2017 Alaska adventure - Toad Lake to Watson Lake, Yukon

We left Toad Lake today heading north to Watson Lake in the Yukon. We had clear blue skies for our trip today. We also had a very successful wildlife viewing trip along the Alaska Highway. We saw a bear, bison, sheep, and caribou. We returned to viewing the mountains of the Northern Rocky range. The Highway wound down out of the mountains to follow the shore of Muncho Lake.

At Liard, we stopped in at the natural hot springs pool. The water in the pool ranged from 25 degrees centigrade to 33 degrees. The springs are the 2nd largest thermal springs in Canada. The pool was wonderful. Our friends tried to walk the trail through the natural hanging gardens around the pool but the trail was closed due to bears on the trail earlier in the day.
The first animals that we saw along the highway were caribou along Muncho Lake. Next were goats grazing along the road. Then we saw a bison soon followed by a bear. Last we saw another bison again grazing not too far from the road. We did see a bison standing on a outcropping along a mountain wall; however, we came across it so fast that I was unable to get a picture. Would have been a great picture though!

We arrived in Watson Lake to camp at their municipal campground. The campground was basically a dirt covered parking lot. Very dusty and there were large black flying bugs that constantly flew at us. It was not one of our prettiest spots to camp. Each camper was lined up next to each other as if in parking spaces with maybe 2 feet between each other after bumpouts were extended. While in Watson Lake we attended their Northern Lights planetarium which showed a presentation of the aurora borealis. This might be the closest that we get to their Northern Lights.

On the way to the planetarium we passed the Watson Lake Sign Post Forest. The Sign Post Forest was started in 1942 by US Army soldiers working on the Alaska Highway. Visitors continue to nail signs to posts within the ‘forest’. Today there are more than 75,000 signs posted by visitors around the world.