Quesnel, British Columbia - May 31st to June 1st, 2022
True to our name of Backroad Buddies, we love exploring the backroads and wandering around small towns. Now that we were in Canada, exploring another country’s backroads is even more enjoyable. Strolling the streets of Quesnel gave us a feel for life in a small British Columbian town.
Tuesday brought back the rain and cooler temperatures. It was a long driving day, so the rain was not a huge hinderance. Most of the time it was a light rain, so the visibility was still pretty good despite the rain and clouds. From Nairn Falls, we were finishing up the Sea to Sky Highway, then turning onto highway 97, what the Milepost calls the West Access Route. Our destination for the day was Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park, just outside the town of Quesnel. Since we had close to six hours of “Google Maps time” to drive, we set our alarm for 7 am and were pulling out of the campground by 8 am. After picking up a couple items from the Pemberton Valley Supermarket, we were on our way.
The rest of the Sea to Sky Highway was perhaps the most scenic. The road itself was probably the hardest. It got steep and windy, at 13% grade in some places with a few hairpin switchbacks. There were rough patches and dips in the road. A couple of the bridges were one lane. We noticed there were red diamond signs along the side of the road in the places where the road’s shoulder was crumbling away. It was not relaxing for the driver who had to stay alert. We would not recommend this route for large RV’s or long trailers. However, there seemed to be plenty of long logging trucks making the journey.
The views were fantastic. Snow-capped mountain peaks were reflected off the mirrors of long lakes that lined the road in places. Each turn provided a fresh new look at another mountain.
As we seemed to cross over the mountain range and come down the other side, we noticed the environment changed. The valleys, which were steep and narrow, gradually flattened out, with wide open pastures. The vegetation changed from lush forests with ferns and moss to dry fields of sage brush.
When we turned onto highway 97, the road conditions improved. We made a few stops that Ann had picked out from the Milepost. The first stop was the fire tower at Mount Begbie Lookout. It is a small rest area right off the highway with a short walk up to the fire tower lookout. After eating our lunch, we started up the dirt road to the lookout. Part way up is a sign for a trail, so we took that up to the top. However, the trail was narrow, steep, and a little sketchy in a couple of places, so we opted to stay on the dirt road all the way back down. It is such a short walk that the time and distance difference between the two routes is not much. The panoramic view from the tower was definitely worth the stop.
Our second stop was in the town of 100 Mile House. There is a short trail from Centennial Park to the Bridge Creek Falls. The fast moving, high volume of water flowing down the creek is very powerful. The trail goes right alongside the creek and the falls so you can really get a sense of the water’s power.
The third stop was 108 Mile Ranch Heritage Site. This one is also a rest area. There are several historical buildings to explore along with a museum. Unfortunately, the museum was not open while we were there. However, we are still glad we stopped.
All in all, it was a good day of sight-seeing considering we didn’t have a lot of time because we needed to cover some ground. It was dinner time by the time we arrived at Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park. We stopped at the dump station to empty our gray tanks. The mosquitoes were swarming us. Uh-oh. Thankfully, the bugs were not that bad at our campsite. We had a lakeside site, with a view of the sunset over the lake from our van.
Barkerville Historical Site is only about an hour’s drive from Quesnel. However, it didn’t open for the season until a couple days after we leave Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park. In the off-season, they let people walk around the buildings for free. However, we had a long drive on Tuesday to get to Ten Mile Lake, and a long drive planned on Thursday to reach Dawson Creek. So driving two hours on Wednesday to see some buildings from the outside didn’t sound very appealing. Instead, we checked out the town of Quesnel.
Ann had a 9 am phone call to make, so we drove into town to get a better cell signal. After her phone call, we visited the Quesnel Bakery for a morning pastry and chai latte. It was hard to decide which delicious-looking treat to get. Ann finally chose the banana creme pastry, while Keith ordered the apple fritter. Very tasty.
To burn off those calories, we went for a walk around town. First we headed down Reid Street and over to the Quesnel Fraser River Footbridge. The bridge was originally opened in 1929 and is a wooden Howe Truss System. It claims to be the longest wooden truss walking bridge in the world. Right across the street from the bridge is the Hudson Bay Building built in 1882. Right next to the bridge are a couple of other historical items. On display are the boilers recovered from the first Upper Fraser River’s first river boat, the S.S. Enterprise, and a replica of a Cornish water wheel.
Riverfront Park is a set of pathways along the banks of the Fraser River and the Quesnel River. To get our steps in, we walked over the truss bridge and walked the Riverfront Park path along the west side of the Fraser River up to the viewpoint. Then we came back across the bridge and wandered down to the confluence of the Fraser and Quesnel Rivers, into Ceal Tingley Park. In the park were a couple more relics, an 1870 steam shovel and a centrifugal pump and boiler from around 1900.
After our walk, we headed back to the campground. It was turning out to be a beautiful day. We actually put out our awning and sat outside in its shade, listening to the birds singing in the trees. To keep the mosquitos at bay, we tried the Thermacell (paid link). It was hard to tell when the unit was on. There is supposed to be an orange glow, but we could not see it in the daylight. We just trusted that we started it and waited to see if the top of the unit got hot, which it did. It did seem to keep the mosquitoes away, but we’re not really sure they were that bad to begin with.
Before dinner, we took a stroll around the provincial park. We followed the path along the lake over to the day use area and kept walking. All along the shore of the lake were picnic tables along with an outdoor shower every now and then. We’re assuming the showers were for people to rinse off after swimming in the lake. We didn’t see anyone using the day use area during our stroll, but it was the middle of a work day.
Towards evening, a dark cloud would pass overhead every now and then, spitting a little moisture as it went by. Then we set up our camp stove (paid link) outside just in time for a rain cloud to let loose on us. After quickly bringing everything back inside the van, we used the camp stove on our Lagun table with the sliding door of the van wide open. We were glad we made the protective board (Item 21 in Preparing for Season Four: Alaska Bound 2022) to put under our stove so we did not damage our Lagun table top (Campervan Project #3: Versatile Lagun Table). It made us a little nervous to use the stove inside, but everything turned out OK.
Admiring the scenery along the Sea to Sky Highway, stopping to see the sights in some small towns along the way, and wandering around the town of Quesnel was a great way to start our adventure of Canada’s backroads. We’re ready to find out what lies ahead. Our next destination is Dawson Creek, the start of the Alaska Highway.
Check out our related video: Quesnel, British Columbia
(Ann)