August 16, 2011 | Tips from Travellers >
Fort Nelson, Camping
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Part #1 –
Finally! My first camping trip of the season, we were headed up to the Liard Hot Springs. It was a beautiful drive, with some rain and some sun as well. We stopped at Testa River Services (120km/75miles from FN) they have a great selection of art work, snacks, and aboriginal crafts. Also be sure to try their cinnamon buns! They are absolutely fabulous! Our next stop was Toad River Lodge (196km/122miles from FN), Toad River was named originally “Towed River” because they used to have to tow supplies on the river. Through the years people assumed it was “Toad” as in the frog. So eventually it was re-named “Toad River.” They offer a full menu of great homemade soups and breads, great food.
We continued our drive north, we ended up driving through rain for about an hour. We arrived at Liard Hot Springs in the early afternoon, we had reserved a site there the week before (which is a good idea if you are planning on staying there close to the weekend). It was still raining when we arrived so instead of setting our tent up in the rain we headed across the highway to the Liard Hot Springs Lodge and had lunch. The restaurant is a laid back, comfortable atmosphere. They have a wide selection of homemade meals to choose from, including everything from Hot Turkey Sandwiches to Buffalo Burgers. Our meals we great, with homemade French fries and homemade gravy!
The rain hadn’t decided to let up much, so we decided we may as well set up our tent so we could have a dry place to lay down and wait out the rain. Upon finishing the set up of our tent we were soaked right through our clothes and cold, but what is a good camping trip without some good ol’ toughing it out? We hid away in our tent for awhile, reading books and deciding what we could do that evening. When the rain finally stopped, we rented towels from the office and headed for the springs. When we got there we found that it wasn’t to busy (which was nice) we soaked up the smell of the forest around us and made conversation with a few other visitors. Mostly tourists headed to Alaska, they raved about the beautiful drive and the perfect relaxing springs.
Later on, we started up a fire and cooked our dinner. Cheddar smokies and vegetables! YUM! The park was nice and quiet as soon at 10pm hit (quiet time) the staff present was great they were helpful and made sure everything was nice and clean. The northern sky was break taking, star decorated it and you could here the squirrels racing through the trees. There we a lot of little friends running around checking us out, they would sit on the edge of our campsite and just stare. HAHA! Then dash off as soon as we saw them.
To Be continued…