May 26: Liard Hot Springs to Watson Lake

I was sad to leave the hot springs.  In retrospect we should have stayed another night as we didn't leave the park until after 12:00.  We all opted to leave late so we could squeeze in another soak in the springs.

We continued heading north on the Alcan and saw some Bison along the way.  I was surprised because I didn't realize they were native to the area.  There is a particular herd that lives in the area and they are Wood Bison. They live in the forest rather than on the plains.  Apparently they were reintroduced and are doing well.

There are signs posted all along the highway warning of bison.  I sure wouldn't want to run into one of them with my RV!! The big semi trucks traveling the highway have big bison guards protecting the front of the truck and radiator.  They look a little mangie but they are shedding their winter coats, which I didn't realize bison did.  I expected Sadie to go nuts at their site, but I think she thought they were cows or horses and didn't make a sound.

On the way we stopped at Contact Creek which is where the southern half of the Alaskan Highway was completed.

For all my kayaking friends the Liard River has some pretty significant rapids.  These are "Cranberry Rapids".  Not sure where the name came from.

We also crossed into the Yukon Territory Border.

                                      The border was also located at Historic Mile 585

We arrived at Watson Lake in the late afternoon and stopped at the visitor center to get "oriented".  There is a Northern Lights exhibit here as will as the world famous signs posted from all over the world.  The only campground in town is basically a dirt parking lot and expensive so we drove about six miles out of town and parked at the boat launch.  It wasn't much better than the RV park but it was free.