North Vancouver bridges give squirrel’s-eye view

STANDING SOLDIER-STRAIGHT and shoulder to shoulder, the craggy-barked Douglas firs tower to dizzying heights. Their coniferous companions — the Sitka spruces, the yellow cedars, the western red cedars, the western hemlocks — are impressive, too, but the fir is king. Cock your head waaaay back, and you might just be able to see past the green to a sliver of blue sky.

Now, imagine what it looks like from, oh, 100 feet above the forest floor. Below, tiny families are strolling the gravel trails and cedar walkways. Over there, a couple of boys and a mom are trying to identify trees at a Living Forest interactive display. Above? Well, if you cock your head waaay back, you might just be able to see a sliver of blue sky. The treetops are still 100 or more feet away. Whatever the view, Treetops Adventure, the newest feature at the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park (admission is about $16 U.S.), makes the crowded temperate rain forest north of Vancouver seem even more magnificent. And that’s the point. The idea seems simple enough. Treetops Adventure is a series of seven suspension bridges that span from tree to tree, offering visitors a “squirrel’s-eye view” of the forest. But a couple of design elements help set this adventure apart. The first: No steep climbing. Visitors enter by ascending just 12 steps into a “Swiss Family Robinson”-type tree house and then venturing out onto cedar-plank bridges that slowly work their way higher and higher above the forest floor. “Other places have canopy walks,” said Sue Kaffka, the park’s vice president for sales and marketing, a few days before Treetops began welcoming visitors at the end of April. “But usually they’re entered by climbing, unlike here. Those are more hard-core adventure, but this is for everyone.” Treetops Adventure isn’t wheelchair-accessible, but Kaffka insists that most everyone else should be able to handle it. “We didn’t want it to be superadventurous. It’s 12 steps into the tree house. We’re almost thinking of doing an ad campaign to get grandparents and their grandkids out. That’s exactly what we’re seeing. We’re seeing that anybody from age 2 to 92 can enjoy it.” At the highest point, bridge walkers are nearly 100 feet above the ground, but “all of the trees that are used in this walk are over 200 feet tall, and we figure they are around 200 to 250 years old just because of their size,” Kaffka said. Under ideal conditions, Douglas firs here can reach heights of 300 feet. “This is a mid-story walk because we’re nowhere near the canopy in this forest,” Kaffka said. From the ground, the bridges, which were constructed over five months after a much longer planning period, seem like a natural fit. “People don’t notice these right away,” Kaffka said. “They blend in. They’re unobtrusive.” Even the squirrels are getting into the act, she said. “The squirrels are actually using the bridges as a little highway through the trees.” The bridges also are designed to protect and preserve the trees, a very important design element. “We worked with arborists and engineers to come up with the perfect system,” Kaffka said. To accomplish that, the park used a compression system that uses only 20 pounds of force per square inch to secure each tree’s observation platform. That, according to the park, is the equivalent of pressing your thumb on a tabletop. The friction collars that secure bridge to tree can be moved as the trees grow, Kaffka said. “There are no nails and no screws, so there’s not anything damaging the trees. That was the hardest part, coming up with this system.” The park is committed to keeping the forest as natural as possible. Even its gravel paths are being gradually replaced by raised cedar walkways that minimize damage to the forest from visitors on foot. The project has been under way for about three years and will take another couple of years to complete. If Treetops seems like a gentle adventure — and it is — there’s one other factor you may want to consider: The Capilano Suspension Bridge, which you’ll have to cross first. The bridge is one of the Vancouver area’s oldest attractions. In 1889, not long after the Canadian Pacific Railway connected Vancouver to the rest of Canada, George Grant Mackay, a Scottish immigrant, built the bridge, suspended by hemp rope and cedar planks, over the Capilano River. Today’s bridge spans 450 feet across the canyon carved out by the rushing Capilano River below. At its highest point, the bridge is 300 feet above the river; at its lowest, 230 feet. And it swaaaaaaayyyyyys. Intimidated yet? Don’t be. The current bridge, which is the fourth one at the site, was built in 1956, uses steel cables instead of hemp and is anchored by 13-ton concrete blocks on each side. Besides, the park has welcomed up to 750,000 visitors a year, and most of them cross the bridge. From its center, the bridge provides a magnificent view that would be tough to top anywhere in the area. In the late summer, Kaffka said, it’s possible to stand on the bridge and watch bright red salmon making their way upriver to spawn. The bridge has been an attraction from the very start. In the early years, groups of adventurous hikers, known as the Capilano Tramps, would take daylong treks just to reach the canyon and cross the bridge. These days it’s a little easier. There are parking lots just across the street. Inside the park are restaurants, gift shops and other attractions. At the Story Centre, displays chronicle the history of the bridge, as well as the development of Vancouver. At the Totem Park, colorful poles help to educate about the Squamish tribes and other First Nations people who lived in the area. Craftsmen from a variety of Indian tribes from British Columbia carve and do beadwork at the Big House, where visitors can learn more about their skills and heritage. Once you cross the bridge, you have several choices besides Treetops. Trails meander past ponds and through much of the park’s 27 forest acres. Interactive displays in the Living Forest help educate about the plants and animals that live here. “Most of our guests, say from Eastern states or Europe, are overwhelmed by the trees,” Kaffka said. “They’re minutes from downtown, and now they’re standing in the middle of the forest. “There’s a feeling up there in the trees that you just can’t put your finger on. It’s not just what you see. It’s what you feel, too.”