Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park, popularly called the Othello Tunnels is a provincial park located near

Hope, British Columbia Hope is a district municipality at the confluence of the Fraser and Coquihalla rivers in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Hope is at the eastern end of both the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland region, and is at the southern end ...

focused on the canyon of the

Coquihalla River The Coquihalla River (originally or more recently and popularly ) is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Cascade Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates in the Coquihalla Lakes and empties into the Fraser River ...

and a decommissioned railway grade, now a walking trail, leading eventually to

Coquihalla Pass Coquihalla Summit (el. ) is a highway summit along the Coquihalla Highway in British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point on the highway between the cities of Hope and Merritt. It is located just south of the former toll booth plaza on the ...

. Originally part of the

Kettle Valley Railway The Kettle Valley Railway was a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) that operated across southern British Columbia, west of Midway running to Rock Creek, then north to Myra Canyon, down to Penticton over to Princeton, Coalmont, Br ...

, five tunnels and a series of bridges follow a relatively straight line through the gorge, which is lined with sheer, flat rock cliffs.

History

The park was established by

Order-in-Council An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (''Kin ...

as the Coquihalla Canyon Recreation Area, then upgraded and renamed with full provincial park status in 1997, at in size. It was expanded to its current in 2004. As of May 2015, the tunnels were reopened after having been closed for over a year due to rockfall concerns. During the 2021 Southern British Columbia floods, the rising waters of the Coquihalla river combined with debris to cause flooding in at least one tunnel section, and destruction of much of the approach trail from the park’s main access point.

In the media

The park's rock cliffs and relatively close distance to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

has resulted in many popular movies being filmed there. '' First Blood'', '' Shoot to Kill'', '' Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog'', ''

Cabin in the Woods Cabin may refer to: Buildings * Beach cabin, a small wooden hut on a beach * Log cabin, a house built from logs * Cottage, a small house * Chalet, a wooden mountain house with a sloping roof * Cabin, small free-standing structures that serve as in ...

'' and ''

War for the Planet of the Apes ''War for the Planet of the Apes'' is a 2017 American science fiction film directed by Matt Reeves from a screenplay by Reeves and Mark Bomback, and produced by Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It is the sequel to ''Daw ...

'' were all filmed in Coquihalla Canyon.

References

External links

Touring the Kettle Valley Railway - Othello TunnelsHiking the Othello Tunnels and the Hope-Nicola Valley Trail
* Provincial parks of British Columbia Canyons and gorges of British Columbia Canadian Cascades Lower Mainland 1986 establishments in British Columbia Protected areas established in 1986 Landforms of Lower Mainland {{BritishColumbia-park-stub

History

In the media

See also

References

External links