing much better now, firefighters have been fighting it since day one and the rain has helped some, but it's still burning.