UNPLUGGED: Capilano River Regional Park

It's that point in your consciousness where you can feel at one with nature, escaping the trappings of the day-to-day to an almost dream-like place where nothing else seems to exist besides you and your natural surroundings. It is our opinion here at VIA that Vancouver holds a unique place in the civilized world in that reaching this state often requires no more effort than simply pulling off to the side of the road, pocketing your keys and taking a few steps into the forest.

The first conversation I had with Bob regarding joining VIA as a contributor centered around where my potential feature would focus. There were quite a few ideas, some good and some not so much, but once I brought up the outdoors he got very excited. You see, Mr. Kronbauer is nut for nature. As you can imagine, he has been chomping at the bit to get in on the UNPLUGGED groove from day one. Below is an UNPLUGGED guest post from VIA's Executive Editor Bob Kronbauer, one that will likely not be his last.

		UNPLUGGED is a state of mind.

One of the things that brings me back to the Capilano River Regional Park is the fish hatchery (posts 1, 2, 3). Whatever the month there's usually either adult salmon who have returned to spawn or salmon fry who are being raised in holding tanks to check out. Randy Laybourne REPORTED on the park a while back but I thought I'd remind you that there are a mess of trails for folks like me (lazy folks who don't hike but rather go on leisurely strolls through the forest) as well as folks who want to get an actual workout and travel a few kilometres on foot. Fully dog friendly, an easy walk is to view the Cleveland Dam, or you can head the other way to see this:

The above photo was shot from this bridge:

And that bridge is somewhere down this trail:

Lastly, I have to apologize for the quality of this photo below. I shot it for reference for myself and didn't expect to be publishing it but it gives you an idea of the extent of the trails so I figured I'd share it. HERE is a link to a bunch of info on the park (including a more in-depth PDF map) from Metro Vancouver who manage this regional park.

Get outside!