Liard River Hot Springs and Muncho Lake

Leaving Watson Lake put us the farthest east on the Alaska Highway that we'd been so far and felt like the beginning of our route back down to the U.S. and across to the East Coast. (It was also the end of our connectivity for a bit so get ready for some catchup!) Because we'd come up the Cassiar Highway, we'd missed one of the Alaska Highway stops that *everyone* says not to miss, Liard River Hot Springs. Of course, with that level of hype, could it possibly live up to it? More to come... #airstreamtoalaska #fulltimefamilies #fulltimetravel #childhoodunplugged #thewaterwaswarmbeforetheygotin #liardriverhotsprings #britishcolumbia

A five minute walk along a boardwalk built a few inches above the boggy forest floor leads you from the predictably tidy Provincial Park campground to two roughly 100' x 20' natural pools accessible by stairways from a beautiful deck. The top pool nearer to the source is around 105 degrees and the lower one gets slowly cooler as it narrows and winds toward a cold mineral water spring allowing you to fine tune your location to your perfect temperature. The 3-4' deep pools, perfect for gliding Wynne around with her "floaties" or dipping Mae, are surrounded by lush forest with impossibly green ground cover and bushes with bright red berries and feel as they might have hundreds (if not thousands) of years ago. #britishcolumbia #liardriverhotsprings #airstreamtoalaska

We decided to spend three nights at Liard River Hotsprings, rotating through our schedule of walks up to the pools, baby naps, more pools, trips to the playground and strolls around the campground loop to check out adventure vehicles. I chatted up a few guys with loaded BMW F800GS's, the bike @advodna_ann and I had ridden around Colorado and Utah and from Nice, France to the Pyrenees and back down the epic passes in the Alps (I'm gonna throw the link to that trip into my profile for a bit. Check it out!). They were just on their way back from being titled over to about 45 degrees by the wind on the Dempster Highway. We also met a nice Austrian couple in a beautiful LandCruiser with a Bimobil conversion on the back. We took a few pics to make @lostworldluis jealous and heard about how they'd been part of an organized tour of 28 German, Swiss and Austria vehicles ranging from Hymers (the Winnebago of Europe) to MANN trucks and Unimogs who had all shipped to Buenos Aires and driven north in a convoy through the Spanish speaking countries. That must have been quite a sight! Finally, we met a really interesting couple at the playground with a 3 and a 5 year old. They were being transferred by the AirForce up to Fairbanks from their previous assignment in Tokyo. Since the kids had been born, they'd been in Denmark, Korea and Alabama. A very interesting lifestyle and created plenty we could all talk relating to raising kids on the move and in different places. They "came by the house" in the evening and we all chatted like old friends while the kids created Lego worlds on the floor. #liardriverhotsprings #britishcolumbia #fulltimefamilies #fulltimetravel #airstreamtoalaska #advodnaxmascard

Okay, I know the deal; At least every third pic has to have an Airstream in it, so here ya go. Just 60 km down the Alaska Highway from Liard River Hot Springs, we pulled into a waterfront site alongside beautiful, glacial Muncho Lake. With minimal trees around, I had to improvise a set up for the hammock using the mount for the Fiamma bike rack as one side. The sharp, bare slopes surrounding this side of the lake were a bit of foreshadowing for what we'd see on the drive through the Stone Mountain Provincial Park the next day. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #airstreamtoalaska #airstreamwithkids #eno #enolife #enostyle #britishcolumbia #muncholake

It was a bit of a bold (read: stupid, reckless, ill-advised) move to leave Liard on a Saturday to relocate to popular lake with only 15 campsites in each of the two campgrounds, but to do it in the afternoon following the baby's nap and after dumping and filling up with what was probably the most expensive gas of the trip (I don't actually do the math on litrogallons to kiloloonies) was just pure hubris. But, after something like 240 days on the road, we've yet to be shut out and may just be tempting fate. Sure enough, there were a few spots available and after backing in with our bumper hanging over the beach, we plopped the girls down in front of the glassy water and grabbed the chairs and sand toys. Well, gravel toys. #childhoodunplugged #britishcolumbia #muncholake #airstreamtoalaska

Yes, there is now a little more competition for #wynneswagon, but soon enough she'll realize that what's in the wagon will be even more fun to play with. Eventually... #childhoodunplugged #muncholake #britishcolumbia #airstreamtoalaska #sisters #toddlerlife

I mean... just... sometimes it's too much. #childhoodunplugged #muncholake #britishcolumbia #airstreamtoalaska #fulltimefamilies