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The Beta Pool Liard River Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada |
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The Beta Pool is a quarter mile further than Alpha, on a boardwalk through the lush forest undergrowth. Plants grow here, within the balmy hot spring environment, that otherwise grow only hundreds of miles further south. There are banks of yellow monkey flowers, and huge cow parsnips — a combination one sees on the coastal bluffs at Point Reyes in California. Beta Pool has a muddy bottom and the water is murky. It is a little too hot for some people, with no cool area, as the water comes up in the middle of the pool. When Alpha is crowded, Beta may not be. The Beta Pool has something of an evil reputation at the moment. A couple of years ago a bear — a black bear, not even a grizzly — attacked people here, and killed one. It got national (Canadian) publicity, and for a couple of years many people stayed away. But such attacks are very rare, and it could have happened anywhere. Next: Aspens on the Alaska Highway |