Today is one of our two sightseeing days in Vancouver. We’ve picked off a couple of things each day, so there was no rush to get up this morning. We have breakfast included at this hotel and they do have the added feature of an omelette dude, so that is what I had. It was freshly cooked so no complaints today.
Our plan for the day was to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge and then go on to Grouse Mountain. There is normally a shuttle bus that runs to both places as they are quite close, however the Grouse Mountain shuttle finished it’s summer season last week, so we would need to take the public bus to Grouse Mountain, which wasn’t too difficult.
The Capilano Suspension Bridge is a simple suspension bridge crossing the Capilano River. The current bridge is 140 metres long and 70 metres above the river. It is part of a private facility with lots of rainforest walks, including a treetops walk and a cliff walk. Over 1.2 million people visit each year. The original bridge was built in 1889 by George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer and park commissioner for Vancouver for the purpose of transporting logs across the river. It was originally made of hemp ropes with a deck of cedar planks and was replaced with a wire cable bridge in 1903. The bridge was completely rebuilt in 1956.
In 1935 local first nations people were invited to place their totem poles in the park. We attended a talk from a local first nations woman who explained how the totems tell stories and welcome (or not) other tribes to their land. They are always made from Western Red Cedar trees because they are straight and the wood is strong and light.
It is pretty hard to take photos from the bridge, especially on busy days because it does sway a bit. I have got better at suspension bridges since arriving in Canada. The treetop walk is good too, a little like the Mt Tambourine one, but has been in place longer, so it is a bit narrower. The cliff walk is steel construction, but does go out over the cliffs. There are some nice views from both. There is also a forest floor walk. With the light being filtered by the forest canopy, there are some beautiful views around the ponds and trees.
Once we’d done all the walks, it was time for a bit of lunch. I had some fish and chips, which was not halibut, but still ok, while Deb had seafood chowder. With lunch done we went to catch the bus to Grouse Mountain. We did consider an UBER, however when ‘arriving in 3 minutes’ became 12 minutes, we decided the bus would suffice.
There is cable car that takes you to the peak chalet which of course was driven by a New Zealander, who we found out was from Queenstown. Grouse Mountain is one of the North Shore Mountains of the Pacific Ranges. With an elevation of 1,200m at its peak, the mountain is the site of an alpine ski area which overlooks Metro Vancouver. In the summer, Grouse Mountain Resort features a lumberjack show, a birds of prey demonstration, a scenic chairlift, mountain biking and zip lining. They also have a couple of grizzly bears that were rescued as cubs who have live here for 22 years. This was our main reason for visiting.
While we viewed the bears, one of the carers spoke to us about these bears, and grizzly bears in general. An interesting fact is that when a female bear has an egg fertilised, it will not implant and start growing unless the bear reaches a particular weight and condition to ensure the success of the pregnancy, so birth can take place during the winter. If the requirements are not met, the foetus is discarded. While I’d not really heard of this before, except maybe in kangaroos, it is known to occur in 130 different mammal species.
With our mission accomplished, we made our way back to our hotel. We had one more sightseeing item to tick off, which was a visit to Gastown and it’s most famous landmark is the steam-powered clock on the corner of Cambie and Water Street. It was built in 1977 to cover a steam grate, part of Vancouver’s distributed steam heating system, as a way to harness the steam and to prevent street people from sleeping on the spot in cold weather. Near the steam clock is the Steamworks Brewery which was a good place for dinner. I had some Sockeye Salmon and Deb had a Seafood Carbonara. We found a gelato store on our way back to the hotel.
We have discovered that the hotel is hosting the Canadian Surgeons Conference, so there has been a deal of ruckus in the corridors. We are debating putting out a ‘Quiet Please’ sign on our door.
Until tomorrow!
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