A Natural Beauty: Capilano River Park, British Columbia

Text and photos by Jason McKenney

Before ever arriving in Vancouver, I associated the Canadian city with environmentalists and nature hippies for some reason. Maybe due to its natural beauty and reliance on sustainable fishing and logging. Or maybe it was based on my childhood memories of watching Danger Bay episodes and being exposed to such great views of the Pacific Northwest and life on the water. Either way I didn't find it too shocking when our tour guide through Vancouver's Capilano River Regional Park was a middle-aged German immigrant named Michael who wore a brown scout's uniform and who was also a self-described hippie who loved the great outdoors.

"What better job is there for a hippie than to guide people through an ancient forest," he posed. "Are there brownies? Are there spirits in these woods? It's possible. This forest contains as much magic as you'll find anywhere else in Canada."

The park actually sits on the nothern side of Vancouver Bay from the city of Vancouver. Our tour bus followed the 99 North across the bridge connecting the famous Stanley Park to Capilano. We stopped near the fish hatchery where most tours begin.

One of the more intriguing sights at the river park is the Cleveland Dam where one can walk across the top and observe the spillway and the river that cuts through the tall trees and rocky canyon below.

Formed above the dam, Capilano Lake stores the river's waters, stretching north for nearly 3 miles. The lake currently supplies forty percent of the region's drinking water. The large salmon hatchery is about 500 meters downhill from the dam. The hatchery offers educational displays explaining the type of work that 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 old growth of the forest needs to be protected," said Michael, leading us on a fascinating hike through the woods, "but not too much."

He told us the story of a group of young tree-hugging hippies (apparently not as wise as himself) who held hands encircling one of the largest fir trees in the area (a tree named Granpa) in an attempt to give love and good vibes to the plant. What they didn't realize is that by standing so close to the tree, they were packing down the dark soil around the base of the tree which prohibits moisture from seeping down to the roots. By loving the tree they were effectively killing it. Silly hippies.

There were moss-covered trees everywhere. Mostly firs and cedars. Some estimated at nearly 1000 years old. Others are much younger and are growing up right from the dead trunks of their fallen comrades.

"The moss and mist build up on the rotting trunks over time," said Michael, "and a seed finds purchase and within a few years, voilà! A baby tree." Some of the trees are growing right out of the sides of the canyon where seeds have taken root between the cracks.

The rugged waters of the Capilano River also attract kayakers and canoers. The views in the river canyon are stunning. A man was standing up along a rocky ravine tossing out his fishing line in hopes of catching a whopper. Further down the river, two kayakers were paddling their way south towards the high suspension bridge that crosses overhead. The summits of Hollyburn and Crown Mountains, looming in the distance, were snow-capped and magisterial, awaiting serious climbers.

People say California is blessed with natural beauty: the beaches and mountains and wonderful weather. Vancouver is not far behind. Having easy access to the Pacific, the large bays, and the well-preserved River Park means there is a lot to explore and a variety of habitat to learn about. "I visited the forests here when I was younger and I never left," said Michael. Taking a look around it was easy to understand why.

The salmon hatchery

Waiting for the fish to grow

California Gold: Alcatraz Island, San Francisco

Vintage firetruck on display on
the island

Text and photos by Jason McKenney

On the night of June 11, 1962, inmates Clarence Anglin, his brother John Anglin, and Frank Morris tucked papier-mâché heads resembling their own likenesses into their cold beds. They proceeded to break out of the main prison building via an unused utility corridor, and departed Alcatraz Island aboard an improvised inflatable raft, never to be heard from again. It's likely the men drowned in the chilly waters of San Francisco Bay long before reaching their intended destination of Angel Island to the north. It's possible their bones are still down there in the murky green water that beautiful sailboats criss cross on a daily basis. They're down there, resting uneasily, staring up with hollow sockets at an unachievable freedom for eternity.

Approaching the prison by boat

Alcatraz is filled with many weird and evocative stories like this one. Papier-mâché heads, Indian land reclamation, haunted corridors. So goes the history of an island that was once a Civil War era citadel, then the location of a US Military Prison, a Federal Penitentiary, and that today is a state park and museum.

