Alaska Highway, Fort Nelson to Liard Hot Springs

Today's drive was spectacular! Quite a contrast from day 1 on the Alaska Highway (yesterday), we passed through some of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife sightings of the whole road today.

Stone Mountain Provincial Park took us up into the Rockies again, over Summit Pass, the highest point on the Alaskan Highway, and wildlife was abundant. We saw many Caribou with calves and Stone Sheep, a kind of bighorn sheep. Technically, the stone sheep are "small horn" sheep, but I couldn't have told you the difference by horn size. They were a darker color than our Mojave and Sierra Bighorn back in California, though. And not at all shy!

The weather was beautiful - stormy with little spates of rain toward the end of the day. Nice cloudscapes. The road took us along beautiful rivers and through gorgeous mountains - this is definitely an area that would be worth a trip to explore all on its own.

There is camping in Stone Mountain and also along the beautifully surreal turquoise waters of Muncho Lake, where we saw even more Stone Sheep clinging to the cliffs along the road, Caribou and calves, and even Bison! The Highway around Muncho Lake is quite a feat of engineering - we read that they lowered men on ropes to place explosives underwater to make the road cut in the cliff. It's one of those places where you almost feel guilty for driving at the same time you are glad the road is there so you can see it.

Devin said, "it's nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of places like... Montana" ha. But that's the way you feel as you get farther and farther north - fewer and fewer cars are on the road, more wildlife, and more a feeling of the freedom of the open road. Adventure is always just around the corner!

We drove to Liard Hot Springs, where we camped for two nights. Liard rhymes with "weird," by the way. We got into camp early enough that I went on a little scouting walk to the hot springs - fantastic! More about that next post.

See more photos of today's adventure

See more photos of Stone Sheep