Hot Springs are one of natures’ sweatiest luxuries. Can’t you just feel that heat swaddling your tired body after a long day on the Alaska Highway? But lolling in the 42-52 C water is not the best part of Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. It is the surrounding natural community that steals the show.

Stroll the boardwalks and see familiar boreal plants, such as the gigantic cow parsnip, that grow exuberantly due to the thermal influence. You can also see plants that look tropical and out of place in this cold, northern land, like ostrich fern. Aquatic plants include sundews, bladderworts, and butterwort, all carnivorous species. From the boardwalk between the bathing pools you can look out on the Hanging Gardens, a luxuriant cascade of wildflowers and exotic greenery growing on terraces of tufa.

The warm swamps that are created by the thermal springs harbour animals, too. Beneath the boardwalk to Alpha Pool swim small lake chub endemic to the park. Moose are frequently seen as they graze in the swamps.