Got up late this morning and then decided to put the shield on the toad since we had it washed clean. Left camp around 10:30 and headed to the Fort Nelson Museum. Now this is a neat little museum! It’s not a formal museum but is absolutely chucked full of old artifacts from life in the early days of the Alaska Highway. We watched a video of actual footage of the construction of the highway. The museum also has a most impressive collection of antique cars. A visit to this museum is a must for highway travelers.
For those who may not be familiar with it the highway was built by the U.S. Army Construction brigades in response to the threat to Alaska by Japan during what became WWII. The entire 1,390 miles of road was carved out of the then wilderness over mountains, rivers, rocks and tundra of permafrost and with black flies and mosquitoes in summer. Construction of the Alcan Highway (Alcan is the military acronym for the Alaska-Canada Highway) officially began on March 9, 1942. By June more than 10,000 American troops had poured into the Canadian North, most of them regiments of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Roadwork began in April, with crews working our of the 2 largest construction camps, Whitehorse and Fort St. John. Construction ended 8 months and 12 days later on October 25, 1942. This roadway is considered one of the world’s most amazing engineering feats. Civilian crews followed and smoothed out the rough road and improved upon the temporary bridges put in place by the troops.
A local lady working in the museum told Pat about Tea Tree Lotion as a mosquito repellent from Australia and Pat bought a couple of bottles in the local health food store. It works! She has used it often with excellent results and a more pleasant odor than DEET! We have lost all cell phone signals but our XM Radio is still working to pull in stations.
We are heading to Liard Hot Springs tonight hoping we can find a campsite available as tomorrow is July 1st and that is the major holiday (Dominion Day) that signals the beginning the summer for Canadians and they start their vacations or as they are called their “holiday”.
The scenery north of Fort Nelson turned very beautiful and more mountainous often with snow patches still on top. We started seeing animals along the roadway today. We saw several young caribou by the road in different places. Just after crossing the Trout River Bridge in the Muncho Lake Provincial Park we found a herd of about 40-45 woods bison spread on both sides of the highway and we were able to stop and photograph them. The herd included numerous baby bison. We were alone with them for five to seven minutes until more traffic arrived. We saw three Stone Sheep around milepost 454 including one baby sheep. We also saw deer in several places.
We encountered rain as we approached Muncho Lake. The road is extremely close to the lake for several miles with a mountain abruptly on the other side of the road. There are lots of sharp curves that require very slow speeds in case anyone is coming the other way and the scenery is beautiful. Continuing on toward Liard, we hit a long stretch of muddy road construction, again covering the RV and toad in mud! We arrived at Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park and to our surprise were able to take our choice of several camping spots. The car shield is caked in mud! Mosquitoes, mosquitoes, mosquitoes!!! Never have we seen so many of these hungry beasts! We had to don our mosquito jackets with headnets just to be outside around the RV!!
Laird Hostprings is actually a true hot springs area where a quarter mile wooden boardwalk has been built over a marshy area leading to a facility and a choice of two very warm pools. Temperatures range from 107 to 120 degrees in the actual stream pools with the cooler water at the lower ends. We put on our bathing suits and braved the mosquitoes to cross the boardwalk and soak our tired bodies in the hot water for about half and hour.
For those who may not be familiar with it the highway was built by the U.S. Army Construction brigades in response to the threat to Alaska by Japan during what became WWII. The entire 1,390 miles of road was carved out of the then wilderness over mountains, rivers, rocks and tundra of permafrost and with black flies and mosquitoes in summer. Construction of the Alcan Highway (Alcan is the military acronym for the Alaska-Canada Highway) officially began on March 9, 1942. By June more than 10,000 American troops had poured into the Canadian North, most of them regiments of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Roadwork began in April, with crews working our of the 2 largest construction camps, Whitehorse and Fort St. John. Construction ended 8 months and 12 days later on October 25, 1942. This roadway is considered one of the world’s most amazing engineering feats. Civilian crews followed and smoothed out the rough road and improved upon the temporary bridges put in place by the troops.
A local lady working in the museum told Pat about Tea Tree Lotion as a mosquito repellent from Australia and Pat bought a couple of bottles in the local health food store. It works! She has used it often with excellent results and a more pleasant odor than DEET! We have lost all cell phone signals but our XM Radio is still working to pull in stations.
We are heading to Liard Hot Springs tonight hoping we can find a campsite available as tomorrow is July 1st and that is the major holiday (Dominion Day) that signals the beginning the summer for Canadians and they start their vacations or as they are called their “holiday”.
The scenery north of Fort Nelson turned very beautiful and more mountainous often with snow patches still on top. We started seeing animals along the roadway today. We saw several young caribou by the road in different places. Just after crossing the Trout River Bridge in the Muncho Lake Provincial Park we found a herd of about 40-45 woods bison spread on both sides of the highway and we were able to stop and photograph them. The herd included numerous baby bison. We were alone with them for five to seven minutes until more traffic arrived. We saw three Stone Sheep around milepost 454 including one baby sheep. We also saw deer in several places.
We encountered rain as we approached Muncho Lake. The road is extremely close to the lake for several miles with a mountain abruptly on the other side of the road. There are lots of sharp curves that require very slow speeds in case anyone is coming the other way and the scenery is beautiful. Continuing on toward Liard, we hit a long stretch of muddy road construction, again covering the RV and toad in mud! We arrived at Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park and to our surprise were able to take our choice of several camping spots. The car shield is caked in mud! Mosquitoes, mosquitoes, mosquitoes!!! Never have we seen so many of these hungry beasts! We had to don our mosquito jackets with headnets just to be outside around the RV!!
Laird Hostprings is actually a true hot springs area where a quarter mile wooden boardwalk has been built over a marshy area leading to a facility and a choice of two very warm pools. Temperatures range from 107 to 120 degrees in the actual stream pools with the cooler water at the lower ends. We put on our bathing suits and braved the mosquitoes to cross the boardwalk and soak our tired bodies in the hot water for about half and hour.
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