Today we headed to Muncho Lake byway of Laird Hot Springs. We were originally going to visit Laird Hot Springs at the beginning of our trip, but because of the beaver damn failure/road washout debacle, we reworked the schedule to stop by there today.
For lunch, we stopped at Coal River. It’s a really cute lodge/service area right off the Alcon at historic mile 533. It touts the Best Bison Burger on the highway so we felt obligated to stop and try. It was indeed, a very good bison burger. The fries and service were also really good.
We saw quite a bit of wildlife today. Too many bison to count, a bear cub, and a porcupine. We were beginning to wonder if we were going to see any bison but the folks at Coal River said there would for sure be some up the road, and they were right.
Laird Hot Springs was great. There are several sections of the springs, each differing in temperature. To get to the springs from the parking lot, there is a boardwalk that traverses a wilderness marsh area. There could be bear or moose, so you have to keep your eyes open.
The top of the springs is where the really hot water comes out – and it is hot! Braxton nearly cooked himself trying to do the “rock challenge”, which is taking a rock and tolerating the super hot temperatures long enough to put your rock on the wall of the spring. The middle of the spring is comfortably warm, and the bottom of the spring tapers into a narrow channel surrounded by greenery and bugs. Lots of bugs. Huge dragon flies. Here, the water is quite cool.
After our swim in the springs, we headed back to the parking lot where the Airstream was expertly parked by Mike. It was so nice to be able to take showers and have a snack right there in the parking lot. There aren’t showers at the springs and we were glad to shower off the smell of the hot springs.
From there, we hit the road toward Muncho Lake. We took the bypass that was created for the road washout. It was actually one of the old Army Corps of Engineer roads. Below are the images from the detour.
We’re staying at the Northern Rockies Lodge on Muncho Lake. It’s cloudy, but we can see this is a beautiful area. Number 2 is our trailer space, it’s right on the lake. Because we were tired when we arrived, we ordered take out from the lodge for dinner. Braxton had chicken strips and fries, Mike had a schnitzel sandwich, and I had schnitzel on a salad. Food was overall ok. Schnitzel was a bit tough, but it was nice to have some fresh veggies all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.
