April 24-25, 2010 Hot Springs National Park

Saturday

The storms continued to roll thru the area in the morning and by noon they were done.  Blue skies and sun for the rest of the day.  Notice – no boats – everyone took them out of the water because of the storms.

 

The geese returned:

One note on the storms:  This same front continued eastward where it did considerable damage and lives were lost.  Please keep those people in your prayers.

We took a little ride to Mount Ida to check out some of the crystal shops and the location of the Arrowhead Mine (where we will be on Monday – :-).  I was able to pick up some oxalic acid at Judy’s Crystals.  I need it to clean the crystals I dug up in 2008 and hopefully some of the crystals we will get on Monday.  Judy and her husband were great on giving me the recipe and some hints on cleaning.

Back at the motor home, we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Dusty was out with us for quite a while – this is what he does when he gets back in – LOL!!

And another great campfire evening – with our neighbors joining us.

Sunday

Today we decided to check out Hot Springs National Park.  Part of this park is in downtown Hot Springs.  The flowers on Bathhouse Row were really blooming:

 

This is the Fordyce Bathhouse which has been restored.  The National Park visitor center is also here.  So we spent some time there touring the rooms, exhibits and seeing their movies – great place.

 

One of the baths:

The steam room:

The needle shower:

  

The ladies changing room:

The music room – check out the stained glass ceiling:

 

Some of the bath houses are still operating – very tempting.

The Grand Promenade:

There are 47 hot springs here but most are capped to protect them from pollution.

There are a number of fountains around town – some hot, some cold, some hot then chilled and all are free so we filled our jug for coffee for the next few days – :-)).  

We also stopped for lunch at Grandma’s Restaurant where I had some great Gumbo – mmmmmmm!!

From there we did the mountain scenic loop and stopped at the Mountain Tower.  This tower was originally built in the early 1900’s as part of draw to the Hot Springs.  It has been rebuilt a few times and is still open.

 

Views from the top:

 

Back home, we sat around the campfire and watched the turtles watching us.  If you look under the black lines, you can see their heads:

 

The two white spots are the turtles watching us:

Life doesn’t get any better than this!

April 20, 2009 – More Liard

We have decided to stay here for a few more days.  Whitehorse is expecting snow tonight and tomorrow and we felt that this would be a better place to wait it out.  And of course having the hot springs right here helped with our decision making.

We did not see the northern lights last night – :-( - too cloudy so maybe tonight – :-)

A nice morning soak was the first thing on our agenda.  Most of our neighbors were there and we all had a nice time chatting and soaking – :-)))))

Some pictures of the way to and from the springs:

 

 

 

The Hot Springs:

 

Our MH – Andy had to put the flag up for Armand:

We spent the rest of the day, relaxing, taking walks, soaking in the hot springs, reading, and beading…How nice!

April 19, 2009 – The Alaskan Highway – Day 2 – Snowy Mountains and Hot Springs

Be aware, this blog is picture intensive.  I just couldn’t stop myself!

Today more than made up for yesterday in scenery (And, yesterday, I questioned my sanity in coming up this early as well as kicking myself for not checking on openings!)

How about this:

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

We found that some streams/rivers are flowing and some are still frozen.  What was interesting to see is that some of the streams and lakes that are frozen have a lot of animal prints on them.  And some are totally devoid of prints – how interesting!

 Summit Lake (still frozen):

Muncho Lake – also still frozen!  For those who have been following the blog, this is the lake that has an incredible blue/green almost turquoise color:

 

  

From the Milepost 2009, info on Muncho Lake “Muncho Lake, known for its beautiful deep green and blue waters, is 7 miles in length, and 1 mile in width:elevation is 2,680 feet. The colors are attributed to copper oxide leaching into the lake. Deepest point has been reported to be 730 feet, although government tests have not located any point deeper than 400 feet/122m. The lake drains the Sentinel Range to the east and the Terminal Range to the west, feeding the raging Trout River in its 1,000-foot/305-m drop to the mighty Liard River. The mountains surrounding the lake are approximately 7,000 feet.”

We saw this little lady:

 

Caribou:

Buffalo – Oh My!!

Our poor motorhome and Tracker are getting really dirty:

We have come to Liard Springs Provincial Park and found the campground closed and snowed in but they are allowing camping in the day area.  So that is where we are and thoroughly enjoying the hot springs – Oh My (again!!)

The entrance to the park:

The entrance to the campground:

Armand is here taking care of the place and he remembered us from 2 years ago (the PA people with the flags – LOL).  So we had a really nice chat.  He told us that they have had record snows this year.  Last year at this time the campground was open but due to the snows it will be a little while yet..  oh well.

There are a few people camped here and we joined our neighbors at the campfire tonight.  Fred brought out his guitar and we were entertained by him and then by Armand on the guitar.  What a great evening.  We were told that the last 2 nights the northern lights were very visible here so I am hoping we can stay up to see them – :-)

We are not sure what our next move is going to be – we are checking on the weather and what is open so stay tuned. 

Miles Traveled:  140 Miles

Routes Traveled:

BC: PH-97