Tunnels Loop Trail, Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park, Hope, B.C., Sunday July 30, 2017

This trail is interesting because it appears to go by two names.  The parking lot was full and we got what appeared to be the last space (when we finished, a tour bus was there plus vehicles were parked for nearly a mile outside the park).  From the parking lot we saw this large sign but the small sign below it shows it as the Tunnels Loop.  And it says 5.4 kilometers, but everyone we met agreed that their and my pedometers all show it closer to 5 miles.

It was a very nice trail that went uphill continuously for the first half mile, then mostly level for a mile or so before going up another half mile to reach the high point.  

Along the way, the Tunnels Loop Trail name got dropped off the signs.

And then we came to a junction that had the old name, Hope Nicola, on a sign lying on the ground.  The good news is that there were small orange colored squares every 100 yards or so on trees, so we could figure out which way to go.

The confusing signs pointed you to where the trail ended at what appeared to be a gravel pit.

We followed the trail for the second uphill segment and got to the high point where there was a historical marker and benches, and we took a short break there.

Then it was downhill for about a mile, with benches at viewpoints where you can look across the canyon at mountains and down through the woods to the river.

After nearly four miles, we came out on the old railroad bed and went a kilometer to the tunnels.  There is a great sign telling how they managed to map, plan and dig the tunnels to allow the trains to pass through the canyon.

And then we walked through the cool canyons and across the connecting bridges with great views of the river below.

It has been hotter than expected, with temps in the 80s and forecast to be in the 90s.  Many, many people were out, both at the Coquihalla and other parks on the way back to our hotel - so we ended up having our late lunch back at the hotel.

Exploring Hope, B.C., early Sunday Morning, July 30,2017

As I went on my morning walk, I found coffee and glorious sunshine over the mountains that surround the city.

There are perhaps hundreds of wood sculptures around town.

And a festival to celebrate and create those wooden sculptures.

Many more electric car charging stations here and they are all clearly free.

The Fraser River runs by the city, and only three blocks from our hotel is a small but picturesque park with great views of the river and mountains.

And I learned about the Trans Canada Trail, also known as The Great Trail, a hiking trail to walk across Canada.

Hope looks like a great place to hike and explore.

McConnell Lake Provincial Park on the way to Hope, B.C., Saturday July 29, 2017

We packed up at our hotel in Revelstoke and at breakfast, met The Regent Hotel owner and his wife, Fred and Marcy, and had a pleasant chat with them.  They had just been visiting their son in Germany where he is the lead designer for Adidas.  Saturday was the weekly farmers' market and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was scheduled to be in Revelstoke later in the day.  Patty saw some of his Secret Service guards checking things out.

We went to the grocery store and bought salads for our picnic lunch and then headed east.  We planned to visit the Secwepemc Museum and Cultural Center in Kamloops.  However, even though their website says they are open Monday through Saturday during the summer, they were closed and the signs said open Monday through Friday.  Bummer.  Since the park is on First Nations land (I think we would call it tribal land or reservation in the USA), they had interesting stop signs.  Rather than in English and French, they were in English and their native language.  I looked on line and see that has caused some controversy.

So we looked in the British Columbia Provincial Parks booklet I had picked up in Revelstoke and found that McConnell Provincial Park was on the way to Hope and only about 25 minutes from Kamloops.  We pulled in to a small but nearly full parking lot (it holds maybe 20 cars) and had lunch on one of the picnic tables.  We then set out on the loop trail that goes around the lake.

We soon came to a gate intended to let hikers through but to keep cattle on the other side.   From what I later found out online, Frolek Cattle Co. leases land in the park to let their cattle graze.  We did not see any, but it reminded us of our stay two years ago in Munds Park, AZ, where cattle grazed in the National Forest lands adjacent to the house we rented through VRBO.

We continued on around the lake, going though nice shaded woods and sometimes in the sun.  The trail went as close as inches to the lake and never more than 100 feet away.  It was a pleasant walk in the woods.

Once on the other side, we could look back to where we had lunch.

And then it was on Hope.  Our hotel is across the street from a small but beautiful city park.