DAY 23

Last night we spent the night in a serene mom and pop camp ground. They have a general store on site to buy any last minute or forgotten items. The wife also makes homemade breads and cinnamon rolls daily to sell in the store, smelled yummy. During the summer months they offer horse back riding guides, fishing guides, cabins and RV hook ups and it all is nestled in between a mountain pass. It was still very early in the season so every thing is still covered in snow. But you could feel the hominess feeling this place has. We got to talking to the owners and they are putting it up for sale. They are into their 60’s and ready to relax so if you’re looking for an investment and some hard work we have found the deal for you.

We are driving through the mountain range so there are still areas with lots of snow and ice. As we drove on we found areas with break up happening. We found one of the many perfect spots and stopped. The river was clear teal blue (due to minerals from the mountains) with thick ice banks along the side of the quickly moving river. The river is bordered by crisp green pine trees that lead your eye up towards the snow capped mountains. The sky is bright baby blue with light whispy clouds suspended in the air. As we stood there taking photos and breathing in the fresh air, the music of the rapids rolling over the rocks, the moaning creek of the ice shifting along the banks and birds rustling the trees reminded me of a relaxation sound track.

We saw a young Caribou early in the day. He refused to face us once I got the camera out. We also saw a lot of Stone Mountain sheep. They are indigenous to this area and they have wiry fur and curly horns. We came up to one that would not move out of the road. The Stone sheep are licking the salt off the road so they do not want to move for nothing. It’s the equivalent of for sheep. A little further up the road we came across a hidden treasure. We turned in the Lirard natural hot springs. We were going to pay admission only to find out they don’t start to charge until May 1st. It was only $10 a car load but free is always better.

We hiked the mile to the hot springs. During spring and summer months rare orchids grow along the dock path towards the hot springs, again we were too early in the season. We were surprised to find only a handful of people in the springs. The water was anywhere from 108-120 degrees depending on where you were and if you were stirring the water. As we were relaxing we got to talking to others in the water. We found a home schooling family of 8 from Fairbanks, AK. Home schoolers kind of stand out so we instantly began conversation with them. We also started talking to a young woman on her way to Fairbanks and Denali to work for the summer at a bird observatory. She is a biologist so of course my ears perked right up and I had many questions for her. We then met John and Mary. They are another couple that RV full time and work as camp host and such. They were a wealth of information as they have been traveling this way for years. They were very impressed with our decision to RV full time with children. They wish some one would have told them about it when they were younger. After about an hour of talking, they gave us some frozen salmon they had caught on the Kenai. It is so nice meeting others with the same idea for life. I wish we were staying at the same park as they are. We could have talked to them for days. We know where they will be this summer so I think we will be paying them a visit. We had always said we wanted to visit the hot springs in Colorado before leaving but we never made the time. We all loved the hot spring and a decision was made by all today, we NEED a hot tub when we buy a house.

Once we pried ourselves out of the hot springs we made lunch and started back down the road. Not more than 5 miles away we saw our first buffalo in the wild. What beautiful animals they are. We learned from the ranger that there are several herds the largest being 400 in the area. This could be a problem for smaller vehicles as they like to lay in the road and lick the salt off the road. How would you convince a herd of buffalo to move out of your way??

We stopped in for the night at Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. The owner was very entertaining. He had a heavy Irish accent and a quirky sense of humor. In the office, mounted on the wall is a deers rear end, sun glasses perched on the tail, the nose, and you can guess what the mouth was. The owner called it his cousin, making the kids laugh hysterically. We talked with him for over an hour and that was just while we were checking in. He kept trying to get the kids to shovel snow for him. They didn’t want any part of that. Another gentleman (horse trailer guy) walked up so we began talking with him as well. We had passed each other several times earlier in the day and day before. We did it enough that we started waving each time we passed. We will defiantly stop back in there next time we travel through the Yukon, even at $23 a night.

We plan on stopping at the Signpost Forest in the morning.