Day 6 – Friday, July 6, 2018
Barkerville Day 3
Before heading out a Blue Jay came by the camp to visit. No, not a baseball player, the bird. It alighted on one of the awning struts and I managed to grab a shot of it by gently opening the slot on the screen door that lets you access the handle and aiming through it.
Today was catch-up day at Barkerville and our donation got us a generous three more days, though we’ll likely only use the passes for today (Friday). We chose to make like the pioneers and walked into town, specifically taking the Lowhee Trail that starts here at the campground and meets up with the cemetery trail that leads down into Barkerville proper.
It was a little tricksy at times, but mostly just a typical root-covered and not-entirely maintained trail. At least we didn’t develop rickets or scurvy along the way.
We then followed the more sedate cemetery trail the rest of the way into town, then ascended to the view trail along the hillside that extends to the Chinatown area. This 650 m trail was also rather tricksy, but offered a unique perspective on the town.
Without delay, we kept going the 1.6 km to the former location of the town of Richfield, where the oldest courthouse in B.C. stands to this day. A pair of young actors that made me fondly recall the acting days of my early 20s, put in an enthusiastic performances, taking on the roles of judge, prosecutor, accused and a German hurdy gurdy girl. The 14 of us in the audience served as jury and with one exception, found James Barrie guilty of murdering his traveling companion of Charles Blessing for his precious loot, which he then spent in an unsubtle manner in nearby towns, sealing his ultimate doom. He was one of two men to be convicted of murder and subsequently hanged at Richfield.
Along the road we encountered numerous signs of claims more than a hundred and fifty years old, ranging from huge neatly piled stacks of rock on the hillsides, to collapsed remnants of old tunnels. One especially steep path (?) led down to a shed that was likely padlocked with a KEEP OUT sign on it and Jeff very badly wanted to check it out. I had visions of him catching a foot on a root and tumbling down the rest of the way, breaking one to fifty bones and told him no, he could not go. He took a picture from the roadside instead.
Ironically, this was (as the plaque notes) the same place Jenny Allen broke her neck, by being pulled over with a carriage when a horse got spooked in 1870.
We also checked out the Richfield and Chinese cemetery, located about a km further up from the courthouse. Had it not been for the fence and memorial stone at the entrance, this would not have been recognizable as a cemetery, as it is completely overgrown. A few small remnants remain and recently it was found that two bodies may still be buried here (the cemetery was a holding station for bones that would get shipped back for burial in China), so it’s also now an archaeological site of sorts.
We attempted the 600 m trail that connects back to the courthouse, but it was more than a little tricksy, with twisty turns and lots of mud. I managed to cake my entire right shoe with mud by placing the foot squarely into a large patch of the stuff, to avoid something worse, like tumbling down the hillside. We gave up about 50 m or so in.
Below are a few more shots of things along the road to Richfield.
And a few pictures of some of the wildflowers.
We came back to Barkerville and made one more trip to the confectionery for still more fudge, this time banana cream and chocolate orange. Mmm, fudge. I am pretty sure I will never spend this much money on fudge again. I do not regret it.
At the souvenir shop Jeff picked out a mug as a memento, and it comes with handy bear facts. I got an orange hoodie (I wanted purple but normal sizes were sold out) and it’s bright enough for planes to navigate by at night.
We walked back to the campsite, arriving shortly after 4 p.m., having put in about 14 km of walking for the day. Hot dogs were on for lunch and then a nap afterward so we would have energy for the fire and fighting off mosquitoes later.
Around 5:30, as we snuggled in for a nap, a thunderstorm rolled through, almost as if on schedule. As of 8:30 it seems to be less rolling through than staying put, with quite regular thunder, lightning and enough rain that the fire danger level will probably be raised from LOW to MODERATE sometime in 2020.
But it was Taco Friday and we had tacos and stayed in the trailer where it was warm and dry. Well, Jeff had to get water from across the path so we could have showers and wash the dubiously effective Off!, well, off, so he got a tiny bit drenched. But he wore his Goretex Outdoor Research hat, so it was all good.
I wonder how many of the other campers here didn’t do research ahead of time and assumed early July = constant sunshine and warm weather. Also it’s apparently still 19ºC in 100 Mile House, as that was the last location I had the weather on my watch set to, so I always know what the weather is like in basically another region of the province. (It is 11 here, which, hey, it’s still double digits. That’s actually warmer than it was at Manning Park last summer at night.)
UPDATE: The rain stopped after about three hours, hooray.
Because the WiFi automatically connects when we’re in Barkerville, all of the usual emails and notifications come sluicing in on my phone unbidden (that’s a mining joke, see?) and I happened to notice a message from Nic asking if I would be free for a movie tomorrow. As I am about 700 km north of the movie theater, I would not be able to make it. Jeff kindly agreed to go back to the parking lot at Barkerville this evening, where we sat in the nice warm truck so I could connect to the WiFi, tell Nic I would be unable to attend, and also clear out some of my 79 emails. Once I culled all the newsletters/deals, I was left with 18 “real” messages. I did not read them, because while I may like keeping a handle on things even on vacation, there are limits.
