Day 10 - Rocky Mountain High

MUNCHO LAKE, BC - Long drive, long day, but at last in the mountains. This type of endlessness, where the mountain ranges go on and on as far as the eye can see, expands my spirit.  I cannot explain why. Unlike the flatlands, I find this exhilarating. At first, shining white crenellations slashed the horizon. I drove for hours getting these momentary magical glimpses, streaks of white, rising above the plateau. I understood why early peoples thought the gods resided high in the holy mountains. In the boreal forest, I felt fearful. The monotony, the lack of vistas, and the way an animal melts into the undergrowth makes me uneasy.  It’s an environment unknown to me.  I stepped off the highway onto a dirt trail and there was nothing but hugged-up trees and utter silence.  I kept Eiger close, firmly on leash, and hurried back to the car.

I am not afraid in the mountains. I know the danger and can better gauge it, though here in the Northern Rockies, as in Alaska, the mountains and the rivers are raw, a land in the early stages of formation before it all gets polished, prettied up and refined.  The just-createdness of this landscape gives a sense that all could violently change at any moment -- ice crack open rock, rain unleash torrents, a rock slide transform a hillside -- no constants, elemental forces at play as tempestuous as the weather, There are huge gashes in the mountainside strewn with rocks, testament to the ferocity of the meltwater and stormwater that roars down to the valleys, bulldozing everything before it, piling up huge berms of stone and rock, washing all living things away. In this harsh, dusty, rocky landscape change is the constant, which brings with it new possibilities. And that I find exciting. I find awe.

Muncho Lake at Northern Rockies Lodge

Alaska Highway, Muncho Lake region

Tire Treads ........(aka Footnotes)

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 - Drove 460 miles from Fort St John and stayed at Northern Rockies Lodge on Muncho Lake, run by a Swiss couple who fly float planes from the lake to remote fishing spots in the mountains. I tried to stay at Liard River Hot Springs Lodge, run by First Nation tribe. but there was a boil water advisory and no pets accepted, so backtracked 5o km. There is no settlement for another 200 km.

Wildlife sightings: stone sheep, related to bighorn sheep but smaller and only seen in this area (above) and a herd of wood buffalo (belows), as distinct from plains buffalo, though I couldn't tell you the difference.