The trails encircling the Capilano Canyon always give me the perception of wilderness away from urban clutter. Never mind that the parking lots are always only a quick step away and the well-groomed and wide paths don’t exactly emulate the true wild. It didn’t matter: Whilst on the trails I was always surrounded by magnificent trees from sapling to old massive, many of which provide anchors for thick moss. The intersecting trails bear interesting names: Railway; Capilano-Pacific; Pipeline; Chinook; Coho… and a few more.
I was trying out the Gaia trails app on my trusty iPhone while exploring the Capilano Canyon Trails on two occasions, ergo, the red and blue lines. I was pleased that the app recorded my trajectory. It also marked with camera icons those places I stopped and snapped photos with my iPhone.
In truth, I wasn’t expecting it to catch all my meanderings and that was a cool. The resulting blue and red lines reminded me of the comic strip Family Circus and of Billy’s ever complex routes that always deviate from the straight and most rapid path from origin to destination.
The Capilano Reservoir aka Cleveland Lake. It supplies a third of the drinking water supply in the region.
The spillway at the Cleveland Dam.
Ethereal, the spray from the spillway.
Pay attention!
Wide well-groomed paths for casual strolls.
Behind me, “Grandpa Capilano,” an 800-year old Douglas fir along the Giant Fir trail.
Came upon these two: reminds me of the saying “standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Roots like gnarled fingers searching for water.
Along the trails, only one of a number of footbridges over the Capilano.
Reminds me of the departure from Lothlórien, Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of the JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Fly fishermen. Always stay alert – water could rise very quickly.
Gracefulness expressed in unexpected places.
From below and without a map, a first-timer would never know it leads to the picnic area and parking lot!
Will always come back here at every opportunity.
