The Pools (and Bakeries) of Northern BC

Watson Lake to Williams Lake (via Alaska highway)

Making our way down from the Yukon towards Williams Lake/central BC, we got rained on pretty much every day. And not that we are complaining, BC needed and needs rain with the worst forest fire year in history. So with the rain, we toured some community swimming pools (which were actually quite nice!)

Our first “pool” was Liard Hot Springs which is probably the most popular stop for anyone traveling the Alaska highway in BC. And it is so worth the stop. It is a really beautiful natural hot spring area managed by BC parks (so it is reasonably priced). And those pools are HOT. I definitely did not make it to the warmest part of the pool but did have a lovely soak in the cooler side of the hot pool.  Unfortunately the 2^nd pool area (and unique garden area) continues to be closed due to an “aggressive bear in the area”. Mike read it has been closed since 2013 so I am thinking the bear soaks in this pool daily.

From Liard we admired the views of Muncho Provincial Park and Stone Mountain Provincial Park but rain kept us driving with stops only for fresh bread and cinnamon buns in those “towns” that seem to be made up of only one little lodge/campground/gas station. These little places do often have great baked goods.

Our second night we stayed in Fort Nelson, BC which is home to is a really amazing and HUGE indoor swimming pool (especially considering the population is only 2000 people). There was a big pool for lane swimming, an accessible walk in “learn to swim” pool as well as a ramped hot tub. Not to mention a water slide and sauna as well. And the lane swimming pool was warm! Mike tells me that a warm pool is not good for competitive swimming but it is definitely good for me who just wants to kick with my flutter board for a few laps and then go sit in the hot tub.

Our 3rd and 4th nights we stayed at provincial parks (first near Fort St. John and then just north of Chetwynd) and although we did not swim in the city pools, we were set up right next to some very pretty lakes where we got to enjoy lovely sunsets after it stopped raining. We did not make it to mile 0 of the Alaska highway in Dawson Creek as we took Highway 29 from Fort St. John through Hudson’s Hope to Chetwynd. This Peace River area will look different for anyone who drives it 5 years from now as the “Site C” dam is being planned that will flood many of the farmlands and roads that we drove on.

Oh and Mike has just reminded me to talk about the chainsaw carvings in Chetwynd. I think they have over 150 carvings in their town and every June there is a competition. The carvings are quite something. We mostly just walked along Carver’s Alley to see the 2018 submissions but you could probably spend a day finding all of the carvings.

As we continued south along highway 97 towards Prince George, we took a side road to MacKenzie, BC as we heard there were some nice hiking and mountain biking trails there. However, literally as soon as we arrived, it started raining again and didn’t stop until later that evening (only to start again the next morning). So we ended up at their swimming pool too (which was smaller than Fort Nelson's but still quite nice). MacKenzie is a friendly little town situated on a pretty lake with a municipal campground that is free to tourists for 2 nights. Due to the rain though, we left in the morning after a stop at….yep, the local bakery for some fresh bread.

After a drive through the still somewhat smokey Prince George and south, we found ourselves back in Williams Lake trying to decide our next route – south to Vancouver Island or a side trip to Bella Coola…(for those of you who follow Mike on Facebook, you will already know where we ended up).