May 17, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Fort Nelson, Sightseeing Tours
Along the 2.5 hour drive northwest of Fort Nelson my family and I saw some beautiful scenery. We wound our way up the Steamboat Mountain to see breath taking mountain ranges and the Muskwa River way below. Then we drove further to the highest lake along the Alaska Hwy. – Summit Lake. It was beautiful and cold with some snow on the mountain tops. There were tons of mountain sheep climbing around on cliffs right beside the road and they were on the road too licking salt. Finally we came down off of the high mountain roads to Toad River town, we saw some elk and moose down near the town. Past there we wound our way along a very twisty part of the highway, right beside the Racing River. About an hour after Toad River we were at Muncho Lake. We got to stop at the Double G services and eat lunch at the bakery. It was a nice friendly place with really good home cooked food . . . I ate way too much! Then we poked around the area. We hiked up some of the old washes from the flood of ‘74. It was really easy walking and we got to see the awing effects of Mother Nature. There was so much debris that had been washed down to the lake and the amount of rock that made up the wash was dumb founding. Then we drove just past the north end of the lake and on the left side of the road we saw there was sheep licks that we could walk too. There was a nice gravel parking lot with a great view of the mountains. We walked down the short trail to see the salt saturated ground that the animals in the area come to get salt. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any wildlife but it was interesting to see none- the- less. After that we drove on to the Laird Hotsprings. The road was so hilly and I couldn’t believe that the mountains were still so beautiful. Slowly we wound our way down to cross the Laird River then up onto an old terrace on the other side. On our right was the Laird Hotsprings Lodge which we stayed the night at. And the hotsprings was on the left. So we walked over through the campsite and down the boardwalks over really swampy ground. After a 5 minute walk we could see the hotsprings. It was getting cool out so the warm water was very nice!! I am too much of a wimp so I stayed in the lowest pool because it was cool. But my family went into the upper pools because they were way warmer. It was too cool walking around the lowest pool and there was willow trees and others leaning in over the pool.