Liard Hot Springs, Alaska Highway, British Columbia – Test of courage in hot springs

Alaska Highway is beautiful to drive. The road is curvy and hilly in the northern Rocky Mountains. A very nice part is the highway following the shore of copper oxide dyed blue-green Muncho Lake. We see a black bear today, two caribous, a couple of mountain goats and seven moose, among them a mother with fawn and two bucks with already impressively grown antlers. At 7:30 p.m. we reach Liard Hot Springs. The hot sulphur springs are legendary since they are situated in the middle of the forest and their pools have been kept more or less naturally. Many truckers take a bath here; they recommended us to stop at this point. Follow a boardwalk through the warm swamps in the woods where ample nearly subtropical vegetation grows. We are so late that the rangers let us pass without paying the 5 $ entrance fee. The campground at the springs is mostly full, but it is allowed to overnight at the no-fee parking lot on the other side of the road. There are two pools. The second one is three metres deep and shall have 42°C. While swimming we are overheating quickly and want to try the first pool. I can’t imagine the temperature of 58°C it is said to have is correct. But maybe it is. This pool chain is shallow and you can walk around. The sulphur water is hot, and in some spots it wells unexpectedly from the bottom so that you jump backwards because you nearly scald yourself. There is a spot you can only reach when walking through the area where the very hot water comes out. Brave ones have built a stone man there and everybody who reaches this place puts another stone, accompanied by the applause of the watchers. The secret shall be to move continuously. The first time it works very well, but without camera. We have to repeat the procedure to get a photo of evidence. Unfortunately the water stream changed somehow and I return with legs red like a boiled lobster.

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