I headed west on Highway 43, passing through the little towns of Hythe, and Pouce Coupe, and then stopped in Dawson Creek at the Tourist Info site which has a nice big parking lot and lots of information. It’s Mile “0” for the Alaska Highway and I was tempted to head north to Alaska but I checked the weather, and the gas prices of the towns in that direction (up to $1.79 per litre) and I decided to give it a miss this time. Gas has risen from $1.19 per litre in Alberta to $1.42 in this area – it always hurts to fill up the tank.
I went through Chetwynd where I had planned to take the turnoff North 24 km to stay at a provincial park but changed my mind due to the grey sky and after looking at the map, set my GPS for Pine Le Moray Provincial Park (PP). When the GPS said I had arrived, there was no park entrance by that name that I could see, so I kept driving. I pulled into Tudya Lake PP thinking I could stay there but the rain was pounding down and it looked very lonely, there was only one very old motor home parked there. I also saw a black bear feeding on berries right in the camp so I decided to leave.
Whiskers
Point PP – August 19
Even though
I was really tired, the map indicated that it was only 20km further to Whiskers
Point PP which is on McLeod Lake and has 67 sites. That turned out to be a good
decision because it is one of the nicest campgrounds I have
stayed at. A lovely lake, large private camp sites, super clean, and I found a
double site, #57-58, with steps down to the beach, all for $16.00 per night. No
power or water, but they have flush toilets. I enjoyed the nature trail that
wanders up the hillside and found it to be really nice and quiet.
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| Mcleod Lake |
Ten Mile
Lake – August 20
Down Highway #97 with a stop in Prince George for gas and a visit to their very nice information centre – a beautiful building. Then back on the road and through the towns of Red Rock, Stoner, Hixan, Strathnaver, and then into Ten Mile Lake PP. They charge $5.00 to dump tanks there and the campground fee is $21.00 per night – no services. I got lucky again and got a site facing the lake in the lower camping area, #9. They have a nice dog beach here which is great. There are also huge parking lots so it must be a pretty busy place in the summer. It would be nice to have a boat here.
Barkerville
– August 21
A late start
with Barkerville as my destination. Barkerville, established in 1862 when Billy
Barker discovered gold, was a ghost town at one point, but it’s been restored
as a living museum and is a national historic site. First stop though was
Quesnel, and as I drove past the box stores at the top of the hill and down
into the town, I saw a couple of big mills belching out steam – a destination
for all of the logging trucks that I had passed on the road.
Once
downtown I stopped at the always important info centre and then the Reid St.
Bakery for a delicious latte and carrot cake. I turned onto 26E to Barkerville
– it’s quite the road, very little traffic while I was on it, and lots of steep
up and downs without curves, just straight up and down.
I got into
Barkerville early enough to see 3 shows. The “Cornish Wheel/Goldfields
Discourse” was really funny. It was a “scheme” put on by the mine’s owner,
(slimy) and the “chief engineer” (too much booze) to lure the audience into
making an investment in their mine. In between the funny parts, we learned
about the geology of the area and how gold was created. Hugely entertaining!
Next I saw
Ben Zhou play various traditional Chinese musical instruments, which were
lovely, some of them thousands of years old. The final show was “Judge Matthew
Baillie Begbie – the Hanging Judge” reminiscing about early justice, and giving
an example of his legendary admonitions to the jury.
At the schoolhouse I learned to paint Chinese symbols with a brush
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Horse and buggy rides   
Main street, Barkerville
   All these heavy machine parts - so hard to get here, and now just junk |
The grounds closed down soon after that, and I headed out to the closest campground to find a site but I didn’t like them, they were too small and perched on the hillside. The next one, Lowhee CG, was very nice and there was tons of space so I found a site facing the evening sun and it even had a little pond behind it with a duck floating on it. The road from Barkerville runs right along the cg and it was noisy for a while but it soon quieted down. I was thinking as I sat outside that night eating fresh corn on the cob how good it feels to be outside, hearing birds, feeling the fresh air on my cheeks, and seeing the sun set over different hills – lovely!
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