Amazing Animals

Bob taking pictures of Stone Sheep.

The Laird Hot Springs.

Caribou Crossing.

A Black Bear coming right up to the car to meet Ben.

Friday, May 20

We got up, showered and talked to our new friends from Toronto, Pat and Peter. They are actually camping in the back of their small van. They have the seats folded down and a shelf built above their beds to hold their stuff. Then they stay in motels now and again. Interesting, but not for us. Anyway, we had breakfast at the campground cafe which offered homemade toast. A great place to stay.

We hit the road early trying to keep ahead of the Sunseekers. We entered the Muncho River area and our first sighting was of two caribou down by the river. Shortly after that, we saw a moose in the willows.

At Muncho Lake, the water was still frozen with a turquoise glow and mountains on both sides. We saw one of the Sunseekers stuck in the gravel and two others from their group were trying to help. Bob thought he might help too, what with his powerful new diesel truck. Later two more Sunseekers joined in. It was great fun laughing with them and hearing their slang. Things were "buggered up" but turned out ok and we all got back on the road.

After leaving the Australians, we spotted two caribou and we got out to hike back and take pictures. We also saw two Stone Sheep (similar to Bighorn Sheep). It seemed like large animals were everywhere. We quit taking pictures of black bears as we saw so many. We were loving it!

Our next stop was Laird Hot springs. It was so pretty, sunny and warm with a board walk back to the springs. We took our suits and changed and climbed in. It was hottest closest to the top with kids hanging out farther down. It was not crowded and was just nice to chat with a few people. We met a young couple from Stockbridge. Small world. We went back to the trailer where Ben was napping, fixed lunch and pushed on.

We came out of the mountains back to rolling pine and aspen covered hills with grassy banks. It looked like a nicely mowed parkway, but piles of poop were noticeable. This was Woods Buffalo country and we got several pictures of them grazing beside the road. They are so huge!

We crossed more wide rivers and went through a few settlements, but went through longer and longer stretches of wilderness.

We did glimpse a Grizzly Bear, but it was getting dark and he ran in the woods and sat there peeking out at us. Bob tried, from the car, but we couldn't get a picture. We also saw another moose, but couldn't stop. We're getting spoiled.
We entered the Yukon and planned to stay at Watson Lake. We got gas and took pictures of the Signpost Forest. It is huge with signposts from every where imaginable. We decide we felt good enough to put on some more miles so we picked out The Continental Divide which advertised full hook up and world famous cinnamon rolls. We were tired when we got there and it was still closed. So we pushed on to Teslin to the Yukon Lakeshore Resort. It was nice and clean on the lake with a good view. We ran into another couple that we had met at both other campgrounds which was fun and a comfort. We enjoyed chatting with them and she is on the board in Vermont for dealing with rescue dogs. She knew Ben right away and he was happy to see them. After our chat, we turned in, so tired we didn't even care about dinner.