The Tunnel Trail -Hope BC

For several years I have known about this hiking trail just east of Hope.

This trail follows a part of old Kettle Valley Railway that connected the Thompson Okanagan to Vancouver.  Parts of the Railway service was discontinued after 1961 until the late 1980's when it was totally abandoned.

The route went through some of the most stunning and picturesque scenery, requiring 13 tunnels and 43 bridges.  It was a very difficult and expensive section of railroad to build, but with great difficulty comes extraordinary beauty.

Much of the abandoned railroad has been striped of the tracks and ties to make fantastic hiking trails.  If we had known we would have had our picnic lunch here instead of at the trail head parking lot.

There were a lot of people enjoying this walking trail today.

Within about 20-25 minutes we had walked thru three tunnels.  You can see in the photo above the end of the first tunnel... then thru the second tunnel you can see the third tunnel.

A couple guys on bikes probably went to the end of this trail... about 8 km.

Looking over the handrail of the bridge the rushing Coquihalla River made a lot of noise!  It was quite thrilling.

Only the third tunnel was partly encased in concrete.

The last bridge after the third tunnel was wider... and not the original trestle. 

We took photos of each other and then turned around to go back.

Most of the trail and tunnels had the river very close nearby.

In the longest tunnel a young boy was shining his flashlight to help his grandmother see the way.  It was pretty dark.

As we got close to the parking lot Shirley is text messaging. 

It was a wonderful, little pleasant hike with great views.  Next time we hope to go further, but today we spent just over 90 minutes here in total for a picnic, a walk and a lot of iPhone photos.