Capilano Suspension Bridge: A Real-Life Ewok Village!
The Capilano suspension bridge park is just 15 minutes or so out of downtown Vancouver, but feels other-worldly. The platforms and swinging bridges set among the thriving coastal rainforest of 1300-year-old towering trees bears an uncanny resemblance to Bright Tree Village, the home of the Ewoks. Here is a side-by-side comparison, I think Capilano may even be more lovely.
The newest attraction at the Capilano Park is the Cliffwalk, a series of “C” shaped walkways jutting out from granite boulders and supported by what appears to just be about 16 different suspension cables.
The advertisements for the park purport that it is “not for the faint of heart,” and standing on a swaying suspension bridge 250 feet above a rushing river I could see why. That said, even my sister who is not the fondest of heights, was more overcome by how incredible the surroundings were than by how incredibly high above the ground we were.
The bridges, stairs and platforms weave around and over trees, rivers and granite boulders. The man-made structures seamlessly integrate with nature which helped with the illusion that we were squirrels or other furry creatures scurrying across the treetops.
The forest surrounding Vancouver is indescribably lovely. I am struggling to find the words to describe it here, but have to settle for our photos telling the story for us. The moss and bark on the trees, the trout filled and bird dotted ponds and rivers, the greenery of everything and spotting the occasional enormous banana slug on the forest floor made this an incredibly magical afternoon.
Details
There is a free shuttle that goes to the Capilano Bridge Park from several different downtown Vancouver locations. The shuttle runs about every hour, and all of the details can be found through the above link.
The park costs $33.00 CAD for a regular adult admission. We brought a picnic lunch and spent about 3 hours in total exploring the park.
You forgot the most exciting part- duck butts!
http://crudlynaturephotos.tumblr.com/post/87907267057
Great story, I loved this bridge too! My brother lived in North Van for a few years and I kept wanting to go here but he’s afraid of heights and I always had so much planned that I kept missing it somehow. Finally got there when visiting a few years ago with friends. It was fun but a little scary walking across with the swaying part. It wouldn’t have been too bad except it was insanely busy while we were there (we foolishly went on a Saturday morning) and a bunch of kids kept jumping up and down on it. EEK! I loved it though and it feels like you’re in a rainforest-almost in addition to it feeling like an Ewok village. I, too, kept expecting the lil’ guys to pop out of the trees at us! haha. If you get a chance, next time you’re in Vancouver check out UBC (University of BC)–I believe it’s in the area of Kitsilano— and take a walk/hike around there. With the massive old-growth forests, it feels like you’re in a rainforest. Just beautiful and worth the short trek out of downtown, especially if you’ve got a car or a ride around town.
Thanks Diane, we will definitely chack out the UBC next time. We were surprised to find out that the area around Capilano actually IS a rainforest. I never knew there were “temperate rainforests” until our visit there, just lovely!