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Smelling the trees in Capilano Bridge Suspension Park

Well she's back!  After three crazy busy weekends on the road and working during the week I am finally catching my breath.  Well the work part is still crazy busy. I am semi-retired but I don't think I've ever worked so hard at a job before.  (Shhhhh.....don't tell SaskTel, my employer for thirty years!)  I come home too pooped to pop.  However this retirement job pays for my fun so mustn't complain TOO much. 

All I can say is WOW - the month of May was wonderful.  I didn't PLAN to be traveling three weekends in a row, I'd have preferred my wanderings spread out a bit but that's what life threw me and I rolled with it. 

So back we go to Vancouver....when I left you last time we were heading back down Grouse Mountain after having a great time riding on the chair lift and visiting Grinder and Coola the orphaned Grizzly bears.  We got the same tour bus which dropped us at Capilano.  Originally I had suggested we go to Lynn Canyon which is similar to Capilano and FREE however I knew time was marching on and it was too complicated to try and get there on our own from the mountain.  So we paid $35.95 which in the end I did not regret as there is so much to see there now.  The last time I was at Capilano was in 2000 while visiting my friend Shirley and family - basically it was a bridge and hiking trails then with a much lower price.  Now there is so much more. 
So come along and let's go exploring.  



 Totem poles and wooden statues galore as you enter the park interspersed with beautiful flowers. 



Okay these tulips are a little past their sell-by date but to this Spring deprived Prairie gal they were an awesome sight.

Here we are!

Yes the suspension bridge shakes as you walk across especially if you have rowdy school children bouncing across it...however I felt quite safe with the high fence on the sides.  Otherwise...well, forget it!!




Now wouldn't you like to see that? 
The view from the middle of the bridge


To quote from the web site:  In 1888, George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer and land developer, arrived in the young city of Vancouver in Canada. Mackay purchased 6,000 acres of dense forest on either side of Capilano River and built a cabin on the very edge of the canyon wall. In 1889 he suspended a footbridge made of hemp rope and cedar planks across the canyon with the help of August Jack Khahtsahlano and a team of horses who swam the ropes across the river. The ropes were then pulled up the other side and anchored to huge buried cedar logs.

Need I add it's a bit more high tech these days!

Anyway we crossed to the other side and proceeded to walk along the Treetops Adventure which is a series of seven small suspension bridges attached to eight 250 year old Douglas-firs.  It goes up to 110 feet above the forest floor.  The bridges are attached to collars around the first which cause no damage and are adjustable.  It was great fun even if a bit hard on the old knees.

Wow...if this tree could talk....







 Need I add this was great fun for kids and adults who have never quite grown up (and don't intend to).  I am grateful we visited before the onslaught of tourists in the summer or even on a weekend and aside from an obnoxious bunch of school children racing around it at one point was relatively quiet.   I can't even describe the smells of the coastal forest - the fresh air and smell of the trees...mmmmm.......wish I could have bottled it and brought it home with me.  Well they probably sold it in the gift shop!

Okay we aren't done quite yet....then it was off to see the Cliffwalk.  Not for the faint of heart I am told.  I was fine.  Heights don't bother me when I feel safe - when I have to climb them via steep rocky paths then I start whimpering for my mommy.  Need I add the view was spectacular.

The start of the cliffwalk that takes you out over the forest.

One at a time!

Not a shabby view by any means!

When you stand out at the end you are standing on glass - yes I posed for a picture out there.  No worries.

Below you...only trees!

Another view of the cliffwalk

Julie and I really enjoyed the Capilano Bridge Park and were so glad we went.  Would I go again?  With the price probably not - next time I would visit Lynn Canyon suspension bridge just to see something different and to save some money.  However I would definitely recommend this attraction to everyone - to me it was worth the price. 


Comments

Sammi said…
Wow! You are so brave. I think it is the type of thing I would start on and end up in a quivering wreck- I tend to get more panicked the further I get. Heights terrify me!
June 17, 2014 at 9:33 AM
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