ADVENTURE OVER A RIVER

A SWINGING BRIDGE

My first visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was a cruise stop. I saw just enough to whet my appetite to see more of this marvelous city. However, on that first trip many years ago I did walk across the Capilano Bridge.

On my week-long visit with Jan I had a couple of things I wanted to make sure she saw and the swinging bridge was one of them. Like me, she is pretty fearless, so I knew there would be no problem in getting her to walk across the bridge suspended over the river 230 feet below!

The bridge is located in the Pacific Northwest Temperate Rainforest which extends from northern California to southern Alaska. The Capilano area receives 78-97 inches of rain a year! The Western Red Cedar here grows up to 200 feet tall.

The 450-foot long foot-bridge over the Capilano River is the longest suspension bridge in the world. A Scotsman by the name of George Grant Mackey, a civil engineer, was so impressed with the beauty of the area that he built a cabin for himself and his wife. Then in 1889 with the help of local natives and a team of horses he pulled taut the first cedar plank and hemp rope bridge over the gorge.

The bridge became such an attraction that in 1903 a more secure wire bridge was built. In 1914 that bridge was replaced with another wire bridge with both cable ends firmly encased in concrete. The fourth and present bridge was built in 1956. There are 13 tons of concrete anchoring each end. During a 1962 hurricane eight large trees fell on the bridge, but remarkably resulted in no damage to the bridge!

On my first trip the wind was blowing pretty hard and blew a couple of hats off heads carrying them into the ravine below. This time the winds were a lot calmer, but the bridge still swayed pretty well with several people crossing at the same time. On this trip we took the time to enjoy the wonderful walking paths through the forest on the other side of the gorge. There are several creative colorful information signs stating fun information along the way. Several benches are located in picturesque spots for one to sit and enjoy the peace and sounds of nature.

Capilano is too far to walk from downtown, but the local bus took us right there and the friendly driver told us what his return times were so we could   either go farther up to Grouse Mountain or to return to town.