Muncho Lake, B.C. (Alaska Highway mile 437)

Before leaving Ft. Nelson, we visited the Ft. Nelson Heritage Museum, which had an extensive collection of pioneer artifacts. We particularly enjoyed the film about the making of the Alaska highway, the tour of the trapper cabin, and the extensive collection of old cars. Definitely worth a stop.

On June 9, we drove 150 miles through the northern end of the Canadian Rockies to the turquoise-blue Muncho Lake. The drive from Ft. Nelson to Muncho Lake took us through the very scenic Canadian Rockies. We viewed beautiful mountains, forests, and unusual rock formations. We crossed the summit pass (4,250 ft) and encountered a few sprinkles. We learned later that a fellow camper passed through there 40 minutes after us, and had to stop because of ice and snow. Again, we are keeping just ahead of the difficulties.

Our destination was Strawberry Flat PP but when we got there it was full. It was Sat night and the locals were out. We drove up the road a few miles and stayed at the Northern Rockies Lodge.

The lodge is the largest log building on the Alaska Highway and had campsites right on the lake. We enjoyed a wonderful wiener schnitzel dinner with German draft beer in their restaurant. (A welcome break from camping food.) The owners operate this lodge as a fly-in fishing lodge. Everyone enjoyed watching the landing of the float plane and the take off of the DHC Twin Otter aircraft down a 900’ gravel airfield across the street. They stopped the traffic on the road during takeoff because the plane barely cleared the road.

The next day, a produce delivery truck flipped over on the local bridge and we all got free fruit. Actually, the roads are in good condition, if you drive carefully. We did have to slow down for the Stone sheep (a smaller cousin of the Dall sheep) because they liked to eat the salt on the side of the road. There are big signs warning you to drive slowly and watch out for caribou, elk, deer, sheep, moose and buffalo. We’ve seen the sheep, deer, moose and buffalo, but no caribou or elk, yet. We did see a black bear foraging along side of the road.

We liked this area so much that we decided to stay an extra day. That gave us a chance to drive up the road a piece and visit the Liard River Hotsprings. The hot springs have created a warm wetlands environment with atypical plants for this area. This is a very popular site for people to take a warm dip in water from 108 to 126 degrees.

Staying an extra day also gave us a chance to visit with our fellow campers. We enjoyed eating smores around the campfire with campers from Wisconsin and Michigan. The majority of the people on the Alaska Highway are from the states.