Alcan: Liard River Hot Springs, British Columbia - June 6th to 7th, 2022

Another two days on the Alaska Highway was filled with wonderful experiences. Beautiful scenery, wildlife, hiking, good food, and a relaxing soak in the hot springs. What could be better than that?

It was only a two and a half hour drive from Tetsa River Regional Campground to Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park, but we took all day to get there. There was a hike Ann had picked out which was half an hour from Tetsa, at Summit Lake in Stone Mountain Provincial Park. We could have hiked it the day before, but the weather forecast looked better on Monday. We got up early and were on the road by 9 am.

It rained on the way to Summit Lake. A moose crossed the road in the distance in front of us. When we reached Summit Lake, the rain was just a drizzle. We took our time gearing up for the trail, hoping the weather would clear. The temperature was in the high 40’s F (single digits in C).

The trail we were hiking was called the Flower Springs Lake Trail. We were on the trail by 10 am. It was still lightly raining, but that is what rain gear is for. The hike actually starts out on the service road to the microwave station. Some people don’t like hiking on a dirt road, but we find it rather pleasant. The road provides good footing, so you don’t need to concentrate on where you’re placing your feet and can look at the scenery around you. The wide trail also allows for more distant views. In this case, we could see snow covered mountain peaks both in front of us and behind us. The easy footing also allows you to cover more distance in less time.

We weren’t sure what the trail conditions would be like. We were at 4000 feet of elevation and there were patches of snow. Summit Lake was still partially frozen. The Mile Post warned that the service road can still have snow well into June. However, the road was clear, with just patches of snow along the sides.

About a mile up the road, we reached the trailhead for the Flower Springs Lake Trail. The trail descends for a little bit down into an alpine marshy area. There are a couple of board walks to get you through the really swampy parts. We had to post hole through a couple of patches of snow, but they were small patches. Alongside the trail were a few white flowers and some purple flowers. We thought we might have been too early in the season to see flowers, so Ann was happy.

We were in bear country and had not seen many other people on the trail, so we made sure we made some noise. Keith would click his trekking poles together whenever we would come up to the top of a rise or approach a blind corner. We had our bear spray with us, but we would rather not surprise a bear.

Then we came to the water crossing. We weren’t sure what this would be, but the trail was under about one to two feet of water for about 15 feet, with a snow field at one end of the water. Wading through ice cold water was not something we were prepared for, so we turned around. That meant we would not reach the alpine lake and it would cut our hike short. According to AllTrails, the full hike was 6.4 miles with about 1000 feet of elevation gain.

To lengthen our hike since we cut it short, we took the Summit Lake Trail on the way back. The Summit Lake Trail branched off from the service road not long after returning to the road from the Flower Springs Lake Trail. It snaked back and forth through the woods down to the lake, then followed the shoreline back to the campground, near where we had parked.

The trail got pretty sloppy along the shoreline among the tangle of tree roots. We could hear the ice crackling on the lake. The trail went right through a beautiful waterfall that cascaded through a moss covered boulder field. The colors combined with the flowing water was a sight to behold.

The mosquitos were more plentiful along the lake shore. They didn’t seem to bother us much while we kept moving, but they swarmed our heads when we stopped. Keith was a little annoyed more than usual when Ann decided to stop to take a picture or two. Somehow we managed to successfully fight off the mosquitos because we did not have any new mosquito bites by the end of the day.

By the time we returned to our Red Tail Lodge (our van), we had hiked 4.7 miles with an elevation gain of 722 feet in three hours and ten minutes. It was hike number 17 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2022.

The rain stopped part way through our hike and the sun actually made an appearance every now and then in the afternoon. The rest of the drive to Liard River Hot Springs was gorgeous. Mountain peaks were in every direction. Streams and rivers would sometimes follow alongside the highway with strong flowing water.

At one point, we came across a couple of herds of stone sheep who were grazing right next to the highway, about a dozen sheep altogether. A little baby sheep was among them, snuggled up next to its mother.

