Day 19 - Liard Springs, British Columbia
Sunday 7/9/2006
We slept well once again. It was a bit warmer this night so there was no need to use the catalytic heater. It was another slow start and we were up by 9:30am. The morning started with Karl ranting about 'When are we gunna have bacon and eggs?' and after rummaging through the fridge we only came up with a new package of bacon and 3 eggs; [Isabella: not enough to feed the herd.] Instead, we pulled out the cereal and milk. For a few moments, the sun peeked through the overcast clouds. I wanted to go back to Muncho Lake and take some pictures, while the weather was still good. But it came and went a few times, as did the rain. We decided to put up the awning to give us a dry entrance, but suddenly turned into a huge mosquito magnet. Whenever it started to rain, all the mosquitoes parked themselves on the lip of the awning.
Droves of mosquitoes sit on the lip of the awning, waiting for someone to walk by
For lunch, we ate hot dogs in the trailer. The hot dog breads were from the same dough as the hamburger breads we had used for 4th of July; they were dry and fell apart. The kids decided to walk over to the hot springs again while I stayed back at the camper and installed transparent, rock protecting film over the headlights. Even with mosquito repellent on, they continued to swarm around me and I was concerned that I'd accidentally trap one between the film and the headlight. A new neighbor parked out in front of us and I talked with them about taking a glacier cruise in Anchorage. They said there was a firm that did it with a catamaran and that this boat got them very close to the glaciers. 'We'll have to investigate this a bit further when we get there' I thought. When the kids returned from the hot pools we got ready to leave for Muncho Lake again. The kids took part in killing off the mosquitoes that have gotten trapped in the truck, a common routine. [Isabella: We would struggle and yell at each other to hurry up and get into the truck. I would frantically wave my hands across the closed door to 'wash' the mosquitoes away. Me and Erik have to time it right and we have started to learn what causes them to arrive in the first place.]
Isabella builds a small monument by the beach of Muncho Lake
A split rock along the "beach" of Muncho Lake
The water in Muncho Lake is very sensitive to light: the dark areas are cloud shadows
Isabella driving us back and forth to Lake Muncho
Me and Isabella, posing at Muncho Lake, British Columbia
As we drove back towards the campground we ran into the herd of horses we saw the other day. This time, they were in the road, blocking traffic. They seem to be roaming free in this area and some are branded. Fortunately, there are signs that warn drivers that they may be around.
Horses walking along the Alaskan Highway, just south of Liard Springs, British Columbia
More "wild" horses of the same herd
We drove a little bit further and Isabella wanted to take some pictures of the clouds.
Every cloud has a silver lining
Back at the campground, the boys sat outside and played chess for a while. Isabella wrote a few postcards and I began working on the diary. It started to get a bit chilly around 9pm so we all went inside and turned on the catalytic heater. Erik prepared dinner: a special mix of hamburger meat, macaroni and cheese.