Hope, BC

We drove from Everett, WA, to Hope, B.C. on Friday, crossing the border with no problems at Sumas, WA. We had a great view of snow capped Mt. Baker on the way. First, though, we stopped at the IGA to buy Tillamook Chocolate Mudslide ice cream which we learned about on the Tillamook Cheese tour in Tillamook, WA. It’s chocolate ice cream with large chunks of chocolate in it. As we approached Hope, the mountains rose up around us – some large jagged peaks, others more rounded. It was a marvelous view. We arrived at our RV park shortly after lunch and were awed by the views – the same large jagged mountains, lots of tall conifers, and a beautiful sunny day. During the afternoon we drove to the site of the Hope Slide where, on Jan. 9, 1965, a mountain peak collapsed sending tons of rock, mud, and trees onto the highway southeast of Hope. Four people were killed when their vehicles were caught up in the wave of mud which swept back into the valley from the south side. At the pull out along the highway, travelers have an awesome view of the damage cause by the slide which filled up the bottom of the valley to a depth of 200 feet and absorbed all of Outram Lake. The portion of the mountain that remains standing is a bald dreadful reminder of the power of Mother Nature.

Hope and the Othello Tunnels 8/25 Today we headed to Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park to hike the Othello-Quintette Tunnels. Here one of the most difficult sections of the Kettle Valley RR has been turned into a park where visitors can hike through the tunnels and over the trestles through the Coquihalla canyon. Many said it was impossible to build a rail road through the canyon, but Andrew McCulloch, a talented Canadian Pacific railroad engineer, did it. He was a fan of William Shakespeare and named many of the stations after Shakespearean characters. He lowered himself into the canyon in a straw basket in order to survey the route for the tunnels which turned out to be perfectly aligned. The Kettle Valley railroad was built just after the turn of the twentieth century in a competitive bid to outsmart the Americans who were trying to build rail road lines from the US into the fertile region of Canada. The Kettle Valley railroad won the contest by building a shorter but more difficult route through the mountain ridges rather than going up the level valleys between them. The tunnels, trestles, and old road bed made for an enjoyable hike along the Coquihalla River on a cool pleasant day. We returned to the truck shortly before a light rain began. We stopped in Hope to see the chainsaw carvings that a local artist began when a large tree died in the local park. There are over 30 carvings about 12 feet tall throughout the town including bears, raccoons, salmon, and mountain sheep.

Sunday was a cool rainy day – we actually had the heat on in the RV – but by afternoon it was mostly clear and we headed to Hell’s Gate, the deepest and narrowest point on the Fraser River with very turbulent waters. Spanning the canyon at this point is the Hell’s Gate Airtram which descends 500 feet to the other side of the river. Canada's two rail lines run on either side of the river, and there are fishways built to help the salmon get upriver to spawn because the water is so turbulent there. It was always narrow but became even narrower after a landslide during railroad construction. There's a display about the construction of the railroad and the International Fishways. We also stopped for a short walk at historical Alexandra Bridge across the Fraser River, now a part of Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park.

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