The Greenheart Canopy Walkway is a quarter-mile system of aerial trails and viewing platforms located inside the Botanical Gardens at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, according to NBC News.
The walkways include 10 foot bridges that are suspended over a rain forest. They are a series of 15-inch wide aluminum walkways that are suspended 50 feet above the floor.
"Eventually, you get your tree legs," Matthew Boyes, a guide on the walkway, told NBC News.
The gardens hold a Japanese Katsura, a tree with heart-shaped leaves that give off a smell of caramel in the fall. They also contain a grand fir that is centuries old and secretes sap that has medicinal properties similar to that of a band-aid.
Greenheart is an eco-sensitive company is Vancouver that builds zip lines and aerial trails in parks and protected areas around the world. The company designed the canopy walkways in partnership with the University of British Columbia as part of a research and educational showcase for forest biodiversity in an urban environment.
The project has eight circular stationary platforms that wrap around the trunks of giant trees, among them a 72-foot-tall observation tower and the aforementioned 10 aerial footbridges that are of varying lengths.
The walkway opened in 2008 inside the university's David C. Lam Asian Garden. It's 29 acres and offers an up-close look at native cedar, fir and hemlocks. There are also bald eagles, woodpeckers, owls and other wildlife, as well as plants native to China, Japan, Korea and the Himalayas.
The bridges are hung without bolts, nails, concrete anchors or any other hardware that could result in any long-term damage. The company calls it "Tree Hugger" technology. It's a way to suspend the walkways and platforms with woven-in-place steel cables that are designed for minimal impact on the habitat it traverses.
The walkway is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. between April 1 and October 31.
Video of the canopy walkway.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
