Quesnel is situated on Highway 97, just an hour and a half drive from the cities of Williams Lake to the south and Prince George to the north.
Located on the northern edge of the interior plateau, Quesnel embraces the confluence of the Fraser and Quesnel rivers. The entire area offers an extensive view of gentle, rolling landscape covered in thick forests and pocketed with numerous small lakes, swamps and wetlands.
Fertile Lands
It is Quesnel's agriculturally rich and fertile land that first attracted the Chentsit'hala Carrier First Nation, who set up their summer camp here while they harvested the area's abundant wild food. In the 1800s, settlers arrived and eventually developed an extensive agricultural industry on the deep alluvial sediments. Both the Carrier and European settlers used the Fraser and Quesnel rivers for easy transportation along the wild frontier.
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Fraser Plateau and Fraser Basin
Thousands of years ago, melting glaciers formed the Fraser River and Quesnel River, and the many tributaries that feed them. The rivers cut deep into the Fraser plateau, creating the Fraser drainage basin. Eskers, steep ridges of sand and gravel left from the retreating glaciers, formed the surrounding hillsides. Drive to Pinnacle Provincial Park, 7km/4.4mi northwest of Quesnel, for an excellent opportunity to view dramatic basalt columns and hoodoos (softer pockets of ash and basalt) that resulted from glacier melting and erosion.
Climate and Weather
Quesnel is located east and in the lee of the Coast Mountains, resulting in a fairly dry climate with 2,025 hours of sunshine every year. Summers tend to be warm with average temperatures of 16˚C/61˚F. Winters generally last from mid November to mid-March. Winter days are predominantly cold and crisp with occasional spells of extreme cold. Temperatures average a moderate -16˚C/21˚F and severe temperatures are not common.
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