hello fellow travelers and welcome to Exit Thru the Gift Shop
in 1914 engineers blasted five tunnels through solid granite to complete the
construction of the Kettle Valley railway line
so just entering the tunnel here now and you can see that this is blasted just
right out of solid rock four of these tunnels are true tunnels one of the
tunnels is actually not a true tunnel because it has open air windows and
light on the side we'll check that one out in a minute they do recommend that
you bring a flashlight along because it is quite dark in here there's no natural
light at this point and no artificial light either so make sure you bring a
flashlight if you're going to explore the tunnels
so inside the tunnel I'm getting hit with drops of moisture makes me
wonder about the overall stability of the tunnel and whether or not there's a
bit of a rockfall hazard as well just emerging from the first tunnel and up
ahead you can actually see the next two tunnels the next one is blasted right
out of the granite and the one further down you can see it's been reinforced
with an archway the tunnel lock provides spectacular views of the Coquihalla
Canyon and the Coquihalla River running through it it's actually a nice cool
place to visit in the summertime because of the the running water
up on the roof you can see the steel beams that have been added for
reinforcement as well as the wire mesh that have been added for safety in case
of rock falls the tunnels are connected by a series of wooden trestles these
aren't the original trestles but have been added as part of the conversion of
this area to a Provincial Park
the third tunnel has a series of open air windows which helps provide light
and you can see how these were reinforced within the rock wall that had
been blasted away also note that the tunnel had been reinforced in 1934 so
these are some of the original structures
the tunnels were named by engineer Andrew McCullough who was an avid
Shakespeare fan and used names like Romeo and Juliet and Othello and Lear to
name different places in the area it's incredible how quickly the air
temperature drops once you get inside the tunnel even though it's quite a hot
day outside today it is a little chilly inside the tunnel and a nice way to cool off
the tunnels and trestles are maintained as part of the provincial park unlike
the nearby Ladner Creek trestle which sits abandoned we recently give that a
visit and I'll post a link to that as well so you can check it out so there it
is I would highly recommend that you check out the Othello tunnels the scenery
is spectacular the tunnels are amazing and it's one of the coolest attractions
that you can find just outside of the Vancouver area the tunnels are closed in
the winter time due to ice and falling rock hazards but are open during the
summer from April to October alright that's it for today please subscribe so
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