Barkerville

Before we made it to the Northern Circle, which begins in Prince George, we went to Barkerville. This was Bushboy’s request, as he’d heard you could pan for gold there. Barkerville is a mining town in the mountains of BC, kept as a heritage town in the manner of the era of gold fever, the late 1800s and early 1900s.

 

It’s a private enterprise, and you pay for that, it is much pricier than a heritage site. However, it is wonderfully well done, the people who are all in character are very knowledgeable, and it was well worth it. We spent a few hours wandering around the town site.

 

 

There were some beautiful horses giving carriage rides around town, we enjoyed watching them.

 

During the afternoon we made our way to the store where the gold panning happens, and let Bushboy get a lesson in panning.

 

 

And there was gold! (Look closely and you’ll see the flakes – stream gold they call it. He got to keep it, too.)

 

After we spent a number of hours in and out of rain showers looking around the townsite and learning lots about mining and mountain pioneers, we walked back to our campsite just outside the town. It was nice, and quite empty that late in the season. It got very cold in the night, but the next day dawned bright and sunny, perfect for the next part of our adventure!

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