Day 17: Haines Junction, YT, to Liard River, BC

519 miles

7:23-4:30

Thank you, Lord, list:

Beauty even in the clouds

Multiple bear sightings

Multiple bison sightings

The beauty of these hot springs to relax in

Mom’s spunkiness

You can tell we are getting further south. It actually gets dark at night. Late. But it DOES get dark.

This was another long day in the car. Cloudy and/or raining most of the morning. I might have taken pictures if I hadn’t taken so many on the way up with clearer skies. But in the afternoon we moved into new territory—road we hadn’t been on coming north. We saw this black bear, the first of several.

And this bison, also the first of several.

It was hard to get Mom to nap. She was too afraid she might miss something! Picked up the nightgown I left in the communal showers at Watson Lake and showed Mom the sign forest there (see day 10)

The goal of the day was Liard River with its amazing hot spring. All you hot tub lovers, you definitely want to make this a stop on your trip north (which I know you will all want to do after reading this blog). The further up stream you go the hotter the water—as much as 109 F. Farther downstream is for the wimps. I mean, for kids and those with heart problems.

We started to go with Mom. The lodge was across the road, but had a wheelchair to loan us.

But pushing it in gravel was very difficult. Steve went back to get the car to take her to the boardwalk. I found it hard to control the chair and keep it from sliding sideways down hill. Mom ended up using it as a walker. Steve arrived and we sat Mom back in the chair for the boardwalk. But it jiggled too much. I could see her holding her neck, and Steve asked if she wanted to change her mind. She hesitated (never give up!), but ended up saying she would wait in the car.

She missed a beautiful spot. The best part was just relaxing in the hot water in a natural setting.

Afghan update: Another long day with lots of time to knit.

Tomorrow we head for Dawson Creek, mile 0 on the Alaskan Highway.