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Lying just off the approach road to Grouse Mountain, Capilano River Park 's most publicized attraction is the inexplicably popular seventy-metre-high and 137-metre-long suspension bridge - the world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge - over the vertiginous Capilano Gorge (daily: May-Sept 8.30am-dusk; Oct-April 9am-5pm; $10.75; tel 985-7474, www.capbridge.com ). The first bridge here was built in 1889, making this Vancouver's oldest "attraction", though the present structure dates from 1956. Although part of the park, the footbridge is privately run as a money-making venture. Stick to the paths elsewhere in the park and avoid the pedestrian toll, which buys you miscellaneous tours, forestry exhibits and trails, and a visit to a native carving centre; frankly they don't amount to much, especially when you can have much the same sort of scenery for free up the road. More interesting is the salmon hatchery just upstream (usually daily: April-Oct 8am-6pm; Nov-March 8am-4pm, but phone to confirm tel 666-1790; free), a provincial operation dating from 1977 designed to help salmon spawn and thus combat declining stocks: it nurtures some two million fish a year, and was the first of many similar schemes across the province. The building is well designed and the information plaques interesting, but it's a prime stop on city coach tours, so the place can often be packed. Capilano is probably best visited on the way back from Grouse Mountain - from the cable-car station it's an easy downhill walk (1km) to the north end of the park, below the Cleveland Reservoir, source of Vancouver's often disconcertingly brown drinking water. From there, marked trails - notably the Capilano Pacific Trail - follow the eastern side of the gorge to the hatchery (2km). The area below the hatchery is worth exploring, especially the Dog's Leg Pool (1km), which is along a swirling reach of the Capilano River, and if you really want to stretch your legs you could follow the river the full 7km to its mouth on the Burrard Inlet. Alternatively, you could ride the #236 Grouse Mountain bus to the Cleveland Dam or the main park entrance - the hatchery is quickly reached by a side road (or the Pipeline Trail) from the signed main entrance left off Nancy Greene Way. This comes not far after the busy roadside entrance to the Capilano Suspension Bridge (on the bus, ring the bell for the stop after the bridge).
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