These Springs Are Hot
Posted on June 24, 2008
Filed Under Call us tourists |
Posted by Daria
Many guidebooks tout Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park as a must-do stop on the Alaska Highway. It’s a lovely park, and the hot springs are pretty nice. Unfortunately, our visit there coincided with the first warm hours we had experienced in many days. And it’s not much fun to be sitting in hot water when the sun is beating down on you. Where were all those clouds when we needed them?
It costs $10 per family per day to enter the park and use the springs, and the charmingly accented man who said he had to “steal” our money from us that afternoon told us that we could return the next morning if we saved our receipt. You walk about a half mile from the parking lot along a boardwalk through ferns and foliage to get to the pools. It’s very pretty.
One neat thing about traveling on the Alcan (another name for the Alaska Highway): You tend to see people you’ve already seen before. In this case, we encountered one of the ubiquitous tour groups we had seen farther up the road, a group from Alberta. Sierra recognized one of the women from our first ferry ride. I recognized Steve, who received the Order of the Garter from the Frantic Follies in Whitehorse the other night. By the time we arrived, however, most of the tour people were heading out.
The hot springs has two separate pools, with temperatures ranging from 42°-52°C (107°-126°F).The Alpha pool ranges from a cooler area (technically, the kiddie pool) to a medium-hot area, to a really hot area. A waterfall separates the medium from the cooler pool. We didn’t make it to the really hot area; perhaps if it had been cooler out I would have gutsed it out. The pools smell of sulfur, but it’s not as strong as at some other hot springs we have visited.
The Beta pool is a half-mile past the Alpha pool. It’s 3 meters deep throughout, fairly hot, and less crowded. We headed back to the Alpha pool after a while at the Beta. A couple making “whale sounds” (Sierra’s words) in the restroom hastened our exit.
Back at the Alpha pool Sierra and I played “balance on a log” for a while, then I decided to stick my head under the waterfall to pound away at my back and shoulder muscles. While I was under it, Sierra decided to try to walk across the top of the waterfall. She slipped and fell on top of me and was greatly embarrassed. I had no idea what had happened, and it happened too fast to get a picture of it. So you’ll just have to imagine it.
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I bet Sierra falling on you did wonders for your neck and back muscles OUCH!