| CACHE CREEK has a reputation as a hitchhiker's black hole and indeed
is the sort of sleepy place you could get stuck in for days. Locals also
say it didn't help that an infamous child murderer, Charles Olsen, was
captured nearby in 1985 - since then they've been understandably wary of
picking up strangers. The town's name is accounted for by a variety of
legends, the most romantic version concerning a couple of prospectors
who buried a hoard of gold and never returned to pick it up. Sadly, it's
likelier to derive from early trappers' more prosaic habit of leaving a
cache of supplies at points on a trail to be used later.
Cache Creek is known as the "Arizona of Canada" for its baking summer
climate, which settles a heat-wasted somnolence on its dusty streets.
The parched, windswept mountains roundabout are anomalous volcanic
intrusions in the regional geology, producing a legacy of hard rock and
semi-precious stones - including jade - that attract climbers and rock
hounds. There's not much else to do here; you can watch semi-precious
stones being worked at several places, or check out Hat Creek Ranch (mid-May
to Sept daily 10am-6pm; $5), a collection of original buildings
including a log stopping house, the last remaining of its type, and a
reconstruction of a Shuswap village. It's located ten minutes north of
Cache Creek by the junction of hwys 97 and 99 (the original Cariboo
Wagon Rd). For more local insights visit the infocentre on the northwest
side of town at 1340 Hwy 97 near the main road junction (summer daily
9am-6pm; tel 604/457-5306). If you're stranded, try one of half-a-dozen
motels , the most interesting of which is the bizarrely built Castle Inn
, 1153 E Trans-Canada (tel 604/457-9547 or 1-800/457-9547; $40-60). Less
eccentric are the Bonaparte on Hwy 97 North (tel 604/457-9693 or
1-888/922-1333; $60-80), with large heated pool, and the central Sage
Hills Motel , 1390 Hwy 97 N (tel & fax 604/457-6451; $40-60), also with
pool. The nearest campsite , complete with laundry, hot showers and
heated outdoor pool, is the Brookside (tel 604/457-6633; $16-20; April-Oct),
located 1km east of town on the main highway.
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