Day Tripping to the Othello Tunnels

My 10 week parental leave is coming to an end shortly and one of the small day trips I wanted to do during my 10 week leave was visit the Othello Tunnels out in Hope, BC.

Part of the Kettle Valley Railway, the Othello Tunnels (also known as the Quintette Tunnels) is situated in the Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park a short drive outside of the town of Hope. It is made up of 5 tunnels linked together by bridges that follow a portion of the Coquihalla River.

We arrived at the parking lot with about 6 other cars already there. The joys of being able to do things during the weekday when most people are at work or at school right?

Upon arrival there were 2 people watching over the parking lot, a pair of volunteers from the Hope Crime Prevention Office. They were checking the cars after the occupants leave for the 10 minute walk to the tunnels. When we came back from the tunnels they had left a “ticket” which outlined what they were looking for; locked doors, immobilizer, items in clear view etc. They want to make sure that people know how to help lessen the chance of having their vehicle broken into. It seems in the past the parking lot at the Othello Tunnels was a large target for vehicle break-ins. I don’t know about you, but we’ve had our vehicle broken into before and it’s not a nice thing to have to experience and deal with.

Anyway, back to the tunnels themselves!

As mentioned, the walk from the parking lot to the tunnel is about 10 minutes. A stroller friendly trail that leads up to and thru the tunnels themselves as well.

Probably best if I just show the photos and comment when necessary.

The first tunnel is the longest and darkest

This is the last tunnel, we turned around but you can continue down the trail until you get back to Hope

This tunnel is actually fairly dark, my camera helped bumped up the light a bit

It’s not an easy task to get photos of both of them together, still.

I believe we spent about 2 hours walking from the beginning to the end and back. We also had a picnic at the parking lot (there are picnic tables there) prior to heading back home.

It is just as I remembered it from the last time I’ve been there. Think it’s been at least 10 years too. The drive up to Hope went fairly well too. We stopped off in Sardis/Chilliwack for a quick coffee refueling and snack break before heading up to Hope. The kids were great in the car. We weren’t sure how they would handle the longer than normal drive but it went well. Thought about going up to Alexandra Bridge but that would be another 40 minutes out of our way and definitely would of pushed the kids a bit too much. Perhaps another day we’ll check it out. Perhaps make it a multi-day trip and spend the night in Harrison or something.

If you’re looking for something to do and you and your kids can handle the roughly hour and 40 minute drive there, then I would recommend checking out the Othello Tunnels. Don’t forget to bring a flashlight or two! “A” loved walking around the dark tunnels with his headlamp. Sometimes you can see bats sleeping up on the ceilings too.

Google Map Location:

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2597.644030693639!2d-121.3717174841018!3d49.37780817194643!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x5483f462bb963cef%3A0xb473d4042e968dfc!2sOthello+Tunnels!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sca!4v1475864263852&w=400&h=300]