June 7

Fort Nelson, BC to Laird Hot Springs, BC

Upon leaving the campground we ran errands in Fort Nelson with stops at the grocery store, visitor’s center, quilt shop, and gas station. We are keeping well stocked with supplies as we head towards the Yukon where prices will increase as selection will decrease. That’s not a totally true statement since there is at least one large town along the way.

The traveler that mentioned plenty of wildlife up the road was right. Within half an hour heading north we spotted our first black bear and by the end of our day’s journey we saw three more black bears, a caribou, a moose and her calf, stone sheep, and wood buffalo (wood bison according my traveling environmental educator.)

Not only did the wildlife put on a show so did the scenery and the character of the road. Plenty of mountains, river crossings, steep grades up and down, and twists and turns added to great travels today. We decided we it was to be a somewhat short travel day covering around 200 miles. We stopped sometime around 3 pm at Laird Hot Springs, a British Columbia Provincial Park. It has a beautiful hot springs. It is natural setting where you walk about ¼ mile on a boardwalk over wetlands to slow free running stream. Head upstream in waist deep clean water and the temperature goes north of 120 F or downstream where it finally cools down to maybe 90 F. It is a beautiful setting!