Make a day of your visit to Edgemont Village and visit a nearby tourist destination:

Capilano River Regional Park
 - Fish Hatchery
 - Cleveland Dam

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Grouse Mountain
 - Summer
 - Winter

Capilano River Regional Park
 
The Capilano River.Capilano River Regional Park is located in the District of North Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of twenty-one regional parks operated by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD). The park encompasses most of the upstream areas of the Capilano River below the Cleveland Dam. The area north of the dam surrounding Capilano Lake is closed to the public as it is a GVRD watershed. The privately operated Capilano Suspension Bridge crosses the river, but it is not within park boundaries and does not access the park.

 
The Cleveland Dam
Capilano River Regional Park is most commonly associated with the Cleveland Dam. Admission to the dam is free, and one can walk across the dam and observe the river and the spillway. Formed above the dam, Capilano Lake stores the river's waters, stretching north for more than five kilometres. The lake is one of three major watersheds in the GVRD, and it currently supplies forty percent of the region's drinking water. Water treatment facilities are located adjacent to the dam, and a tunneling project scheduled for completion in 2008 will connect the reservoir to a new treatment plant at the Seymour Dam to the east.

There is also a fish hatchery in the park, about 500 metres downhill from the Cleveland Dam. The hatchery offers educational displays explaining the type of work is done there, as well as basic education about the life cycles of the fish in the area. There is also a cross-section display of an active fish ladder. During spawning seasons, the fish ladder is heavily used by fish in the area that use it to bypass the dam.

The rugged waters of the Capilano River within the park also attracts kayakers and canoers. There are also a number of nature and biking trails in the park, and it is frequently used as a location for film and television production.

Transportation to Capilano River Regional Park
Street access is by way of Capilano Road in the District of North Vancouver. There are parking lots at the Cleveland Dam, near the top of Capilano Road, and at the fish hatchery along Capilano Park Road. TransLink bus routes 232 (from Phibbs Exchange), 236 (from Lonsdale Quay), and 246 (from downtown Vancouver or Park Royal in West Vancouver) stop near park and trail entrances. Hikers can access the park from several different trails in West Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver.

Source: Wikipedia

Capilano Suspension Bridge

- Design Simple Suspension
- Total length 136 meters (446 ft)
- Height 70 meters (230 ft)
- 800,000 visitors per year
- Opening date 1888

Capilano Suspension Bridge
The Capilano Suspension Bridge is a simple suspension bridge crossing the Capilano River in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The current bridge is 136 metres long and 70 metres above the river. It is part of a private facility, with a charge for admission, and draws over 800,000 visitors a year. North Shore residents often go to the nearby Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge instead, as there is no admission fee, although British Columbia residents receive a seasons pass with the price of admissions and a valid ID.

History
In 1888, George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer and land developer, arrived in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. As City Park Commissioner he was one of the people to set aside Stanley Park as a recreational area. He also bought and sold farm land in the Okanagan, founding the city of Vernon. Mackay purchased 24 square kilometres of dense forest on either side of Capilano River and built a cabin on the very edge of the canyon wall. Assisted by two local natives and a team of horses, Mackay suspended a hemp rope and cedar plank bridge across the river. Natives called it the "laughing bridge" because of the noise it made when wind blew through the canyon. The bridge and Mackay's cabin became a popular destination. After his death, the hemp rope bridge was replaced by a wire cable bridge in 1903.

In 1910 Edward Mahon purchased the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Mahon built the Tea House in 1911, using cedar timbers stacked one on top of the other. Unsure of the bridge's strength, Mahon reinforced it with additional cables in 1914.

"Mac" MacEachran purchased the Bridge from Mahon in 1935 and invited local natives to place their totem poles in the park, adding a native theme. In 1945, he sold the bridge to Henri Aubeneau.

In 1953 Rae Mitchell purchased the bridge property from Henri Aubeneau. A dynamic businessman, Mitchell aggressively promoted his attraction world-wide. Unsure of the 1914 cable strength, he completely rebuilt the bridge in 5 days in 1956, encasing the cables in 11.8 tonnes of concrete at either end. He developed the trails on the west side of the bridge and converted the Tea House into the Trading Post Gift Store. When Mitchell retired, business declined and Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park faced an uncertain future.

The park was sold to Nancy Stibbard, the current owner, in 1983. Annual attendance has since increased, and in May 2004, Treetops Adventures was opened. This new attraction consists of seven footbridges suspended between old-growth Douglas Fir trees on the west side of the canyon, forming a walkway up to 30 metres above the forest floor.

