Take a musical ride on the Gold Rush Trail

Lovely Likely, B.C., where Quesnel Lake flows out into the Quesnel River

The discovery was made 16 kms above the mouth of the Horsefly River in 1859, pre-dating the Barkerville Gold Rush. Horsefly is located along B.C.’s Cariboo Wagon Road and Gold Rush Trail, that starts in New Westminster and loops up to the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast region reaching 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, looping off to Horsefly, Likely, (that’s really the town name) Wells and Barkerville, up to Prince George and back down through Quesnel.

Here are three points of interest, with some great photo ops and history lessons, that you’ll want to plot out on the map:

Horsefly to Bullion Pit Mine

(Driving time: 1 spin of Sweet Old Religion, and hit replay on the title track a couple times to optimize your in-car sing-along duets)

The hydraulic guns atop the hill at the Bullion Pit Mine site

The road is long, the road is wide

Come on love, come on light

Slow down, make time

You can take the main road, aptly named Back Road, to the Bullion Pit Mine Lookout, turning off the highway at the giant yellow bulldozer. The main attraction is two giant hydraulic guns that looked out over the remnants of what was once the largest hydraulic placer mine in the world.

Everywhere you look in the forest there are old structures being reclaimed by nature that served an industrial purpose a hundred years ago.

Bullion Pit Mine to Likely:

(Driving time: 3 tracks from Pharis and Jason’s second album Long Gone Out West Blues)

The well-named Back Road to Likely from Horsefly.

Back in the car, soundtrack blaring while cruising down Likely Road, I head to the shores of the peaceful and placid Quesnel Lake which flows out into the Quesnel River. Likely is one of the few other surviving towns from the Cariboo Gold Rush days.

There’s a hotel with a cafe and pub, post office, and further south is camping at Cedar Point Provincial Park and the Cedar City Museum. This is a good spot for a pit stop before heading up the gravel road to Quesnel Forks.

Likely to Quesnel Forks:

(Driving time: 3 tracks from the Romeros’ first duet album A Passing Glimpse)

Robson Street and old ghost town buildings at the Quesnel Forks heritage site

For a ghost town, this place is well kept. 

Founded in 1860, and commonly known as “The Forks,” what’s left of this town (about a dozen wooden structures and cabins) sits along the convergence of the Quesnel and Cariboo Rivers, 11 kms northwest of Likely. 

You can park at the Visitor Centre, read information signs, and start strolling. Walk past the cemetery, which while eerie, tells you about the people who lived here, including the strong Chinese population that boomed all over the region during the Gold Rush. The last resident left The Forks in 1954.

Old road signs give you an idea of the layout of the city, and placards in front of houses, hotels, and stores - or what’s left of them - tell the rest.

The town is fenced (just walk through some saloon-style gates to enter) to preserve the buildings, but outside the fence is a campground with riverside camping and an accessible trail.

Abandoned machinery at a mine site, log houses melting into the landscape and the rushing river, there’s so much history in this region that seems to be dissolving in front of our eyes. Thanks to volunteers for their restoration and educational efforts, we can still enjoy these places, today. 

Quesnel Forks back to Horsefly:

(Driving time: The Juno-award winning Wanderer I’ll Stay, on repeat)

Deer spotting along the accessible trail at the Horsefly River Spawning Channel

There's a river below the house you were born

It flows in the summer and in the winter both

When you feel that the weight of the world has come

I will take you to listen to its watery song

Make your way back to Horsefly, in time for dinner at the Soul Food truck along the Horsefly River or to catch the 50+ musical acts performing on four stages for Arts on the Fly. Dip your road-tripping toes in the river, sit back, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Cariboo.

Did you know that Horsefly is part of the Gold Rush Trail? Learn more here.

Start exploring the Cariboo Region options with Destination BC. 

Rebecca Bollwitt is a Seekers' correspondent and award-winning blogger based in Vancouver. Follow her travels on Instagram and Twitter @Miss604.