I made a visit to the island and toured the prison with my parents during a trip to San Francisco. We rode the daily tinder from Pier 33 off The Embarcadero out to the island on a gorgeous day below a cloudless sky. The island sits between the Golden Gate Bridge to the west and the artificial Treasure Island to the east. Its more modern cousins sits a few miles north up the bay in the form of San Quentin State Prison, an over-populated jail that will probably provide its own fun tours and experiences to the public at some point when it eventually shuts down.

A tour of Alcatraz includes a brief history of the prison, a list of some of the more famous inmates who passed through, descriptions of daily life, and insights into the beauty that the island provides today (namely being a natural habitat for various birds and plants that call the island home). The small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse (which today is the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast), a military fortification, a military prison (back in 1868), and a federal prison from 1933 until it was shut down 1963.

Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of Native American people from San Francisco who were part of a wave of activism across the nation with public protests through the 1970s. In 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

Golden Gate in the distance

Our tour included a self-guided portion where one can wear headphones giving lurid tales of foiled escapes, bloody prison fights, and other such hijinx that happens when you have hundreds of criminals locked up on an island for long periods of time. Locked up behind bars where the sounds of a partying San Francisco could be heard wafting in across the bay from the city each night. A city that was not far away, but impossible to reach.

There allegedly are spirits of dead prisoners still roaming the dark halls. I took extra photos in hopes of catching a shape or an orb or anything that might possibly be an apparition. No luck as usual. The only ghosts here are in your mind as you think back to what it must have been like to be trapped in

Alcatraz . . . and sailing.

such a horrid concrete box. Prisoners trapped in their own Phantom Zone, forever awaiting escape, some willing to risk their lives just for the opportunity to swim in shark-infested waters. Must have been rough. But no need to dwell on such dismal thoughts for too long. Speaking of wafting across the bay, I can hear Fog Harbor Fish House and a zesty Shellfish Tower calling my name for lunch.

Approaching the prison by boat

Tour guide getting everyone in line

A hazy San Francisco Bay

San Francisco. So close, yet so far away.

Alcatraz Island. The prison and lighthouse are at the top. The docks are on the right.

Looking out from the prison towards the city.

Headed back to Pier 33

California Gold: Morro Bay and the Hearst Castle

In the observation deck

Text and photos by Jason McKenney except where otherwise noted.

Morro Bay State Park sits in the Central Coast 200 miles north of LA off State Route 1. The visitor's center contains a small museum highlighting the local environment and wildlife. The museum includes an observation deck that looks out over the bay. A large, round rock formation sits out in the midst of the water. It's connected tenuously to the mainland by a strip of sand that disappears when the tide rises. "Gibraltar of the Pacific," the locals call it. The hill is a volcanic plug that was already old when Chumash Indians considered it a sacred site more than three thousand years ago.

Morro Bay day trippers

The town of Morro Bay was founded by a man named Franklin Riley back in 1870. It was used as a port for the export of dairy and ranch products. For the past hundred years the town has been a center for beach holidays. The days of dairy and ranch exports are long gone. Tourism is the city's largest industry now, coexisting with the town's commercial fishery. A portion of Morro Bay is also designated as a state and national bird sanctuary.

Chumash Indian statue

The nature preserve is a great escape from the paved jungles of LA. The beach causeways, tall trees, and clean air provide another side of California that many people can miss if they don't travel outside the city limits. My wife and I were on our way north to see the Hearst Castle. Morro Bay was perfect sidestop, but the day was disappearing quickly and we still needed to reach our hotel in Cambria. After a quick tour of the museum and a walk through the forest we jumped back in our car merged onto the 1 North.

El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road), usually refers to the historic 600-mile road connecting the 21 Spanish missions in California. Today, the 101 and 1 freeways follow most of the original path of El Camino Real (or does it???). This road runs from the Mission San Diego de Alcalá in the south up to the trail's northern end at the Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma just above the San Francisco Bay.

