“In the chill of the clear October air the whole surface of the water pleasantly steams. The center of the pool is constantly bubbling, replenishing nature’s bathtub with clean warm water from the bowels of the Earth,” wrote Harry Spiegel, a surveyor with the U.S. Army’s Corps of Engineers 648th Topographical Battalion, in a letter home to his family. “Like the (mythical) wood nymph, I got into my birthday suit on the timbered edge of the pool and strode in! Its soothing warmth was great! What a swell bath I took!”

Today, the same naturally heated pools are the main attraction at Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park, established in 1957. And while the boardwalk and changing areas have been improved since Spiegel’s skinny dip, they aren’t a whole lot different from the original setup, says Peter Goetz, a parks and protected areas section head for BC Parks.

“It’s kind of an oasis in the middle of the Alaska Highway and is a great place to stop and recharge,” he says, adding that the water temperature in the main bathing area ranges from 42 C to 52 C.

Nicknamed the “Tropical Valley,” reportedly by the Alaska Highway building crews who were amazed by the landscape’s lush ferns, the provicial park is home to unique flora and fauna. Among them are the heat-adapted lake chub, which can be spotted swimming in the main bathing pool, and a tiny species of snail about half the size of a grain of rice that’s found nowhere else in the world. There are also 14 species of orchids that thrive in the park, an abundance of birds and the occasional black bear. Moose are commonly spotted in the swampy land around the hot springs, and the reintroduced wood bison are hard to miss as they graze on the sides of the highway.