The Othello Tunnels in British Columbia

in #blog7 years ago

Tunnel Entrance 1.jpg

One of the other places we stopped on last summer's vacation was the Othello Tunnels.

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The tunnels are located close to Hope, British Columbia not far from the west coast.

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The tunnels were built by the Canadian Pacific Railway when they ran the tracks through the Coquihalla Gorge.

Tunnel Inside 1.jpg

The tracks have since been removed and the tunnels have been turned into a tourist area.

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The railway stopped running at the end of the 1950's due to washout.

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The tunnels were built in the early 1900's. Its amazing to think they were able to build these tunnels with the equipment of their time.

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Scenes from the movie Rambo were filmed at the Othello Tunnels. The steep mountain terrain was used to film the cliff jumping scene.

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The Coquihalla River runs down below next to the tunnels.

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The river is very fast moving in some spots.

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It's easy to see how the river could wash out the tracks with a heavy rainfall or even just from wear over time.

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The tracks bridged over the river in several spots.

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The tunnels were more like a really cool walking trail than like a tourist location.

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I would have loved to spend more time here walking around and if a person likes cycling later sections of the tracks have been turned into a cycling trail.

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This stop was toward the end of our trip and we needed to get back to Alberta. Bentley was at home waiting for us.

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Unfortunately we still had a lot of miles to make and we had to keep going. Maybe someday we'll make it back to the Othello Tunnels.