2005/08 Alaska and Back Again - Liard River |
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Friday August 5th
The morning was damp and cold but we had clear skies as we set off for another hundred miles of bouncing to Watson Lake. This took us through the area which had been burning last year, so it was still black around the road. The only wildlife we saw were a few ptarmigans dicing with death, letting us get a few feet away before taking off. The sun came out in late morning, and we had a good view of distant mountains, big lakes, and billions of trees.
We arrived in Watson Lake in early afternoon. We’d been there three weeks earlier at the end of our trip up the Cassiar. We only had a short stop in town to empty our tanks and fill up with water. This time we were going to take the Alaska Highway south to Dawson Creek instead of the Cassiar we’d used on our way north. After a short time on the Alaska Highway we left the Yukon and entered British Columbia again. However, Chilliwack is at the other end the province, still 1200 miles away.
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Alaska Highway (Watson Lake, Whirlpool Canyon, Liard River) |
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As I expected, we met up with the Alaska Highway’s herd of bison. There is little for them to eat in the forest so they spend all summer grazing on the abundant grass on the verges of the highway. They have absolutely no respect for traffic laws, and amble out into the traffic or lie down in the road. Mostly they get away with it as nobody wants to collide with a half ton of bison.
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Alaska Highway bison (3.36) |
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The highway follows the Liard River south. The Liard is a really big river, so the highway stays 
on the north side to avoid having to build bridges. We followed it down the Whirlpool Canyon. This is a spectacular spot where the Liard makes a sharp turn, crashing into the cliffs of some hard rock, divides around great rocks, and cascades across a series of rapids. I’d intended stopping there as it’s a special spot, but I didn’t think we’d be able to fit into the tiny camp sites. Luckily, though, we got there before anyone else and were able to maneuver into the only site that would take the trailer. John and I cooked outside, not as buggy as we expected.
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