Capilano Suspension Bridge

The world-famous Capilano Suspension Bridge is a bit out of place on this website.  It certainly isn't millennial; the first bridge on the site was built as far back as 1890. Although it is a bridge for walkers, it certainly wouldn't accommodate cyclists; nor does it really go anywhere except to the other side and back again. The bottom line is that it is the centrepiece of an over-priced tourist theme park, attracting 850,000 visitors a year, but very spectacular for all that.

The 137 metre long bridge crosses the Capilano River in North Vancouver at a height of 70 metres above the stream bed. It was built with hemp ropes by George Grant Mackay, City Parks Commissioner in the last years of the 19th century, but replaced by a wire structure in 1903. The present bridge, the fourth on the site, was built in 1956. It differs from the great majority of suspension bridges in that the deck itself hangs in a catenary curve, the suspension cables forming the handrails.

A recent addition to the park is the Treetops Adventure, a series of wire bridges suspended in the treetops on the west side of the gorge.

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Overview	Bryony and Joan cling to the swaying bridge	Oliver and Bryony on the bridge	Western end of the bridge glimpsed through the trees	Glimpsed through the trees
Underside of the deck	Steps up from the eastern end of the bridge	Detail of the suspension cable which also form the handrail	River Capilano, 70 metres below	Treetops Adventure
Demonstration of First Nations dancing in the adjoining theme park

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