SMITHERS TO VANDERHOOF TO FORT ST. JAMES TO QUESNEL!

July 5^th, 2014

We had an uneventful drive into Vanderhoof. It’s kind of difficult now … not having the mountains all around you. I miss them!! It’s all rolling pastures and some forests … very lush and green. Here’s an interesting fact … Vanderhoof is the geographical centre of B.C.! Who knew??

We stopped at the The Vanderhoof Museum & Visitor Centre, which is located right on highway 16 as you drive into town from the north. We had a coffee and snacks at the OK Cafe before we heading to Fort St. James to check out the Fort St. James National Historic Site.

OK Cafe, Vanderhoof

We drove up Hwy #27 to Fort St. James which is about 60 km north of Vanderhoof. Now that’s a cool place! Located on the shores of Stuart Lake, this town of 2,000 is one of B.C’s oldest permanent settlements, established in 1806 by Simon Fraser. There is an original trading post and compound which has the largest group of original wood buildings representing the Canadian fur trade and artifacts from the 1880’s. Check out our post: FORT ST JAMES NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

The company store

All the people working at the Fort are dressed in period clothing and are a font of information on life and times in the 1800’s.

The admission is reasonable for the amount of stuff there is to see. This is a definite ‘must-see’ if you’re anywhere in the area!

The fur shed

From Fort St,. James we drove back towards Vanderhoof and checked out a couple of parks along the way for possible camping. They weren’t that great and many were full! So we drove back into town and spent the night in the parking lot of the museum! (Big empty lot and hey! It was free!)

Up early this morning and after a good breakfast in Vanderhoof at the North Country Motel & Restarant, it was on the road to Quesnel.

The North Country Motel & Restaurant in Vanderhoof

July 6^th, 2014

QUESNEL

Back in the days of the gold rush, Quesnel served as the gold seeker’s supply depot. Today, it’s the North Cariboo’s main urban centre and is popularly known as the “Gold Pan City”. There’s quite a few historical buildings scattered throughout the downtown including the original 1862 Hudson’s Bay Trading Post.

We’ll stay here tonight – in a very weird RV park in the back of a motel – and tomorrow hope to get our RV repaired as we blew an alternator belt on the way here. Hopefully we can get that done quickly as we’re eager to get up to Barkerville. The weather looks like it’s finally improving (we’ve had LOTS of rain the last few days!) so it should be fun.