Every few miles along this path one will see an old bell post with a sign informing drivers they are treading upon an (allegedly) historical trail, a trail that runs right through the heart of California's modern development. When the Spanish were building the Mission system in the late 1700s, while General Washington was busy winning battles and helping birth a new nation on the other side of the continent, they probably had no idea the roadway connecting their missions would one day provide a blueprint for a road system that everyday Californians today use regularly and probably take for granted.

We arrived at our hotel in Cambria about 40 minutes after leaving Morro Bay. The small town sits about 100 miles south of Monterey. This is a part of California with amazing natural beauty, sweeping coastal views, and limited population to get in the way.

Rolling waves near Oxnard

The Oceanpoint Ranch is right across the street from a walking trail along the rocky coastline. Thundering waves smash against the shore like mad animals as they've been doing for thousands, maybe millions, of years. It's like taking a peek at the ancient past, observing a scene being reenacted just as it was so long ago.

The ranch consists of a few buildinds offering rooms that feel like small cabins. The rooms boast a southwest motif with cowboy paintings and steer skulls hanging on the walls. Short walkways surrounded by flowers connect the various buildings. The entire compound is peaceful and feels pleasantly remote. It's on a stretch of road called Moonstone Beach Dr that runs between the 1 and the Leffingwell Landing State Park on the coast.

The rocky Central Coast

We wandered through downtown Cambria and had dinner at the Black Cat Bistro, an enjoyable little place that specializes in farm fresh dishes from local producers. After stuffing ourselves with blackened salmon and pasta, we slept like drunks to the calming sounds of nearby waves. The next morning we were up early in preparation for the final leg of our trip. Another perk of staying at the Oceanpoint Ranch is that it's only six miles from Hearst Castle.

Path along Leffingwell Landing

We arrived at the Hearst Castle welcome center in time for the first tour of the morning. From the welcome center, a small bus drives a tour group on a circuitous route across open fields and gorgeous landscapes up to the castle that rests on a picture-book hilltop. During this drive we were entertained
with a recorded message from Canadian superstar Alex Trebek. Alex explained to us the history of the property, the construction of the castle, and the collection of wild and exotic beasts brought in by William Randolph Hearst in the early 1900s.

The Castle is both a National and California Historical Landmark. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan between 1919 and 1947 as a residence for the newspaper magnate and Orson Welles target who died in 1951.

Entering the Castle

Invitations to Hearst Castle were highly coveted during its heyday in the 1920s and 30s. The Hollywood and political elite often visited, usually flying into the estate's landing strip or taking a private Hearst-owned train car from LA. Among Hearst's guests were such luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bob Hope, Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill.

In 1954 the mansion became a California State Park and opened to visitors in 1958. Since that time it has been operated as the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument where the estate is open for public tours.

Trebek explained to us that Mr. Hearst formally named the estate "La Cuesta Encantada" ("The Enchanted Hill"), but usually called it "the ranch". As most film geeks know, Hearst Castle was the inspiration for the "Xanadu" mansion of the 1941 Orson Welles film Citizen Kane. The movie was a fictionalization of William Hearst's career as a media mogul. Thanks, Alex.

Fish pond outside the castle

The mansion has two pools: the indoor Greek pool which is lined with gold tiles and the outdoor Neptune pool which reminded me of the lavish party scene from The Great Gatsby. We were told the Neptune Pool was empty of water and being touched up due to a Lady Gaga video shoot that took place a few weeks earlier. Thanks, Gaga.

Some of the wooden ceilings of the interior were shipped over from Italy. They had been originally constructed for Renaissance villas dating back to the 16th century. Hearst spared no expense. The tour included a stop in the theater where Hearst would treat guests to movies from his own production company. We watched a brief bio piece on William and some home videos of various celebrities enjoying their time at the castle.

Image from Hearst Castle website

The castle operated as a personal residence for Hearst for less than 30 years. A remarkably short amount of time considering how much money and effort went into the place. Forty years after it first began construction, the castle was opened to the public to take a peak. This is another case of how the products of the very wealthy in this country eventually become a benefit for everyone else. It may take time, but regardless of how wealthy some people may grow, eventually their fruits will be enjoyed by all.


Post script: The Costa de Oro Winery

Snap taken during our tasting.