Keith spotted a moose on the other side of the river and stopped for Ann to get a picture. Ann spotted a waterfall up ahead, with a couple of tall drops. There was a pull-off near them, so we stopped, only to discover there was an even more impressive waterfall just before the one Ann had seen from afar. We’re not sure if these waterfalls are always there, or only exist during the spring snow melt. There were also several other smaller waterfalls all along the rocky mountainsides.

As we approached Muncho Lake, we stopped at Double G Service to top off our gas tank. This gas turned out to be the most expensive gas we bought during Season Four. We don’t know if they accidentally charged us the price for diesel instead of gas or they misread the price. We were charged 270.9 cents (Canadian) per liter (or $8.15 U.S. per gallon) when 210.9 would have been more in line with the other stations along our route. Perhaps we should have paid more attention to the price, but we still would have purchased it no matter what it was. There are only a few places to get gas before Watson Lake, so we didn’t want to depend on any particular station being open.

The gas station also had a drinking water faucet. We filled up one of our fresh water jugs. Tetsa River Regional Campground where we stayed the previous two nights and Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park, where we were spending the next two nights, both have water that you need to boil to consume. Hopefully we now have enough water to make it to Watson Lake.

The highway follows right along the shore of Muncho Lake. It almost seemed a little too close. At the time we were there, the road is only a couple of feet above the water level of the lake. It seems like the road would flood in the spring or any other time the water level of the lake might rise. Of course, this was spring and maybe the lake was at its highest level. Muncho Lake is known for its turquoise blue color and we will confirm it has a beautiful color.

The Mile Post said the Northern Rockies Lodge on Muncho Lake served spaetzli. Spaetzli or spätzle is an egg noodle from Switzerland or Germany. We like German food so we decided to stop at the lodge for dinner. It was just a little after 4 pm when we arrived at the lodge. They informed us that they don’t start serving dinner until 6 pm. They have a take out menu. We looked over the take out food, but that didn’t seem to appeal to us as it did not include spaetzli. We decided to stay and wait so we made a reservation for 6 pm.

We were glad we stayed. The restaurant inside the lodge is gorgeous. There is a hand-carved wooden map of the Northern Rockies mounted on the wall. The room is decorated with a few other wood carvings and an Alpen horn. The outside wall is mostly large windows, with a view out to the cabins towards the lake.

The food was delicious, reminding us of our time in Europe, several decades ago. Ann had the goulash with spaetzli while Keith had the schnitzel with a mushroom sauce and potatoes. We both had the mixed salad with apple crumble pie á la mode for dessert. The mixed salad was the traditional European salad with several different vegetables arranged separately on the plate. The salad consisted of shredded lettuce, corn, carrots, and beets. The apple crumble pie was also in the style that reminded us of Germany, complete with raisins. Delicious!

From Northern Rockies Lodge, it was only about 40 minutes to Liard River Hot Springs. Along the way, we passed two herds of buffalo. The herd we stopped for had quite a few young calves. Why are animal babies so cute?

There were more sections of road construction to go through. We had been through several of them already on the Alaska Highway (Alcan) where they strip the road down to gravel. It was raining or wet when we went through many of them. There were signs indicating high dust areas; however, we had not encountered much dust…yet. However, the sun had been out and the roads were now dry, so the gravel construction areas now created large clouds of dust. One long section only allowed cars to go through in one direction at a time with a pilot truck leading the way. We believe this was done to keep the speeds down and avoid head-on collisions as the road was still two lanes of gravel. The dust cloud as we went through got so thick that visibility was only a couple feet in front of us and we lost sight of the vehicle we were following.

It was about 8 pm by the time we checked into the Liard River Hot Springs, although the sun was still well above the horizon. Luckily we had a reservation, because the campground was full. We decided to wait until the next day to check out the hot springs.

There was cotton falling from the sky like snow, quite heavily at times. We assumed it was coming from some type of tree, like cottonwood, but we didn’t see any cottonwood trees. It was only slightly annoying because it sometimes flew up our noses, or, seeing it out of the corner of our eye, we thought it was mosquitos or some other insects swarming around us.

