As mentioned in the History section, Buntzen Lake’s history as a hydroelectric reservoir dates back to 1903. The following photos are from the City of Vancouver Archives, and I found them online.

The Lake

Below is a photo of Buntzen Lake near the present North Beach and Suspension Bridge.

Logging

Below is a photo of a large tree being cut down. Note the springboards used to stand on while the men sawed through the tree. Walking around the lake today, you can still see many large stumps with the springboard notches.

The Tunnel

The tunnel at the north end of the lake was an engineering feat. The image below shows tunnel construction.

The Tunnel Camp

Thousands of workers worked on the tunnel project, and a mini town was built on what is now the North Beach of Buntzen Lake. Below are some photos of the tunnel camp.

Artifacts

The area around North Beach was recently (May 2014) scanned for artifacts by someone, and the artifacts were on display at the memorial. I think this is very cool. Below is a photo of the artifacts.

Penstocks

Large penstocks, some still seen today, were used to carry water long distances. Below is an old photo of penstock construction.

The Buntzen Lake Suspension Bridge crosses the narrow channel between Buntzen Lake and McCombe Lake at the north end of Buntzen Lake. You can see its location HERE. If you are walking clockwise around the Buntzen Lake Loop, with the west side of the lake first, you have completed roughly 60% of the loop when you reach the bridge.

The Current Suspension Bridge

BC Hydro closed the suspension bridge for replacement on 19 September 2022. The work was originally expected to be completed in early November, but the project took considerably longer than planned. The new suspension bridge opened to the public on 28 April 2023.

The replacement is a much more substantial steel structure than the original bridge, with steel towers and framing, main suspension cables, vertical suspender cables, mesh sides, handrails, and a metal-grating deck. It is also noticeably more rigid underfoot than the old bridge.

Below is a side view of the current Buntzen Lake Suspension Bridge:

Below is a view looking straight down the centre of the bridge:

The photo below shows one of the bridge’s vertical suspender cable connections. The cable terminates in a clevis-style fitting that is pinned to a welded lug on the steel bridge frame.

The Original 1992 Suspension Bridge

The original Buntzen Lake Suspension Bridge was approximately 50 m long and officially opened on 5 June 1992. It was designed by Siefken Engineering and constructed by C.F.S.M.E. – QL3-9105 (F) Field Engineer, CFB Chilliwack. It remained in service for more than 30 years before being replaced.

One interesting feature of the old bridge was a sign stating a maximum of four people were permitted on the bridge at one time. The old bridge also moved considerably more than the replacement. I often saw dogs hesitate partway across, stop in their tracks, or even turn around once the bridge started to sway.

Below is a close-up of a bolt and suspension cable on the original bridge:

Below are the west anchors for the original suspension bridge:

And below is a photo of me on the original bridge:

Buntzen Lake is situated between Eagle Mountain to the east and Buntzen Ridge to the west.  The area receives up to 4,000 mm (13 feet) of precipitation annually and Eagle Mountain can accumulate a significant snowpack over the winter months.  There are numerous creeks to bring this water into Buntzen Lake. And when you have a creek, you need a bridge !

Below is Trillium Creek, which is the longest wooden bridge on the trail…

The naming of the creeks around Buntzen Lake is alphabetical (if going in a counter-clockwise direction), but not all letters are represented. Also, there are signs on each bridge stating the maximum number of people is 4 (seems a little overly cautious).

The bridge over the largest creek (which is Buntzen Creek) is not named.

The named bridges are:

And of course, we cannot forget the suspension bridge at the north end of the lake.

There used to be a floating bridge across the far south end of the lake as seen below. This photo is from 2005…

But now it’s mostly a land bridge as seen below…

There remains a small floating bridge section as seen below…

Some of the bridges are new and have steel girders, like the one below…

And some bridges are old and are made entirely of wood, like the one below…

I don’t know if I can call the next one a bridge, but its like a bridge. This is on the Diez Vistas Trail…

The next bridge is a log bridge and it’s also on the Diez Vistas Trail…

Here is a very shallow bridge on the Lakeview Trail…

The next photo isn’t really a bridge, but its more like a short land bridge – just something to reinforce the trail…