Chuck:
About two hours after we turned in last evening, the carnival arrived. We were dry camped at a Rest Area across from Liard Hot Springs and several trucks loaded with carnival rides and concessions became neighbors in our rest area. It was the Canuk Amusement traveling troupe with ‘Tilt-a-Whirl’, bumper cars, etc. One tractor trailer had 6 doors on each side, entering small, bunk bed compartments . There was a lot of gayety as they prepared for the evening. Then, almost two hours later, more and louder gayety. Seems they were returning from a walk to the hot springs to wash off the trail dust (the springs are about a five minute walk down a boardwalk and are free after 7 pm). By 2 am all was quiet again.
The morning was cool and calm, as in ‘No Wind”. Great, the hills are steep and long and unending, but, no headwind. We are in the Canadian Rockies or, as they call it here, the Northern Rocky Mountains. A black bear about 50 feet off the road played hide & seek as I tried to get some pictures. This area is beautiful, twisting and turning through valleys and along mountain streams. Later, as I started the descent to Muncho Lake, about 20 Stone Mountain Sheep blocked the highway. They like to lick the minerals of rocks and pavement and are well known to travelers in this area. Got more photos. Muncho Lake and the mountains surrounding it are spectacular. I especially like the ride around the lake, it is flat. As I count down the miles to complete the day, I see our RV about 3 miles before we had planned to stop. Betty has parked in a Rest Area right on the lake shore with mountains on the far shore; picture perfect. I never complain about stopping a mile or two early. Over a cold drink, Betty tells me about Northern Rockies Lodge that is only a mile away. Humm, there may be a plan here. It is owned by a Swiss couple and is made of massive logs and has lots of wood carvings. The dining room ceiling is three stories high and has a large stone fireplace with a fully interior stone chimney rising to through the vaulted ceiling. The food was the best. It was a Swiss menu, but it reminded us of the German meals we enjoyed years ago. A “Happy Choice”.
Betty: Upon leaving this morning, I immediately started into narrow, winding mountain roads. Coming around one bend there was a mother black bear and three cubs. They were this year’s cubs as they were quite small. I couldn’t drive and get their picture, although I tried picking up the camera, aiming it out the window and just shooting – nothing good.
On one of the walls of the Northern Rockies Lodge dining room there is a hand-carved 14’ X 20’ map of part of Northern British Columbia. It has illuminated red and/or green lights to show where the airplanes have flown for the day. There were also 3D reliefs of the lodge and cabins that lodge owners have on other fly-in lakes. It was fun to see where their float planes had flown for the day. I’d love to come back to this area. We love the water so always enjoy the beautiful lakes that we come across and sometimes wish we had our canoe or kayaks.