Othello Tunnels and Hell's Gate Expedition

Othello Tunnels

Last weekend, my mom and I made the trek out to Hope, BC to see the Othello Tunnels and then up to Hell's Gate. On Friday, we made it to Hope in record time, found a hotel, hit the beach for a picnic and then walked along the river and through the tunnels.

The tunnels were built in 1913-1916 by Andrew McCulloch who was a big fan of Shakespeare, hence the name Othello Tunnels. I think that if I had lived in the early 1900's, I would want to be Mr. McCulloch's friend. He seems like a neat guy.




There are 13 tunnels in total but we only managed to go through about 5 or 6 of them. I'll have to back sometime and check out the other ones. I think they go on for about 2 miles. I could be wrong on that fact though. Don't quote me.







The photographer "stance"












Walking through the tunnels.



















A look down below













One tunnel ends and another one begins.

Hell's Gate

Next stop on our list was Hell's Gate, the narrowest part of the Fraser River were the water swirls and turns under the great pressure of squeezing by the rocks. The water cur
rent was even too much for the jumping salmon that could not get up the river!


After traveling on the wrong highway and not being able to find a turn around point, we made a two hour detour to end up behind closed gates. However, we saw this amazing bridge on the road to Hell's Gate. I love it. I think it's my favourite bridge.



Apparently we weren't being let through Hell's Gate that day. We decided we'd try to get in the next morning. So we drove back to the hotel, had burgers and Kokanee at The Home Restaurant, went hot tubbing and settled into our room.



The next morning was cloudy and wet, the perfect day to go through Hell's Gate. We drove an hour on twisty roads through the mountains, over rivers and along forests in order to get there.



We took the tram down through the canyon and were taken aback by the gust of wind over the bridge.




We toured around, took in the chocolate factory and gift shops and settled down for the best icecream cone around.




It was a good day!