Tuesday morning, we walked over to the hot springs and hanging garden to check them out. The campground and picnic area are surrounded by an electrified fence. It was installed over the past couple of years to keep out the bears. However, you pass through a gate in the fence to take the boardwalk over to the hot springs. When checking in at the park gate the day before, the park operator recommended taking bear spray with us when venturing outside the fence. So we went back to our Red Tail Lodge and grabbed our bear spray before heading out on the boardwalk.

It was about half a mile walk from our campsite to the hot springs. Along the boardwalk, we could see small fish and tadpoles swimming around in the water below our feet. Ferns and a few different flowers added some texture and color to the marshy land. At about 10:30 am, there were only about a dozen people in the hot springs. At the springs there are toilets and changing rooms, but no showers.

Just past the hot springs is what they call the hanging gardens. The hot water from the thermal spring cascades down a small waterfall. The water flows past several different kinds of flowers which seem to enjoy the warm, moist environment.

On the way back out on the boardwalk, there was a steady flow of people heading towards the springs. We decided to go back to our Red Tail Lodge and eat lunch before going to the springs for a soak. It was about 12:30 pm when we returned to the gate of the boardwalk. However, there was a sign posted that men were working and the gate was locked. We walked over to the park entrance gate to ask how long the springs will be closed. The staff at the entrance said they were cutting down a tree and it may be another couple of hours before they open the hot springs back up.

To kill some time, we walked across the highway to check out the historic mile 496 marker. Just next door to that was the Liard Hot Springs Lodge. It was a simple lodge, but they request you take your shoes off before entering the lodge. A sign indicated that the kitchen was closed, but there was take out food and drinks in a cooler for sale. We bought a couple of Cokes and a couple of brownies and consumed our sugary snacks on a picnic table outside.

As we re-entered the Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park, we swung by the boardwalk gate to see if it was open again. It was about 1:30 pm and the workers started working on the tree at about 11:30 am. We were in luck, the workers were just packing up their truck and the gate was open. We hurried back to our van to get our swim gear in hopes we would beat the crowds to the springs.

When we reached the springs again, there were about 15 to 20 people already enjoying a soak. We joined them for about an hour. Depending where you were in the springs, the temperature of the water varied quite a bit, with pockets of cold water every now and then. There were plenty of benches in the water to sit on and relax. It seemed like our legs wanted to float up to the surface of the water. Did the minerals in the water make us more buoyant? We had a wonderful time listening to all the conversations and chatting with other travelers. By the time we got out, dried off, and changed back into our clothes, the heavy crowds were arriving. By the time we left, there were about 100 adults and children in and around the pool.

Back at our Red Tail Lodge, we relaxed outside in our camp chairs. The Thermacell seemed to keep the mosquitos at bay. We could hear quite a variety of bird songs coming from the tree tops in all directions. Ann tried to hunt them out with her camera, but was not very successful at spotting any of them.

For dinner, we grilled reuben sandwiches outside on our butane stove (paid link). While we were eating, a large bumble bee started harassing Keith. He left for a few moments, but came back with a few of his friends. The four bees were swarming our picnic table. They seemed to be attracted to something we were eating. We put away our dishes, pots, and stove before the bees finally went on their way.

Due to the cold, rain, and bugs, Ann had not been doing her daily stretching routine. Since it was warm and dry outside, she got out her exercise mat. However, the mosquitos found her pretty quickly. She sprayed a little bit of bug spray on her clothing, but it didn’t seem to help much. Normally she finds stretching relaxing, but she rushed through her exercises all the while swatting at the couple dozen of bugs swarming her. Not relaxing at all.

After a stroll around the campground, we got ready for bed. It was about 10:15 pm and the sun was just setting. Being daylight at bed time is just going to get harder to adjust to over the next several weeks.

After a relaxing day at the hot springs, we were ready for more adventure. What will the Alaska Highway bring us next?

Check out our related video: Alcan: Liard River Hot Springs, British Columbia

(Ann)