Swimming at 40 Below

Liard Hot Springs Swimming at 40 Below
December 20, 1990

The temperature was -40 degrees Fahrenheit. We'd driven til 2:00 a.m. the previous night on our journey down the 3000-mile Alaska Highway to reach Liard Hot Springs south of Watson Lake. We wanted to go swimming.

It seemed a crazy idea. As I dressed in swimsuit, long underwear, jeans, sweaters, snowsuit, several pairs of socks and heavy boots, I wondered if I'd be able to take all my warm clothes off and jump into water! It was probably the only liquid water out of doors within a thousand mile radius. Even worse, we'd have to get out of the water eventually and put our chilly clothes back on before walking a quarter-mile back to the car.

I mustered my courage. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, and it was fantastic! Sunlight glittered off of frost-laden trees against an ice blue sky, and every individual hair on our heads and bodies gathered a separate delicate coating of frost. Things are sharp at 40 below. They have sparkle and crispness, and sounds ring in the air.

In places, the water was too hot to bear. No one else came and we swam, floated and soaked for over an hour in glorious silence. Even our bones were hot, and getting out was no problem. Our bodies radiated all the heat we'd soaked in, even while Dennis' mustache turned into icicles.