Othello Tunnels

Thursday, September 16, 2010
Hope, British Columbia, Canada
Othello Tunnels
Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park
So I didn't know why this was so special, but Paul said we have to come here and here is way:

Othello Tunnels - viewing from tunnel to tunnel History of the Othello Tunnels:
  • In the early 1900s the CPR decided to link the coast to the Kootnays
  • Through the Coquihalla Gorge, where the river cut a 300 ft. deep canyon they built a straight line of tunnels
  • The 5 tunnels were built in 1914
  • This part was the most expensive mile of railway track in the world with 300.000 $ in 1914
  • It was done with horses and the black powder and called the McCulloch Wonder – It was Andrew McCulloch who decided to go right through the Canyon, so that all the tunnels could built at the same time with suspension bridges, cliff ladders and ropes for the workers
  • McCulloch loved Shakespeare and named the station after names in Shakespeare and since the tunnels are near the Othello station they are the Othello tunnels
  • in Nov 1959 a washout was north of the tunnels too large to file out in a day and with several washouts they closed the line and never reopened it
  • It was here that Rambo was filmed!
So we went and walked through the tunnels: Gine admiring the views down in the gorge – amazed about the tunnels… we even brought some head lights… Paul came here to be closer to feel like Rambo.
What I thought is so cool: since they are all in a straight line – you can see from inside one tunnel through the next one…. Which looks super cool. Also once in a while we had to look up and image how it would have been to hang down here for building

It Camping on the Othello Campground
I mean we already knew we would love the Othello Tunnels… so we do have to camp here… even it sounded well than it was. But then we only stay here for the night….

Hope - at the Fraser River Hope
With some sunshine our last day starts and we stopped quickly to check out the view on the Fraser River before leaving for home

Horseshoe Bay Horseshoe BayEveryone living on the island knows: you always wait for the ferry. So it is cool that the little town of Horseshoe bay is only a 5 Min walk away and even better we had great weather to enjoy.the best thing we saw today was when a ferry brought a superold motorhome and an even older pickup to the main land... guess the old vehicles have to come back anyhome.
on the Ferry home The Ferry home
And the last part of our trip is the ferry home after we did the big Ferry CircleTrip:
                Comox – Powell River
                Saltery Bay – Early Cove
                Gibson’s – Horseshoe Bay
                Horseshoe Bay – Nanaimo
With a lot of sunshine in Horseshoe bay the wait was fun and the sunny ferry crossing made us appreciate our great island we live on.
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