The Cariboo Waggon Road

When we left the Clinton Pines RV park, we didn't get too far. We drove into the little town of Clinton.  Clinton has a population of only 740 people, but has preserved the historical buildings and is proud to be known as "The Gateway to the Caraboo".

The museum building was built in 1892 as a school and later used as the courthouse.  Originally the town was the site of the 47 Mile Roadhouse, a gold rush settlement on the Cariboo Waggon Road from Lillooet. My first question to the volunteer in the museum was, "Where is Cariboo?" I had scoured the maps but had not been able to locate any town or mountain by that name. Come to find out, it is the name of the regional district in British Columbia, just west of the Rocky Mountain Range, where gold was discovered. 

That afternoon we stopped in the town of Quesnel (pronounced kwe-NEL).  The city is located at the confluence of the Fraser and the Quesnel rivers.  It began as a supply town for miners during the Cariboo Gold Rush in the 1860's.

We walked all over town, and saw many plaques commenorating the early pioneers of the town, many of whom were Chinese.

Quesnel has 23 handpainted fire hydrants.  A local artist researched the city's history and painted some of its characters to help tell its story.  The "little people" are now the focus of a charming walking tour in the heart of downtown.  This blacksmith represents Kong Sing .  After an accident left him in a wheelchair, he turned his blacksmithing skills to knife making.  He became renowned for his quality work, and some of his knives have been used for 70 years!

Our walk eventually ended up at the Billy Barker Casino. It turns out Barker was quite the citizen in these parts, and he is remembered at Barkerville, a town about an hour away that reenacts the history of the colorful goldrush days. David and I often like to experience new casinos enroute with a limit of $10.00 gambling money.  David had only a $1.00 bill in his pocket, but we decided to try our luck anyway. He put the bill into what looked like a lucky slot machine.  Rejection! After three tries he called an attendant over and discovered that it was programmed to accept only Canadian money.  So he went over to the cashier and returned with a brassy looking coin of $1.00 Canadian, called a "loonie".  Back at the slot machine he tried unsuccessfully three more times and then called the attendant again.  She looked at him as if he was a complete idiot.  "Well of course it doesn't work, that machine takes a minimum of $5.00."  So much for our first adventure in a Canadian casino.  No big winnings here, but now David has his first Canadian lucky loonie.

Following the gold rush trail makes us realize that we have "struck it rich".  Everyday is full.  Life is fun, and we are rich, indeed!

Trans Canada Highway 1 East

Our first campsite on Canadian soil was not far from the border crossing at Sumas.  We were relieved because we had made it through customs with our four bottles of wine, a six pack of beer and all our fruits and veggies. The Milepost had an advertisement for The Cottonwood Meadows RV Country Club in Chilliwack, BC. It sounded inviting and the promise of "the nicest bathrooms" won us over.  It turned out that, for us, the bathrooms were the best feature of the park.  For $36 CDN dollars for full hookups, we parked in a tight space surrounded by bushes and clouds of mosquitos.  We fell asleep to the drone of the traffic on Trans Canada 1.

As soon as we left the campground we realized that we were in beautiful country.  We travelled up the Fraser River Valley on the way to Hope, BC.  The scenery was breathtaking!  In every direction we were surrounded by snowy peaks.  This is prime farm country with many farms and the ever-present aroma of manure.  We had a wide sky with puffy clouds and in and out sun all morning.  

 

As we drove along I was madly taking pictures out the window.  Many times I would catch a breathtaking view and before I could snap a picture it would be gone.  Those "zen" views never got captured, but many others did.

When we first saw the Fraser River outside of Hope, we knew we were officially on the "Gold Rush Trail". The prospectors must have gone crazy when they saw these mountains! For a minute, David thought he might have found a way to finance this trip. 

The Fraser gold rush started in 1858.  The Milepost reports, "Most of the miners hailed from California gold rushes and caused an immigration influx that the non-sovereign territory could not handle.  Recognizing the problem, the territory of New Calidonia was quickly renamed The Province of British Columbia by Queen Victoria, and it became a crown colony.  This enabled officials to properly record and monitor the onslaught of immigrants."

The Fraser Valley becomes the Fraser Canyon north of Hope.  It is very narrow and deep and the scenery is dramatic.  The road is built high above the river.  In places tunnels had to be cut through the mountains.  These tunnels were cut in 1960-64.  Just before the Yale Tunnel we pulled over to take photographs. From that point I could see six waterfalls tumbling down the steep mountainsides. 

The railway below us was first built in 1881 and the trains are still using them.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at a rest area just outside the little town of Lytton.  Lytton is located at the confluence of the Thompson and the Fraser Rivers.  Historically the sand bars at Lytton yielded alot of gold, but now the area is better known for its river raft trips. 

From Lytton the Fraser River flows west, and we followed the Thompson river in an easterly direction.  As we went over the mountain passes the vegetation changed.The thick evergreen forest and snowy peaks were replaced by thin stands of trees and dry rocky cliffs. 

Along the highway there were caution signs for deer, elk, and big horn sheep, but we never saw any.  My only exciting spotting was an eagle flying over the Thompson River.  The road was above the river at that point, so it seemed as if we were travelling side by side.  We had experienced dramatic changes in the landscape today, and were experiencing a bit of sensory overload.  However, my heart was soaring like that eagle as we pulled into The Clinton Pines RV Park at the end of the day.