Liard Easter

Liard Hotsprings, often merely a stopover travelers on the Alaska Highway, is a destination of its own that beckons many into its soothing, and allegedly healing, waters.  Year round accessible and thoughtfully distanced from the highway, its natural-scaped pools with lightly graveled riverbed and exotic hardwood benches are a rustic and raw companion to their southern Radium and Banff commercial cousins.

A wooden boardwalk, linking the hotsprings and parking lot, meandering through a warm water swamp and boreal forest does more than protect the sensitive habitat from wandering footprints. It provides an uncluttered journey to disconnect from the drive you're enduring, refocus on nature's wealth while contemplating the special environment you're in.

A repeat visitor - overnight and passing through - this Easter was my first visit during winter.  Dan and I were joined by his aunt and uncle from Whitehorse for a weekend of relaxing, looking out at stunning northern Rockies scenery and even outdoor! barbecuing.

A handful of the sites in the campground near the hotsprings were occupied by hardy campers both in trailers and tenting!  Usually a keen camper, I firmly draw the line at winter camping.  Mercifully there was a simple lodge (and lodge is a generous term) across the highway to bunk down for the night.  Heading south to Muncho Lake the next night, we checked into the homey Northern Rockies Lodge.  An Easter brekkie the next morning and we bid 'til soon' to Bob and Dawna as another northern roadtrip came to its close.

Highway chockers with buffs!

These solid creatures are bigger than the Civic!

Inviting hotspring

Muncho Lake from the north

Ahh, northern Rockies

Course's work

The Sharklab celebrated Easter Friday by tracking juvenile lemon sharks in the day and joining the invading hordes of American holiday makers on the north island for night one of Junkanoo and excessive dancing in the streets and dock-side pubs.

We needed a mildly wild night out after hosting a university elasmobranch course for five days. Kicked out of the lab for its duration, we were moved to an apartment down the road. We somewhat grudgingly took this minor inconvenience and made the absolute most of it. The volunteers often went out to help with their seatrips in whatever capacity we were needed - boat drivers, bait cutters and throwers, photographers. I helped out with baiting in 18 blacktips, and escorting the students down a mangrove-lined channel so they could hand feed juv lemons.





The second last night, I scored a dinner invitation that the others are still bitter over. Walking back to the apartment, a golf car pulled up and offered me a ride home - offering and accepting rides from complete strangers is normal and expected in Bimini. When I saw the driver and her three passengers had pink drinks in fish covered glasses, I knew it would be a crazy ride back. Stopping next door to where we were staying, the middle aged women invited me in for a dinner of steak, lobster, fresh wahoo, veggies and rum punch. The lobster or rum punch wasn't their cause of envy. It was the steak. Collectively, we haven't had steak in decades. I paid dearly for my dinner engagement the next morning.

Getting up hungover at 6:50 am to be at the lab at 7:10 am to set a vertical longline in the Gulf Stream on four foot rolling seas was the opposite of fun. The morning after a full moon has its perks though. Still stumbling and reeking of rum punch, I enjoyed these vistas.







Hauled up by hand, the 1800 feet of the vertical long line netted us three! tiger sharks.



The largest was 3.28 meters! They tied him alongside the boat so we could get in and snorkel with him.





I'm home in less than three weeks. Eeekk. It's going to be difficult to leave, but I am also eagerly anticipating my impending uni graduation and northern B.C. summer.