Erik's Capilano Suspension Bridge Park Tour

As I wrote in the last entry, Erik also offers a tour on Fridays. The destination of this tour is the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. The park is one of the major tourist attractions in Vancouver and attracts over 800,000 visitors per year.
This tour also started at the hostel and we first went through downtown. This time we were 21 people and a mixed international group.
Already at the first stop, I realized how good it is to have a local guide. You walk past many things a hundred times without realizing what's actually behind them. At English Bay, I noticed a huge ugly bunker right by the water the day after I arrived. Since you see bunkers more often in Bremen, I thought nothing of it. Until Erik took us into the bunker and I realized that there is a swimming pool with Olympic dimensions inside, the home of the English Bay Swim Club. Since it was pretty cold that day (the temperature had dropped by about 10 degrees in two days), the stop in the hall was good to warm up for a bit.
On the rest of the way, we encountered very extravagant new buildings and sections of streets that are actually covered with artificial turf instead of real grass. We made the next stop at the old Yaletown Roundhouse. This former railway depot is the oldest building in Vancouver and is now used as a community and arts center.
After the obligatory break to get lunch, we took the Seabus to North Vancouver and then the bus further into the forest. Already on the Seabus, we realized that we had chosen the perfect day for our tour. Because the cold had brought something with it: snow. At least on the mountains around Vancouver, which looked as if someone had sprinkled them with powdered sugar.
In the forest, our first stop was also the most beautiful. At Capilano Lake, we had a breathtaking view of the surrounding snow-covered mountains. After enough time for dozens of photos, we continued and suddenly stumbled into a film set. Vancouver is also called North Hollywood and you can suddenly come across film sets everywhere in the city. This set was set up at the end of a bridge that we wanted to cross, so we had to go through the set. Since it was a public hiking trail, the filmmakers couldn't completely close it off, but only for a short time. So we suddenly found ourselves in Nazi times. The film set belonged to the series 'The man in the High Castle' (actually a series that I don't watch), which is about an alternative reality in which the Germans don't lose World War II, but win and occupy a large part of the USA. Scary thought!
After we left the set behind, we continued through the forest past huge (!) trees to the fish ladder. In the past, the salmon used to swim along the river, but when the dam was built, their path was blocked. So they also built the fish ladder to allow the salmon to pass again.

Our path now led us along a small part of 'The Great Trail'. This hiking trail was officially completed this year and at 24,000 kilometers, it is the longest hiking trail in the world. It runs from one coast of Canada to the other. Whoever walks it completely first has their place in the Guinness Book of Records already secure.

The last destination of our tour was the Suspension Bridge Park. This park consists of the Suspension Bridge, the Cliffwalk, and the Treetops Adventure.
The suspension bridge is 136 meters long and spans the Capilano River at a height of 70 meters.
The Cliffwalk consists of several narrow wooden bridges (some with glass floors) that are attached to the rock wall.
The Treetops Adventure includes several small suspension bridges that are attached between the treetops.
Did I write that the suspension bridge on Tuesday gave me weak knees? That was nothing compared to these bridges. I found the Cliffwalk the worst because these paths are damn narrow and I didn't find the nets on the sides very reassuring. The others had less trouble with the height than I did and eagerly took selfies. I was glad that my phone was safely in my pocket and my camera hung around my neck and couldn't fall out of my hand :) But since the camera can also be operated with one hand, I was able to take some nice photos. In the end, I actually managed to tackle all the bridges and was quite proud of myself.

In November, the whole park shines with the glow of a million lights. They were already hanging up the fairy lights on Friday, so we got a taste of the spectacle, even if it was still a bit bright for it.

After the long day, we definitely needed something to eat and went to the Greek restaurant near the hostel with some people from the group. Once again, we were a mixed and international group, so it was a very funny and interesting evening.