Wildlife in the Wild

 

The Alaska Highway, also known as the AlCan (Alaska Canada) passes through five rugged mountain ranges and crosses countless rivers and streams. Constructed over eight months in 1942, its purpose was providing a land route to supply Alaska in the event of sea routes being cut off after the attack on Pearl Harbour. 

The vast majority of the highway passes through the Canadian province of British Columbia up to the Yukon Territory (also Canada), and then across to the Alaskan border, about 1900 kilometres, with the total length from Dawson Creek, BC to Fairbanks, Alaska about 2230 kilometres. 

Muncho Lake, seen above, stretches 12 kilometres along the route. It's a popular place for camping in the summertime with a beautiful jade green colour due to copper oxide leached from the bedrock underneath the lake. 

Above the lake is an alluvial fan where gravel, boulders, and sediment form a triangular shaped field washed down by rivers and streams. We spent a few hours one morning walking up the fan, and found it quite challenging because of the stones and gravel. 

To our delight, a small herd of Stone Sheep clattered down the fan across from us. How sure-footed and swift they are with dainty hooves much more agile than our clumsy booted feet.  

Their goal was the highway where they lick salt and minerals from the roadbed. In the winter highways are salted to lower the freezing temperature of the water, making roads safer. Once the licking was completed, the sheep made their way along the rock face beside the highway. How perfectly they blend in to the scenery. 

Not too far up the road from Muncho Lake is Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. The campground is fenced with an electric fence to keep wildlife at bay. While sitting at our campsite one afternoon a large black bear wandered by on the other side of the fence.

To access the hot springs, one passes through a gate and onto a boardwalk through a marsh. There we saw another black bear, quite small, foraging for berries in the bushes. 

The springs themselves were such fun. They were used by the First Nations peoples for cleansing purposes, and the first written record of the springs dates from 1835 by an agent of the Hudson Bay company. The mosquitoes were terrible in the campground, the worst of the entire trip, but they didn't seem to like the hot springs very much. 

The natural setting and source of the springs has been preserved here with hot water, really hot water flowing in one end of the pool, then cascading down a retaining wall to a cooler pool, but still warm and pleasant. The pool narrows at the other end into a twisting, overgrown creek that we waded until we came to the end where a cold stream tempered the water. 

It was a delightful place and during our couple of days at the campground, we visited the pools three times. 

One evening, around 9 pm, we walked along the boardwalk and saw a cow moose stood in the muskeg with her calf. We watched for a very long time, until the mosquitoes drove me batty. The mother appeared to be weaning the calf, for when the calf tried to nurse, the mother gently pushed it aside and walked away. 

We had heard how terrible the bugs can be in the north, so we came prepared with mosquito head nets. This was the only place we used them, and they made a great difference! Here's Tim cooking pizza on the grill. We ate inside the trailer! 

These were our first wildlife sightings other than a couple of bears along the highway, and we were thrilled to see the Stone Sheep, the moose, and the bears. 

There is so much to tell about our trip, but I will pick and choose what I hope you will find most interesting. 

We're experiencing hot days here now at home, and at 9 pm there is just a tiny fingernail of yellow moon visible as I sit outdoors under the gazebo. The temperature is pleasant, and I look at the dark shapes of the garden beyond the deck, and I am so content to be at home.