SOUTHWESTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 340

from a tree with root rot, and it was one of the original tree-stump works of art scattered
through town.
MM Othello-Quintette Tunnels
These five huge tunnels through a steep gorge of Coquihalla Canyon were carved out of
solid granite by the Kettle Valley Railway, completing a route for the company's steam lo-
comotives between Vancouver and Nelson. The tunnels opened in 1916, but the line was
plagued by snow, rock slides, and washouts, and closed for repairs more often than it was
open. It was eventually abandoned in 1959. By 1962 the tracks and four steel bridges over
the awesome Coquihalla River gorge had been removed. Today a short, tree-shaded walk
takes you from the Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park parking lot to the massive, dark
tunnels, now a popular tourist attraction. Stroll through them and over the sturdy wooden
bridges to admire the gorge and the power and the roar of the Coquihalla River below. If
you'd visited the tunnels back in 1981, you would have seen Sylvester Stallone swinging
through the canyons during the filming of the first Rambo movie, First Blood. To get to
the tunnels from downtown, take Wallace Street to 6th Avenue and turn right. Turn left on
Kawkawa Lake Road, crossing the Coquihalla River Bridge and railway tracks. At the first
intersection take the right branch, Othello Road, and continue until you see a sign to the
right (over a rise and easy to miss) pointing to the recreation area. The tunnels are closed
November-April.
On the way up to the tunnels, Kawkawa Lake is a pleasant body of water with a high
concentration of kokanee and a lakeside picnic area.