We decided to stop at Hell's Gate and take the tram across the Fraser River. It had been years since I had been there and only a couple of years for Ray, as he took his friend Danny, from Sault St Marie when he was visiting from Ontario.
Our tram operator was a young man named Connor, who is working at Hells Gate for the summer. He is a Trenton University student and said that he lives in Peterborough Ontario. He was very pleasant and offered to take our photo before we left the top side of the tram.
So after we take a couple of photos we get into the tram car along with two other couples. It is very clean and bright with lots of windows, but I was very pleased that it wasn't too hot and the tram was not full of people. In other words, lots of breathing space! I really do not like heights, but I figured that if I am busy with my camera taking some photos along the "drop" down to the other side, I won't notice the height nor the swaying movement of the tram car. While we were moving along Connor gave us some of the history of Hell's Gate. Hell's Gate is a 115 foot wide narrowing of the Fraser River. There is more water per minute rushing through this passage, then Niagara Falls. It is 170 feet deep. It is surrounded by the Cascade Mountain range with towering rock walls that plunge right down into the muddy waters. The narrow passage is a popular place for jet boating and white water river rafting tours. Although you will never see me going through this passage of water in a rubber raft!!!
The Fraser Canyon was a route used in the times of the great gold rush for miners wishing to access the upper Fraser. Canadian National Railway runs on the south side of the river with Canadian Pacific on the north side. In 1914 while CNR was building their tracks a large rock slide fell into the river at Hells Gate obstructing the passage of the salmon who need to swim upstream to spawn. The salmon had difficulty passing through the water. In 1944 the Pacific Salmon Commission began construction of a fish ways to allow the salmon to once again be able to pass through the passage at Hell's Gate to their spawning grounds up river. In the 1970's the fish ways at Hells Gate became a tourist attraction, followed by the air tram, observation deck, a fisheries exhibit, restaurant and gift shop.
Leaving Hell's Gate we continued our drive to Williams Lake. We arrived at Gord and Viv's in Williams Lake at about 4:00 PM. We camped in their driveway which fit both truck and trailer. We had an excellent dinner prepared by the Vivacious Vivian the Gracious Gordo..... Bar-b-qued Beurre Noir Halibut (which Gord caught in Port Hardy), a delicious potato salad Viv made, which had both red potatoes and sweet potatoes (don't tell Ray, because he loved it) and a green salad. We had a great night of catching up. I have to say for those who do not know,,, but Vivian and Gord were our neighbours who lived directly behind us (in Cindy and Les's house) from 1995 until 2003 at which time they moved to Courtenay and then to Williams Lake.
A bit about Williams Lake.... With a population of almost 11,000 Williams Lake, which is located at the junction of Highways 97 and 20, is the largest urban area between Kamloops and Prince George. It is the home of the annual Williams Lake Stampede and also the home town of Man in Motion, Rick Hansen. During the Caribou Gold Rush in 1860 Gold Commissioner Phillip Nind and BC Provincial Police Constable arrived from Victoria to organize a local government and maintain Law and Order. Two trails lead to the gold fields. Douglas Road and another trail from the Fraser Canyon both met at Williams Lake making it a good place for settlers and merchants. In 1861 a government building was built followed by a courthouse, jail, post office and of course a roadhouse thus making it a central meeting spot. In 1863 the town was elated by the news of the construction of Cariboo Road being built. Unfortunately when it was built, it bypassed the town entirely going through 150 Mile House instead. This doomed the town until the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (later becoming BC Rail and CN Rail). Today it is a booming town with primary industry being forestry, logging, milling, mining and ranching. Coming into William's Lake you will notice the Information centre on the right side before you get into town. It is right beside the "Chances" Casino. We did not stop at the Visitor Centre on this visit, but did last year when we were here. They have a museum and a great gift shop. I urge anyone travelling through to stop and go through this visitor centre.
Today (Tuesday) we went on a road trip to Quesnel Forks Ghost Town which is where the Caribou and Quesnel Rivers connect. It is about an hour and a half from Williams Lake, all great secondary highway roads. The Forks, as it is known around the Caribou is 11 kms from the tiny village of Likely BC. The oddest thing that we saw in Likely was a stop sign in the middle of the lake. As there was no boat traffic whatsoever on the lake, I am not really sure who the stop sign is meant for?
While in Likely before heading on to The Forks, we stopped to use the facilities and take a few photos.
Quesnel Forks was founded in 1860. For two years the tiny village catered to about 2000 transients, most of which were miners in the search for gold. About 100 residents lived there full time. In 1865 when the Caribou Wagon Road was built, Quesnel Forks was bypassed and Barkerville became the major mining centre. Be the mid 1870's the majority of the population had left The Forks leaving behind a group of Chinese miners and merchants. Today this is a historic site with refurbished buildings. There is a campground for those who wish to spend a night or two. The cemetery has some very old unkempt graves along with some newer ones. The most recent was a headstone of a young lady who died in 2012 and was buried in this ghost town.
This is at just inside the entrance to the cemetery.
Got a bit of a chuckle out of the name here.... "Au Chew". Not sure if that was a surname or not.
This headstone indicated the deceased died of small pox. A disease which has not been around for a few long time. You can see how unkempt the plot is. Some were in a worse state,,,, with the actual ground sinking a few feet. One had to be careful when walking around.
As you can see from Viv's attire, there were a few mosquitos out and about!!
Ray and Gord peeking out from one of the old buildings.
And of course,,,, a selfie! The building behind us is the one Gord and Ray are peeking out of.
We spent about an hour walking around the ghost town. It was very peaceful and beautiful.
Driving away from this spot makes one think of years gone by. Wondering how hard life was for all of the residents. Having to travel across the country from many points (including the USA), using a donkey to carry their merger belongings. Working on the railways which have made our country bring goods from east to west. North to south. We really have no idea what these ancestors of ours had to deal with. It takes going to one of these old ghosts towns to really appreciate what we have today.
Driving down Likely Rd I saw a beautiful young bear sitting on the side of the road. Of course I didn't have my camera handy to take a photograph. Viv wanted to turn around and go back but one the next corner of the road we saw a beautiful female moose with her baby. We stopped in the road and grabbed a camera. All of a sudden, Mama moose saw us and started to run towards the truck. She ran right up to the drivers window, snorting and frothing at the mouth. She was not happy with us thinking that we were going to harm her little baby. These are the two photos that I did manage to take before we slowly drove away.
We were on a high seeing these two beautiful beasts. We also saw a large herd of bison!
Again we had an excellent dinner. Bar-b-qued elk steaks, quinoa salad, ceasar salad and potatoe salad. We cannot complaint about our wonderful hospitality! I am being a bit rude tonight trying to get this blog written and posted. Viv wants to read it and I won't let her until I am done. We have had an excellent visit and will return again to the town of Williams Lake. Unless of course, Viv and Gord move residences when he retires..... then we will visit at their new place. I realize how much we miss them as neighbours! We continue our journey tomorrow as we head to Dawson Creek.
We leave you now with this beautiful photo of a butterfly Viv took a picture of at The Forks.
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