Our plan was to camp at the Liard Hot Springs campground tonight. Half the sites are first come first serve. We got up early (and in the rain) so we could get a jump on the day and a chance for an early afternoon arrival.

But we lingered at the Watson lake sign post forest for awhile.

And got some groceries. We found bbq pulled pork that you can boil in a bag. That sounds easy! I have fresh buns!

But when we arrived at 3’ish the sites were all taken.

Now you must know, Laird Hot Springs has a beautiful stream in the woods where you soak in hot water. And grizzly bears have plucked people out of those waters and eaten them.

Now the entire campground is wrapped in a tall electric fence. There is an electrified cattle guard across the driveway. There is an electrified gate to walk into the park.

I read the hot springs were closed last week when a momma bear and three cubs were at the hot springs.

And the park attendant had the audacity to suggest we sleep in our tent, across the road (highway), in the overflow parking lot.

Which means walking by two signs warning of high bear activity, and what the …… there are two bisons just past the parking lot in the ditch. There ARE TWO BISONS RIGHT THERE!

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Are we brave enough to sleep with bears and bison?

Cathy looks dead inside. What have I done to her?

I asked her if she wants to sleep here. To my shock, she gave me a reluctant “ok”. She looks like she knows her fate is sealed.

So here we are. In a parking lot. We put our tent between two other RV campers, against the woods, where who-knows-what is waiting to eat us.

And then we walk by the view of the bison, and through a series of electrified fences, to soak in the hot springs.

I have no photos, since we decided not to bring our phones. But let’s just say that two women, well on their way to earning their feral status, soaked and rejuvenated and probably even came out of that river cleaner than they went in.

We wrapped in our towels and sat to dry in the sun.

And it promptly started to rain.

So we walked the kilometre back to our home in the parking lot, and fortunately more tents were there!!

The law of averages was looking more in our favour. Surely the hungry rabid bears would chose the guy in the hammock, or the screaming child running around, or one of the little dogs before us!?!

But we still skipped cooking the pulled pork and ate snacks in the truck until the rain stopped.

There is no cell signal here. But there is one of those push button blue lights like at a university campus. I wonder who that summons. And how quickly.

We got to sit in our lawn chairs for a bit, reading our books for the first time, moving under the open back door of the truck each time a rain cloud descended.

Now look at all the vehicles!

And someone just stopped to exercise and water their horses!?

I’m not sure we are going to sleep tonight, but the bear spray is definitely coming into the tent. And maybe the axe. Unless Cathy is a sleep walker. She swears she isn’t.

Good night?