Barkerville!

[BCDave]

Just returned from a trip to Barkerville (BC) - reportedly the largest "ghost town" in North America

The trip is less than 8 driving hours from Vancouver (820 km or 510 miles)
(10 hours total trip time each way including lunch and dinner stops)

Barkerville is utterly amazing. It is a gold rush community that, at one time was the largest city west of Chicago and North of San Fran.

At its height, some of the gold claims were taking out a thousand ounces PER DAY. One guy got over 500 ounces from one square foot, in one day!

The community now is a provincial heritage site, and has actors in period costumes strolling around, giving lectures, acting out "town hall meetings" a newspaper where a staffer demonstrates the printing press, a bakery where you can buy sourdough, a saloon (beer etc) a school house where you will be taught by a tall thin (and very stern) teacher as you write on slates and get your spelling lessons. DO NOT miss the theater! Several performances daily by the Newman and Wright theatrical troupe.

Demonstrations of the Cornish water wheel and how it is used.

A tour of Chinatown, explanation of the role of the Chinese Tongs in Barkerville, the terraced vegetable gardens plus the gambling and opium dens.

And one sign at the edge of town that gave me the giggles. It read something like "You are in BEAR country. Walk in groups, make lots of noise and keep small children with you." (To distract the bears? Cause they're easier for the bear to catch so you can get away? Because bears find small children so tasty that they'll leave you alone? Inquiring minds wanna know!)

There are 3 nearby campgrounds plus others that are not too far away. The 3 nearby ones are all "unserviced" (boondocking only) campgrounds, but are very nicely laid out and very good. Even with three campgrounds there is only ONE serviced site - site # 10 in the Lowhee campground - which we reserved. It has power (which is why I wanted it). The lady said it was 15 amp only, but there was both a 15 A outlet and a 30 A outlet - both worked. Site #10 also has sewer and water (which we didn't use as we are self contained) There is NO cell phone service on any provider.

Saw about "a zillion" other RVs on the road, but nearly all were non f/g units. Of the few F/G units we did see, nearly every one was a Bigfoot.

Only encountered one other f/g unit to stop & talk to - at a restaurant in Cache Creek. It was a two-year old Casita 16 foot (or thereabouts) whose owner HATED it and was planning on selling ASAP.

In his view it cost WAY too much for what it was and he "should have gotten a WAY bigger one with slides and all the toys for that much $$$$!" (No pleasing some folks! And - come to think of it - why the bleep did he buy it?)

Saw another Casita pushing a Chevy pickup at the Costco in Kamloops, but they didn't wanna talk - in a hurry.

The Costco in Kamloops refills propane bottles (which we all call "tanks") for a decent cost, but you DO have to take them off the trailer and it is ONE price for this size, and THAT price for THAT size. A 30 lb tank is $15.00.

[Bob Miller]

The reason to travel in groups in bear country is that it improves you chances of not being the slowest runner, aka, the one the bear will get....

BTW: If you want to see Barkerville this year you best hurry, it closes for the season in about 34 hours ( 4PM- 9/30)

[Jim Bennett]

We went to Barkerville a few years back when canoeing the Bowron Lake Chain. A great place to visit for sure. Loved all the people working there who played their period roles great.

[rgrugg]

Wonderfully interesting place. We visited there on our way home (to Michigan) on our first Alaska trip in 1994. Would like to go back. Maybe next summer. Saw a tv travel show about B.C. and realized we haven't seen enough of it.

[cpaharley2008]

Pictures???

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by BCDave

And one sign at the edge of town that gave me the giggles. It read something like "You are in BEAR country. Walk in groups, make lots of noise and keep small children with you." (To distract the bears? Cause they're easier for the bear to catch so you can get away? Because bears find small children so tasty that they'll leave you alone? Inquiring minds wanna know!).

Did the bear warning sign look like this one? Here in North Vancouver our District sign maker is well known for the humour in the signs he designs.... suspect this one although not in North Van may have been done by his twin

[Gilda]

Dave, Thank you for sharing your experience traveling to Barkerville, BC. Sound like a great "living history" experience. We just came back from a camping trip to Vancouver Island and loved it. Perhaps next time we'll make it to Barkerville.

Carol, I love the bear country warning sign you posted! It's straightforward until you reach the last line! We were definitely in bear country on Vancouver Island. We saw 3 black-colored brown bears on two occasions within a week while hiking; far more than we had ever seen previously in California. Others had seen bears in parking lots. We are careful hikers always making noise while walking including talking loudly, singing, yodeling and banging walk sticks. As soon as the bears knew we were there they hid for cover. No photos 'cause we don't hang around to take photos when we see critters higher on the food chain than us!

[Carol H]

[QUOTE=Gilda;336791 We were definitely in bear country on Vancouver Island. [/QUOTE]

Glad to hear you had a good time on the Island, I grow up over there and my family is still there. Most of BC is bear country - incuding my back yard in the middle of a city. Pretty common to see them at this time of year as they are working on fattening up before heading of to sleep for the winter so they go around moving from neighbourhood to neighbourhood based on the garbage schedule pick-up days. I swear they know the schedule better than me!

[BCDave]

This is the sign we saw at the edge of town at Barkerville:

[fidgetboy]

Worked up there for many years restoring alot of the buildings. Great place to play and visit. Plan on a minimum of two days if you want to see everything at Barkerville and definately plan a trip out to Bowron Lake for the day as well. My family has a cabin out that way and I make the trip yearly, still fun after all these years.