Thursday 8/12/99
Day 15: Liard Hotsprings, Muncho Lake & Ft Nelson
We left Watson Lake at 8:30, as it was warm and not a cloud in the sky.There was rain forecasted for British columbia and Alberta, we were jsut hoping teh they hgad pased us as we have been in rain for the last four days. We stopped at Whirlpool Canyon where the Coal \river and Liard River come together. There was alot of driftwood and shale rock here as it reminded of of the Gulf island withhow the rock formation was uneven and could see how the land had been formed from many years ago. We next went to the Smith River Falls and took a couple pictures from the overlook. We didn't stay long because of teh killer large mosquitoes that were there. I had not seen so many swarm us so fast since being on the trip. We continued driving along side the Liard River untilereaching the Hot springs at 11:00.
We have been here one time before and it was one of thenice places to relax during a long trip. There didn't seem to be that many people here this morning. we decided to eat lunch first as we had not eaten breakfast. We next went along the boardwalk and walked past a shallow marsh that had little fish sewimming init. We walked past the first spring and went to the second onewhich is not quite as hot but is deeper and not as many people use it. It is a gray color because of the muc at thebottom with a slight sulpher smell. Some locals told us while we were there that ythe water is clear in the winter because nobody uses it and also because it is colder. They also told us there is a third hot spring way back int he forest that has not been developed yet. Shawna and I jumped right in but it took a little while longer before Jacob and Cindy went in. We finallygot everybody in aand had a good time. After staying here for about an half hour we went to the first spring. This one is shallower, narrower and externd around the bushes to form a half circle. It is also where most people go as ther wer more people coming now around at 1:00. We finally decided to leave around 2:00 and ssaw ome Lesser Yellowleg birds walking in the shallow marsh.
A little past Liard Hot Springs we were stopped for road construction for about fifteen minutes. There were still several miles of construction after that as it slowed us down some. We saw a dozen stone sheep just before getting to Muncho Provincial Park. They are always walking along the road as they don't seem to be inhibited by the vehicles. We stopped at campsites and boat launch along Muncho Lake. The campsites are not very private as they are right on the lake facing the mountains but ther are very few trees at the campsite. Thie is one of the more memoriable lakes with the mountains refelecting off of the water.
After leaving Munch Lake we next drove into Trout and got gas as we were also having trouble with the canopy again. I had someone help me clamp it down again and we were on our way. We passed some caribou on the road just past Trout River. Next we came into Stone Mountain Park. The mountains are a nice view to see as there is a low tree line and then mostly rock for about two/thirds of the mountain. Therd are many valleys that wind in between these mountains that were formed from rivers and glaciers. Summit Lake is in this park as it is a nice small lake that also doesn't have any trees. 
We continued south and would not stop next until we got to Ft Nelson. We stoped in here just long enought to be able to get subway sandwiches. We have felt like we are getting behind and needed to get as far as we could today. The next stretch out of Ft Nelson was covered with dragon flies for a couple miles as they swarmed the truck. We finally drove away form them after a coule miles and we would drive the rest of afternoon until we stopped at Buckjinghorm Horse Provencial Park around 9:30 They had thirty campsights that were small andnear a creek. We parked at the very back put the kids to bed as it was going to be a cold night as it was a clear sky and alread cold when we went to bed. We went to be around 12:00