gold trails and ghost towns

[ugly_90]

This was the title of an old TV series by the late Bill Barlee on BC history.

I wonder if there's any interest in doing a gold-themed landrover trip this summer in BC.

Recreational panning is allowed without a license, you just have to be careful you don't jump anyone's claim. A prospecting license is easy to obtain if one is more serious.

Fishing and boating could also go together on this trip.

Some locations come to mind, the easiest is Barkerville, which I don't think the club visited last trip. Much more suited to family groups, they get many thousands of visitors each year. There are decent offroading opportunities there, particularly on the long weekends when the logging roads are empty.

A more gruelling, and remote location is Omineca, places like Germansen Landing and Manson Creek. With far fewer visitors and more remote,  there is more adventure there. Less competition from other panners too.

I would like to visit Omineca this year, taking the "easy" water route from near Hudson's Hope, and inland along logging roads from there. No landrover for that route.

Any interest in a trip like this?

[B-Red]

Not familiar with these locations. Which part are they around?
Panning for gold sounds like fun....as long as we don't develop gold fever lol

I would say a maybe

[Gardenome]

A lot closer than Moab... Maybe from me as well.


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[ugly_90]

Barkerville is near " Wells Grey Provincial Park", BC. Manson Creek is near " Omineca Provincial Park", BC.

Barkerville is a much better choice for a family destination. Barkerville was an earlier part of the Cariboo Gold Rush, and Manson Creek was part of the later Omineca Gold Rush.

like Quesnel, Barkerville is hard to reach from Alberta, as you have to go around the mountain range.

Plenty of good stories from " Gold Trails and Ghost Towns", still on YouTube, probably not about those two areas though.

Some recreational panning rules here, although not official. It seems like there's a 10 meter rule from streambanks for commercial mining, and this doesn't apply to recreational panning.

http://www.bcplacer.com/basic_rules.htm#Recreational_Hand_Panning

I would doubt modern gold claims would include streambeds, but I'll look into this.

[ugly_90]

I found a link showing some of the trails around the Omineca area, which is more remote and more of a man's visit than the Wells - Barkerville.
http://www.mansoncreek.com/Trails.html

I think a Wells - Barkerville family landrover outing would be good for a summer outing, please send me a PM if there's any preliminary interest for this summer. An Omineca trip would be more advanced.