June 13th, 2012: From Liard Hot Springs to Watson
Lake
The road has finally opened and today we left for Watson
Lake. Renita of course had the Milepost open and just after she read the entry,
“Watch for Grizzly bears”, we topped over a ridge and there were three grizzly
bears right next to the road. It was a sow and two almost full grown cubs and
it was a little scary as we were so close to them. Luckily they took off
running for the bush and so we drove on.
The day started with a traffic jam as a wood bison decided
to graze on the road in the campground. Our Escapee friends Rick and Karen,(part
of an Escapee informal caravan, were blocked for a bit and then it looked our
way to watch Renita get out of the truck and change sides. She stopped to take
some images and she was way to close as the bison looked her in the eye and
thought a bit before moving into the campsite across the road,(Our daughter
Patty has a story of a bison in Yellowstone looking at her and her mother and
then smashing into her car).
Soon we left Liard Hot Springs behind and right away we saw
a large herd of cow and calf bison. A little further another herd of Bull bison
were resting in their beds along the highway and not much further we saw our
first black bear of the day,(if you want to see bears drive the highway in
early June before the berries, as the bear are busy eating the good grass in
the highway ditches)!
We wanted to stop and see the whirlpool but we didn’t feel
good parking alongside the road and the turnoff was a single ended one with a
small turnaround. The first part of the
drive today followed alongside the Liard River and what a wild river it is. I
think I am most surprised at the huge volume, width, and velocity of the large
rivers here. Not to mention the class three and four rapids. It would be sure
madness to do any floating right now.
As we neared Watson Lake the rain started and so we are
sitting here in the cold and wet at a Watson Lake rv park. We did put up a sign
in the signpost forest so now Betty’s Rv Park in Abbeville, La, has a sign in
the Yukon! All is well here and we hope you are all safe and warm. Clear skies
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