Muncho Lake & Stone Mountain Park

The stories from the building of the Alaska highway are incredible. Some of the details are pretty basic: it was originally intended for military transport in case of an invasion of Alaska during WWII, the road was finished (to a degree) in 1942 after 8 months of construction, something like 100,000 Army troops were deployed to build it, etc. It’s the little stories that are the most intriguing. One of those is Muncho Lake. Muncho is a glacial lake with steep rock slopes coming down from the mountains straight into the water. So building the road around the lake required carving a shelf all the way around the 7 1/2 mile length of the lake.

Driving around the lake today makes it apparent just how daunting the challenge must have been. The road is winding and narrow, often with the water on one edge and sheer rock walls on the other.  It’s also a beautiful jade green color due to the glacial silt suspended in the water.

 

The sign showed some of the challenging spots of construction.

Stone sheep along the edge of the cliff. Native to western north America, primarily found in British Columbia – imagine that! It was amazing to watch them scramble around the steep rocks. Turns out they are typically licking the rocks to get minerals for their diets.

More wildlife – seems like they came in herds along this stretch!

The jade color really stood out. Turns out the color is a result of the wavelengths of light that are either absorbed or reflected. The green is what gets reflected back off the water.

Leaving Muncho Lake and entering Stone Mountain Provincial Park in the northern Rockies of British Columbia.

Some of the drops were quite impressive. Best not to look down while driving!

Caribou

More snow capped mountains. People told us that the route through BC would get snow before Alaska. We are believers!

A great shot of Stone Mountain, the namesake of the park. Notice how close to the treeline we were.

 

Some people choose a very difficult mode of travel. We were miles from anywhere with lots of steep climbs in all directions. Ouch!

 

But if not…