15 September – That’s Likely Sep 30 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

15 September

Today, my wife Annika and I plan a day trip to Likely. We start in Williams Lake. We do not take the main road, but instead take a side road via Horsefly. According to the British Columbia paper map, there is a way to get there, according to Google Maps, there is no connection between Horsefly and Likely. So we are not sure whether this will work, but we have a full tank and we can turn around anytime.

The road to Horsefly is paved. We make a short stop to buy some provisions in the little shop and to use the toilet, then we continue to Likely.

After a few hundred metres the road turns into an unpaved one. Soon it gets a bit rough and pretty small. Still, it is good to drive on if you take it slowly. The issue is more the navigation. One thing is that Google Maps does not know the way but the main issue is that mobile internet access in British Columbia’s rural areas is more or less non-existent. So, offline maps are your friends, even with some missing routes. We miss a turnoff and land in an active mining area, but we find back and get onto the right road.

Finally, we arrive in Likely and it is a great place. The village is located on the Quesnel River and has an extremely cosy pub. We decide to eat there and sit outside to enjoy the warm late summer weather. We are not the only ones. Three Canadians join our table. We immediately start chatting about this and that and in the end, we get a lot of tips about which places we “must” visit. The man even offers to show us around in Edmonton, where he currently lives, although in his opinion it’s not worth a detour :-D. At the same time I eat a delicious burger with poutine, a very Canadian dish consisting of French fries topped with gravy. Unfortunately, the wasps enjoy the warmth, too and especially anything with sugar in it.

The Canadians tell us about salmon jumping up the Quesnel River and while we cannot see them jumping up the small rapid, we see them idling in the water from the bridge. On the other side of the bridge – there is a pair of common loons.

Near Likely at the confluence of the Cariboo River and the Quesnel River is Quesnel Forks, a preserved ghost town from the Cariboo Gold Rush founded in 1860. In the 1870s most of the residents had left, but the town was still inhabited until the 1950s. Here we spend some time looking at the old buildings as well as the place where the rivers meet. A place with an interesting history and a beautiful landscape. We even met an old lady looking for gold. She tells us that you can still find a bit of gold, but you won’t get rich.

On our way back we took the main road to Williams Lake. It is easy to drive on, easy to navigate, but also a bit more boring than the way via Horsefly.