Whitehorse YK to Liard Hot Springs BC

 

Today (Friday) we left Whitehorse, heading east and south. Interesting forecast for overnight in Whitehorse. Notice that it was  "mainly sunny" at 11 pm. Not a misprint!

Near Teslin we started to see some flooding:

Big sandbags

Too late for sandbags here

Looks like sand-filled tubes at this one

More sandbags ready to deploy in town

Along the way to Watson Lake we saw this young Black bear taking it easy while filling up on the spring grasses along the roadside:

We intended to stay around Watson Lake for the night. When we got there though, it was still early and nothing really appealed there.  In 2015 we had stayed at a pleasant Government (or Territorial, like our Provincial) Park near there, but it seemed to be gone. We were quite disappointed in general with the Yukon Territorial campgrounds we found this time. It's especially disappointing because we were so  impressed with them last trip. It seems like the current gov't does not value these places, and has been letting them go downhill, with quite a number closed. The private cg's around there were too expensive for our taste. Many more campers are overnighting in Rest Areas or just in parking spots along the highway.

Anyway we decided to move on to the Liard Hot Springs BC campground. We got there about 4pm, expecting it to be busy, and sure enough we had to camp in the overflow area. Same prices as a campsite though. We did camp, and thoroughly enjoyed a soak in the Hot Springs. No pictures there, as we left all our valuables locked in the van in the overflow area, about a 20 minute hike. The official camping area is now enclosed by electric fencing for bear protection, like the campground in Lake Louise AB. No such protection in the Overflow area though, or at the Springs themselves.

On the way to Liard there are usually a number of Wood Bison along the road. They didn't disappoint:

Finally saw a calf

Lots of newborn calves here, but it's naptime