Teslin, Yukon

Wow, the last couple of days have been wild! We've seen so many animals we've stopped counting, especially bison and stone sheep. Early on Monday morning, Janae and I got up and drove early from Fort Nelson. Just like Dad found, it's nice to get a couple of hours driving in before the kids are awake. We started seeing bears (Cold bears, and plenty of them!). And not fleeting glimpses like the day before. These guys couldn't care less that we were there. They just went about their business packing away the calories for the 7 to 8 months they hibernate at this latitude. It was also cool that we were seeing "color phase" bears (black bears that aren't black). Some day I hope to own a nice cinnamon phase bear rug... Anyway, we began heading into the Rockies again. We saw one lone caribou, and shortly before lunch, we got to Stone Mountain. Aptly named as we came upon many stone sheep along the roadway. They come to the road to consume salt and other minerals. There were lots of them including babies. I have to admit, they were very cute (think "fuzzy bunny" cute). We continued from there to Toad river Lodge, where we stopped and made lunch. After lunch we saw a few lone bison. These are wild bison, not behind a fence bison. We also passed through the incredible Muncho Lake Provincial Park. Wow, again. Eventually we arrived at our destination for the day, Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park. The campsites were full, but we were welcome to pull to the curb and camp in the day-use parking lot. Worked for us, the trail to the hotsprings started in the parking lot! The two hotsprings were 108 degrees and 128 degrees. The closest and nicest was the 128. Of course the further downstream the cooler. It was great soaking in it after a full day of driving. And interestingly enough, all my bug bites stopped bothering me after soaking. By the way, yes, there are lots of mosquitos. In fact, a guy who resides here in Teslin says this is the worst year he's seen for mosquitos. Fortunately, we're not backpacking. We had a pleasant night's rest along with about 30 other campers in the parking lot. No, it doesn't get completely dark here at this time of the year. Anyway, we once again got up early this morning, and took off. We were still seeing pleny of bears. We also saw elk, a fox, and a porcupine. We reached contact creek, where the roadbuilders from east and west met. Shortly after that, we entered the Yukon. No interesting animal sightings since then. I've been told that the road tomorrow is pretty rough after the first 150 miles, so will probably be slow going. The tough thing is keeping moving. Everywhere you look is a great setting and we stop at many rest areas and turn-outs. Oh, and souvenir shops, can't miss those... Man, only so many photos can be posted!