Gold Rush Trail
British Columbia | 743km
The gold prospectors that originally followed this route in the 1850s and ’60s would surely envy the time you can make on a Harley-Davidson® – but this ride is packed with opportunities for sightseeing, so plan to take a few days nonetheless.
After provisioning for your trip in New Westminster (just like the miners used to do), ride east along Highway 1 past the historic sites in Fort Langley and Harrison Mills to Hope, an ancient meeting place of the Stó:lō Nation.
Follow the highway north through the Fraser Canyon, Hell’s Gate, and Thompson River Valley along some of the most scenic, twisting roadways in B.C., where the road hugs the cliff over the water below. By the time you reach Highway 97 in Cache Creek, the scenery changes dramatically to grasslands and desert on the edge of Cariboo ranch country.
At Quesnel veer east again on Highway 26 for curvy roads and plenty of historic sites on the way to Barkerville Historic Town & Park, where Billy Barker first struck gold in 1862 and sent the B.C. gold rush into high gear.
Living history
From trading posts to guest ranches to ghost towns and Indigenous experiences, this trek along the old Cariboo Waggon Road offers plenty of opportunities to immerse yourself in B.C.’s past, from the old Hudson’s Bay trading post in Fort Langley to western North America’s largest living history museum at Barkerville.
First published in 2024.
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