Driving north from Santa Barbara on the 101 through the small town of Santa Maria, a sign for the Costa de Oro Winery caught our eye. We pulled off the highway and followed a winding gravel path to a store front. Inside was a tasting room flanked by merchandise, bottles on display, and a long bar being run by a pretty lady with brown hair. Her name was Teresa. She and her husband ran the winery and sometimes played music for patrons certain nights of the week (her husband played a mean guitar and Teresa sang).

"The winery has been here since the late '70s," she said while pouring us a series of tastings. "Our grapes are grown in the Santa Maria Valley and I believe our wines are just as good any you'll find in Santa Barbara." I believed her. The Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were delicate and lovely.

Costa de Oro and Santa Maria are about an hour's drive north of Santa Barbara and an hour's drive south of Paso Robles. If you are a wine-trekker who loves to stop off the dusty trail and taste lesser known but brilliant wines while traveling towards more popular and equally brilliant wines, Costa de Oro comes highly recommended.

Image of the Neptune Pool from the Hearst Castle website. Photography onsite is limited.

Skeleton of a Minke Whale found in Morro Bay

The Gibraltar of the Pacific

Barkan Classic Cabernet Sauvignon

When Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, I bet he turned it into a Barkan Classic. I pondered such pithy thoughts while drinking a glass of the Israeli export and watching the Lakers on TV.

The Barkan Cab has a good flavor of dark fruit and oak with a little spice. Not quite as full bodied as California Cabs but still a pleasant surprise from a nation not known as much for its wine production (at least not since AD 30).

This bottle paired well with a spinach salad topped with carnitas and peppers. Watching the Lakers lose another game in the post-Kobe era was much less painful with this beauty in my hand.

Upper Galilee Alma Vineyard

Both Pleasant and Intimidating: Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, Canada

The wooden shutters, heavy curtains with floral patterns, the old writing desk that looked as if it could have been thrown out from Chuck Dickens's college dorm room. The writing room was small and tidy, cozy and quiet. I pictured myself sitting at the desk, leaning over a yellowed piece of parchment scribbling away with quill and ink, writing blog posts for a future time when the technology supported such endeavors.

The walking tour through the house gives glimpses of many past lives. A time of long dresses and starched collars. A time when letters and books and sitting down for tea and biscuits and discussing other people's business like it was one's job was the norm. The steps are thickly carpeted. The rooms are dark and smell like wet newspaper. Outside is Victoria, capital of British Columbia. It's fall and the trees along the nearby streets are turning yellow and orange. It's very pleasant here. It feels safe. And lonely.

There's something about Victoria that feels like time here stopped somewhere around 1952. The architecture, the demeanor of the people, the general feel of the small, quiet Canadian town all feel like a throwback to a less aggressive time. The best way for something to stand out here is to hearken back to even a more distant past.

The Craigdarroch Castle reminded me of walking through the house of an ancient grandmother who spends most of her time attending Gospel Revivals. The house is large, quiet, meticulously decorated. It's a Victorian-era Scottish Baronial mansion in the suburban Rockland neighborhood. It has 39 rooms spread over more than 25,000 square feet. It was constructed in the late 1800s as a family residence for the wealthy coal baron Robert Dunsmuir and his wife Joan, but Robert died in April 1889, more than a year before construction was completed. The structure includes granite from British Columbia, tile from San Francisco, and an oak staircase built in Chicago.

The rooms inside are set up in period decor to give the illusion of how life went on in the early 1900s for the fortunate individuals dwelling in such splendor. Artwork on the walls are beautiful and the craftsmanship and woodwork of the interior is second-to-none.

The exterior is gray stone with a Gothic cathedral look that reminds one of old Hammer Films. There are stained glass windows, porch columns, arches, chimneys, spires, and dark shadows. It's not a castle in the traditional European sense. It's the size of a very large house that's more castle-esque, but the construction is ambitious and timeless. Too bad the same thing can't quite be said about the rest of Victoria.

One of the better wall decorations

Decorations from Asian exploration

View of downtown Victoria from a high balcony

Stained glass window from the Castle

An old fashioned sewing machine

One of several writing desks

Another cozy writing desk

A very high window balcony

Come back an visit soon.