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Wells/Barkerville, August 2009

We recently spent a week in the Wells/Barkerville area of BC.

Our first stop was an overnight stay in Clinton, BC. Although we didn't spend much time here, a quick walk in the evening gave us a glimpse of some oddities.

Wells is a beautiful little community just a few kilometers before Barkerville. Almost every building appears to date back to the Gold Rush days, and many have been "fixed up" and now house galleries, restaurants and theaters.

These flags criss-crossed the main street. On closer examination they turned out to be bits and pieces of material, what looked like a few tea towels and even a few t-shirts thrown in to the mix. I checked at one of the galleries and they started out to make flags for the ArtsWells Festival but ran out of time to complete enough. So they just added what they could find. I think it looked very whimsical.

The Amazing Space Gallery

In front of Deluxe Junk

Someone's front yard

Barkerville was free after 5 PM so we avoided the crowds by arriving late in the day and staying for dinner. We visited about three times before the week was over.

The Barkerville Hotel

The flowers were gorgeous in contrast with the weathered buildings.

This little guy was begging for a photo ...

... but I'm not too sure about these guys (David Francey, Pat, Craig Worth)

We did one hike in Wells but there wasn't too much to see on the trail. The bugs were bad, and the bear warnings were up so we didn't venture too far afield. Notice that even a hiking trail welcomed us with banners.

Sugar Loaf Mountain

As we were hiking we didn't know what the W meant on this signpost. As it turns out (for us) it meant WRONG. We thought we were hiking to a small lake and picnic area. Somewhere we took a wrong turn and were hiking up the side of a mountain.

On the drive there was a stretch of road that had the most wonderful silhouettes of old dead trees. What killed them? How old were they? Why they were stuck there all on their own?