Hope-Nicola Valley Trail
This intact section of the historic Hope-Nicola Valley trail leads up a small hill above the popular Othello Tunnels near Hope.
Statistics
| Total Distance: |
7.0 km (return) |
| Estimated Time: |
2 hours |
| Average Grade: |
4.9% |
| Structure: |
Loop - Complete |
|
|
Elevation Gain:
|
195 m |
| Start Elevation: |
180 m |
| Min Elevation: |
155 m |
| Max Elevation: |
350 m |
|
Directions
Follow Highway #5 (Coquihalla) north from Hope. Take the Kawkawa Lake Exit (#183), crossing underneath the highway and reaching a three-way stop sign. Turn left at the stop sign and follow Othello Road for approximately three kilometers. Immediately before the road starts climbing uphill, turn left on to Tunnels Road and follow it to the enterance of Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park.
Parking passes are required for vehicles during the summer months. The area has historically had an extremely high number of car break-ins. Ensure that your doors are locked at all times and no valubles are left in the vehicle.
Details
** Sept/2011 - had a report that this trail has been closed all summer. **
Starting at the pay-parking lot for Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park, follow the main trail along what the formerly the Kettle Valley Railway. Pass through the spectacular Othello Tunnels, with flat steep cliff faces high above and a raging torrent of a river below.
Once past the Othello Tunnels, the trail continues another 750 meters to the edge of the park and a metal gate. Another 30 meters after the gate, a blank wooden kiosk provides the unofficial trail marker the West trailhead of the Hope-Nicola Valley Trail.
Steeply climbing up the ridge alongside the Coquihalla Canyon, the trail passes by a few conveniently placed benches before opening up with a viewpoint of Hope Mountain. The top of the ridge is reached after another short, steep 600 meters. A plaque denotes the historical significance of the trail, built in 1860 by Edgar Dewdney.
After the plaque area, head downhill on the opposite side of the ridge. Off in the distance, Mount Ogilvie's rock bluffs loom overhead as the route passes through a treed area behind a quarry.
An easy 1.5 kilometers after the quarry the trail reaches it's other end, located at the junction between Tunnels Road and Othello Road. Follow Tunnels Road back to the Coquihalla Canyon parking lot, completing the seven kilometer loop.
Photographs
GPS Waypoints
| Othello Tunnels Trailhead |
N49.37786 W121.36849 |
10U 618425 5470742 |
| First Othello Tunnel |
N49.37406 W121.36874 |
10U 618416 5470319 |
| Last Othello Tunnel |
N49.36855 W121.36419 |
10U 618760 5469714 |
| Hope-Nicola Valley Trailhead West (Kiosk) |
N49.36598 W121.37315 |
10U 618115 5469414 |
| Hope Mountain Lookout and Bench |
N49.36910 W121.37655 |
10U 617861 5469756 |
| Historic Marker and Benches (High Point) |
N49.37354 W121.37733 |
10U 617794 5470248 |
| Hope-Nicola Valley Trailhead East (Othello Road) |
N49.38078 W121.35887 |
10U 619116 5471082 |