Camping in British Columbia

June 4, 2014

Yay, we've got wifi again today, so once again, I'm playing catch-up. As Lee described in his last post, on May 28th we made it over the summit of Stone Mountain. As we descended, we spotted several stone sheep along the side of the road and up on the hillside. These sheep are indigenous to northern BC and southern YT. They're a little smaller than the big-horned sheep and are sometimes mistaken for mountain goats.

This female and her lamb were enjoying the salty taste of the stones along the roadside. Whenever a large truck passed by, they would run up the hill and return shortly after.

The male stone sheep's horns are larger than the female's. The larger the horns, the more status it has in the herd.











On our way to our campground, we passed a sign advertising the world's best cinnamon buns. It was at a place called Tetsa River Services and Campground. Of course, we had to stop! There was very little appeal to the campground, but we were only there for the buns! We went into the lodge and the aroma was wonderful. We were greeted by a very friendly baker who proceeded to warm up two buns for us. When they arrived, our eyes opened wide when we saw the size of them. They were huge and delicious! I'm so mad that we forgot to take a photo of them.

With our stomachs full, on we went to our destination for the evening...the Toad River Lodge campground in Toad River, BC. (Km 647 on the Alaska Highway) A very nice fellow traveler who we met at our last campground recommended it. After passing several campgrounds that day that looked very unappealing, it really was the best choice and we were glad we took his advice.

We were greeted by this sign as we pulled into the parking lot.

The lodge is famous for the collection of hats that are hanging on the ceiling. There must have been hundreds of them. Unfortunately, we didn't know about this ahead of time, or else Lee would have brought one to hang.



The campground was alongside a pond which ran into a large lake. Our campsite was next to the pond. There just so happened to be a beaver lodge in the center of the pond. What a great view we had.

We enjoyed watching the beaver work nonstop all afternoon.....

 .....and into the evening!

The phrase "busy as a beaver" is very accurate!

He finally climbed up on the dam to take a break and have a snack. That stick looks yummy!










Meanwhile, out on the lake, there were a variety of ducks and other waterfowl that were new to me. A fellow camper was out there photographing also and he helped me to identify them.

Lesser Scaup

American Widgeon

Not sure about this one. Maybe a female Scaup?

Horned Grebe

 It's mating season for the horned grebes, so there was a bit of rivalry going on among them. They'd come together in the lake and all of a sudden break out into a skirmish. Very funny to watch.




The next morning we continued north. Along the way, we passed Muncho Lake. "Muncho" means "big lake" in the Kaska language. It is 7.5 miles long. The Alaska Highway runs right along its shore. The word "highway" is hardly what I would use to describe this road.

At the northern end, the lake was still partially frozen. The green-blue color is caused by copper-oxide leaching into the lake. When the light is right, it really stands out. So many of the lakes in this region have this striking color.

We decided to make it a short driving day and stopped at Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park. (Km764.7 on the Alaska Highway) This was the first time we stayed at a campground with no hook-ups. For the uninitiated, this is called "dry camping." These park campgrounds are generally the prettiest and most wooded. This one was no exception.

Between the hours of 9-11 am and 6-8 pm you are permitted to run your generator, so you can charge your phones, computers, etc. We have propane tanks for cooking and a holding tank for water. Okay, so we're not exactly roughing it!

It was a beautiful spot for a run, so Lee and I went out for a few miles. It felt good to stretch the legs. Then we headed for the hot springs.  From the campground, it was a short walk along a boardwalk through a marsh.



They lived up to their name! The temperature at the near end was too hot to go into right away. We started off in the far section. There's a small falls at the far end in this photo. Beyond that is another pool. The temp in that section was like a nice warm bath. It felt great on my sore back! After getting used to the temps, we were able to get into the warmer section. Not sure what the actual temp was, but it was at least 105 degrees F, probably more in the warmer section.

Farther north tomorrow!