Our Alaska-Yukon trip started off with a 2 day visit with my Lac Le Jeune sister, at her home just south of Kamloops. We enjoyed our time with her and even helped with a few small jobs while finding time for a round of golf at the challenging Tobiano Golf Course when she was working at her day job. We will visit with her again at the end of our northern trip.
From Kamloops we headed north along the Gold Rush Trail, in search of new nuggets to add to our travel treasure chest. We made a brief stop at 100 Mile House for a nice lunch in the park near the Bridge Creek Falls where the water was surging at this time of year. Then it was on to the lovely town of Williams Lake where we enjoyed walking the trails of the Scout Island Nature Centre and a long visit to the beautifully designed log building hosting the Tourism Discovery Centre and it's Cowboy Hall of Fame where we learned about the early 1900's local legend Cyclone Smith. The following day we drove further north to Quesnel, which like Williams Lake, has a thriving lumber industry. The downtown walk was made even more interesting by the brilliant decision to colourfully paint their fire hydrants as 'little people', depicting the town's history in memory of famous residents or events that contributed to their heritage. Walking across the massive Fraser River on the Foot Bridge (formerly a one lane vehicle bridge) was also a treat.
We then moved on to Barkerville (80 km's east of Quesnel), a restored 1860's gold mining town, named after the colourful Billy Barker, who first discovered gold there in 1862, setting off a quick population growth from a few people to over 4600 residents fueled by others seeking their fortune and those with the business acumen to sell goods and services to them. We spent a full day walking around the 125+ buildings and listening to actors portraying life in the 1860's. We learned that over 4 tons of gold has been excavated out of Williams Creek, and there are still people searching for more gold. I am pleased to report that we also managed to find gold in Barkerville, although it came with a small exchange of money at the old town jewelry store rather than from panning for gold in Williams Creek. It will be a nice memory of an enjoyable time in Barkerville.
We are now in Prince George, B.C. where we are spending two nights before starting a westward journey towards Prince Rupert where we will board a ferry taking us north along the Alaska Marine Highway. Yesterday we supported the local economy with stops at the Farmer's Market and a lovely riverside winery producing fruit wines. We also walked around the Cottonwood Island Nature Park where a local artist has beautifully carved faces and other subjects into the bark of 20 or so trees along the park trails. Today, with another clear sky and the temperature rising to 25C, we golfed at the well maintained and hilly Aberdeen Golf Course.
In the morning we will drive to Smithers and spend a couple of days visiting some well regarded parks in the area.
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| 100 Mile House - Visitor Centre with the World's Largest X-Country Ski's. |
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| The Williams Lake Tourism Discovery Centre. A magnificent building inside and out, which no doubt was also meant to showcase the massive Lumber industry in British Columbia. |
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| The very interesting Cowboy Hall of Fame situated inside the Tourism Discovery Centre. |
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| We spotted this unusual cloud formation when leaving Williams Lake. Not knowing what it meant I did drive a bit quicker until we were well out of it's path. |
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| The town of Quesnel painted all of their fire hydrants to depict "little people", reflecting the history of their town and region. This one was The Carpenter, honouring two gentlemen (Bill Willis and Lloyd Harper) who opened the Willis Harper Furniture store in 1946. It still operates under the same name today. |
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| The Fraser River Foot Bridge which we walked along while meandering around the downtown area looking for more fire hydrants. It was a one lane vehicle bridge in it's day but now operates as a pedestrian only walkway. |
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| The main street of Barkerville, restored to look like it did in the 1860's following Billy Barker's discovery of gold in 1862. We arrived at a good time, 10 days after the town opened to tourists for the season, In the summer the town is packed with visitors. |
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| Our town tour guide, Miss Bella, and her 6 foot circumference hoop skirt. She claimed to have a jar of gin in her hand but the way she was drinking it we're pretty sure it was filled with water. She did an excellent job, accent and all, explaining what life was like in her day. |
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| The Anglican Church with a young Reverend (?) who delivered legitimate services 3 times a day. |
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| The famous Williams Creek, the most auriferous creek in the world, with over 4 tons of gold already excavated, and still being mined. |
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| Prince George's Cottonwood Island Nature Park, where a retired city worker has been funded to create 20 plus carvings in the trunks of Cottonwood trees within the park, all beside walking trails in the park. They must be the most photographed trees in the province. |
