British Columbia
Sep. 8-11, 2008
We left the Alaska ferry system at Prince Rupert in northern British
Columbia. That is the first place south of Alaska where you can drive
back to the lower 48 states. The highway is the Yellowhead, which
eventually ends at Edmonton, AB. The highway follows the Skeena River
(shown here) for quite a while, so the views are pretty.
South of Prince George, we took a side trip to Barkerville. which is an
old gold rush town from the 1860s and now is a provincial historic
site. In its heyday Barkerville was the largest city north of San
Francisco and west of Chicago. But the gold ran out, and it became a
virtual ghost town. Many of the buildings are either original, or have
been replicated from historical information.
We started with a walking tour of Barkerville, expecting the usual park
tour guide. But they did something rather clever, and very
entertaining. The tour guide was supplemented by three actors, dressed
in period clothing and playing the role of people of people who lived
in the town. They walked along with the group and gave details about
the city that the guide missed, or told us of some of the scuttlebut
about people who lived in the town.
Barkerville had a significant Chinese population, which was well
represented in the historic site with several homes, stores, and a
museum.
Of course, any tourist site dealing with the gold rush needs a place
for tourists to try their hand at panning for gold . For a $7 fee they
gave you a small bag of gravel and a pan to use to find the gold in the
gravel. They also provided a person (on the left) to teach you how to
pan for gold. It was interesting to watch him as he sloshed away the
gravel to retrieve the few flakes of gold.
Heading back to the main highway we came upon this black bear feeding
beside the road. He took note of our presence, and went back to eating.
He is probably fattening himself up in preparation for his long winter
nap.
Further south the highwar entered, and followed, Fraser canyon. At the
northern end the canyon is rather arid; the brown countryside and
vegetation reminded us of Wyoming or Montana.
Farther south the vegetation becomes much greener, and more reminiscent
of canyons along the northern california coast. The contrast between
the two extremes is rather striking.
Driving into the Vancouver area, we were struck by the hazy (smoggy?)
air and the amount of traffic. Having been in northwestern Canada and
Alaska for the last three months, we had gotten used to cleaner air and
little traffic on the roads. I guess we will have to re-adapt to these
side effects of "modern life".