bobanddenisewanderlust

We woke up at 7 AM, late for us! The motor home was 56 degrees, so Bob went to the front to run the generator heater and started up the generator. We turned on the furnace and all snuggled under the covers until the coach warmed up.

We got up and started the coffee and the Cuisinart grill. With that and the heat running, we tripped the breaker on the generator. Woops! So Bob had to dress and go out to re-set it if he wanted pancakes for breakfast!

Once that all worked, we re-started the coffee pot. This time waiting for the pot to finish, before we started up the grill. We finished with the grill, before we ran the microwave to heat up the bacon ( remember I had cooked it last week and put it in the freezer).

It is bright, sunny and warming up quickly. So this is the first time I am wearing capis!

At 11:15, we all hopped into the CRV and drove north to what we thought was going to be the two lodges. A few miles up the road, we pulled over because of Stone Sheep.

These were a female herd. Seems that they bunch up by gender, except in the rutting season.

We continued on to the Muncho Lake Lodge. This is the old lodge.

They must be making enough money, as this is the new lodge, built in 1996. It is the newest lodge on the Alaska Hwy. We wandered through the inside. The Mileposts guide book listed Strawberry Flats Campground at mile 437,7, the first lodge at 442.2 and the second lodge at 462.0. So we kept on going. Our plan was to have lunch at the second lodge. It turned out that this was the second lodge, and the Milepost Guide is incorrect, although we did not realize that at the time. So we kept on driving.

Now we ran into this herd of males.

And then there were more Stone Sheep. These gals just would not get out of the road. Bob kept creeping up on them, and eventually they moved out of the way, taking their own sweet time!

We continued on, thinking that the lodge must be just around the next bend! We past beautiful rivers, with Class II and Class III rapids. Finally, we spotted these bison.

This was a very large herd, with twenty-five, out grazing and many more in the woods. In the top picture you can even see some calves, they are the light brown ones.

By this time we thought we had gone too far (we had) but we could see that the road was going to drop to a river, and that is where they usually put the lodges.

Sure enough, we had reached the Liard River (35 miles) and here was the Liard River Lodge. We stopped there for lunch.

So after lunch, we started the 35 mile ride back. We were traveling along when we spotted this big black bear grazing on the side of the road!

He moseyed down into the culvert, but we stayed hoping that he would come up the other side, which he did!

 

So none of us were unhappy that the Milepost was off, since we saw animals that we would not have seen. We continued to watch for more animals, but they had moved on. We were very lucky in our wildlife spotting today!

This is the view from the Muncho Lake viewpoint, looking south, towards Strawberry Flats campground. The high peak in the distance is Peterson Mountain, named for a trapper named Pete Peterson.

The pictures do not catch the beautiful colors of the water or the green of the mountains. British Columbia is gorgeous!

We pulled into the other campground. McDonald campground, which had more open sites than at Strawberry Flats. The Church’s camping guide had recommended Strawberry Flats, and we were glad we had stayed there instead of McDonald.

We returned to the RV’s. The temp was in the 70’s with the sun shining. Our second completely rain free day ( we had a about 4 drops of rain in the late afternoon, from one silly cloud) since we left Denver, on May 22!

The campground filled up today. There were some strange people who pulled into site 7, next to Wayne and Margie. Wayne had gone hiking, up the Sentinel mountain, across the road, and Margie was by herself, sitting in her chair, reading her book.

These new people were making her very uncomfortable. I had seen one of the guys coming back from the pit toilet. He looked strange to me. Not like our usual fellow campers.

These people were cussing, and just being a nuisance. They were fishing, and we assume that they did not have a license. We think that they might have been Gypsy’s.

Anyway, the Ranger, a gal in her 20’s, showed up to collect their money. They cussed and carried on and she told them to leave. They did, stealing firewood from the park, on the way.

As soon as they pulled out, a nice couple from Edmonton pulled in. Margie was relieved, as Wayne was still hiking. She said that she was really glad to know we were right next door.

When Wayne  returned, he was hot, so he put on his bathing suit and went into the water, up to mid-thigh. At that point he said that he could not feel his body, as the water was so cold.

The lady from Edmonton put on her bathing suit and went into the water several times. She was getting water for their campsite. The pump for the water in the campground was broken, so the Ranger had told them to boil the lake water. UGH! The beautiful color of the water comes from silt in the water and the signs had said that the water was not potable( fit for consumption). The Edmonton lady did not seem to get really cold from the freezing water!

We had wine and cheese again at Wayne and Margie’s site. The dogs are so funny! When I started walking that direction, they took off, heading straight for their campsite. They even are sitting on Wayne and Margie’s laps!

We had a nice campfire from happy hour through to about 9:15, using up all the wood. We returned to the motor home and watched three episodes of the Long Ranger, a $5 video we had bought at Walmart. What a corny show with horrible acting. But it kept us entertained, laughing at the corny sayings and the terrible acting. Clayton Moore would never have won an Oscar or Emmy! Wouldn’t you would think the Lone Ranger would have taught Tonto how to speak better English around a campfire?

When we went to bed, at about 11 PM. it was still light out. We think midnight is now the time for dark. At 3:15, it was light out, so we are reaching the Land of the Midnight Sun!

We are also both having problems with allergies. We seem to be following spring north and the pollen is pretty heavy.

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