Other park features
As well as the bridge itself and Treetops Adventure, the park also features rain forest ecotours, award-winning gardens, nature trails, North America's largest private collection of First Nations story poles, period decor and costumes, and exhibits highlighting the park's history and the surrounding temperate rain forest. Guests can also witness a First Nations performance, featuring their traditional Regalia (ceremonial dress), masks, dancing and storytelling.

In 2006, a 300 year old Douglas fir tree toppled during a heavy snow storm. The tree fell across the western end of the bridge. Park officials closed the bridge temporarily while repairs were performed.

Popular culture
The bridge has been featured as a setting in episodes of several television series, including MacGyver, Sliders, and The Crow: Stairway to Heaven.

Source: Wikipedia

Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain is a one of the North Shore Mountains overlooking Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is the site of a small but well-known ski area and tourist attraction located in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia.

Grouse Mountain is home to the Tyee Ski Club, an organization for training children and youth to become competitive alpine ski racers in slalom skiing, GS, Super-G, and competitions. The club also has a newer program for snowboarding racers.

Layout
Intrepid Scandinavians who were not daunted by winter and snow hand built the first lodge at Grouse in the 1920s. They hauled planks up what would become the Grouse Grind for the venture. Another company wanted to build a funicular railway to a private resort on the mountain, though that venture never materialized. By the 1930s, the success of the lodge meant that access was needed and a toll road was cut up to the top via the slope of the Cut.

The area at the bottom of what is now called the "Cut" – one of Vancouver's most well-known ski runs – is the original base of the mountain. It was here that the area's first lodge and rope tow were built. The gravel road that was built to access this base, the Old Grouse Mountain Highway, still exists and is currently only used for maintaining the ski area. Sadly, the beloved lodge burnt in a large fire in the winter of 1964.

Public access to the mountain is by a Swiss Garaventa aerial tramway, the Grouse Grind hiking trail, or the Old Grouse Mountain Highway (foot and bicycle access only).

History
In 1949, the first double chairlift in Greater Vancouver opened, allowing skiing down the Cut from the top of the ridge. Grouse Mountain claims this lift to have been the "world's first" [double chair]; (it was, in fact, the second chairlift in Vancouver after Hollyburn and the third in Canada after Red Mountain; the first chair in the world was at Sun Valley). In 1951, another lift – presumably one of the world's longest at the time was opened. This lift ran from a bus stop on Skyline Drive, at the bottom of the mountain, to the base of the Cut. Both the original 1949 lift and the 1951 lift were removed in the 1970s.

When the original lodge burnt down in the mid-1960s, the government of British Columbia, seeing the possibilities for tourism, provided funding and permits for a new lodge to be built on the ridge, as well as an aerial tramway up from the valley. The "Blue Tram" was built by Voest and was opened and inaugurated on December 15, 1966 by Premier W. A. C. Bennett. Also constructed in the 1960s and early 1970s were the Peak and Blueberry Chairs. The Inferno Chair was built in 1976 and removed in late 2003; it was reportedly one of the steepest, and in quite bad shape.[citation needed]

The mountain was purchased from its original owners by the McLaughlin family, who provided additional funding for the construction of the Red Tram/Super Skyride in 1976. They purchased total ownership in 1989, and constructed Canada's first high-definition theatre – the "Theatre in the Sky" – in 1990, by expanding the original lodge.

In recent years, the mountain has become something of a tourist attraction, as the area's dependence on skiing has been eased by the addition of a "native feast-house", bear habitat, and high-speed quad lifts, as well as other attractions.

Grouse Grind
Grouse Mountain
Elevation 1,231 m (4,039 ft)
Location British Columbia, Canada
Range Howe Sound Group
Prominence 86 m
Coordinates 49°23′10″N, 123°04′35″W
Topo map NTS 92G/06
Grouse Mountain is also the location of a very popular hiking trail known as the Grouse Grind. It is an extremely steep and mountainous trail that climbs 853 meters (2,800 feet) over a distance of 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles). Although the trail is known for being notoriously grueling for its hikers due to its steepness and mountainous terrain, it is popular among the outdoor enthusiasts in Greater Vancouver, and hikers often time themselves on the trail to see how quickly they can reach the top. The average time to reach to the top is approximately 90 minutes, although hikers who are physically fit can finish it in 45 minutes.

As of November 2005, these are the fastest officially recorded ascents:

Overall Unofficial Record: Jonathan Wyatt 24:22 (min:sec) June 12, 2004
Annual Grouse Grind Mountain Run (Men's): Michael Simpson 26:19 (min:sec) September 21, 2007
Annual Grouse Grind Mountain Run (Women's): Leanne Johnston 31:04 (min:sec) September 21, 2007

Source: Wikipedia