Netflix’s Yosemite series Untamed is really at home in Canada

You don’t have to go to America to see the sights of Yosemite National Park — and you don’t have to take my word for it.

The current Netflix hit series Untamed, starring Eric Bana and Sam Neill, makes much of telling its story in Yosemite.

The key piece of action, around which the whole series hinges, takes place on the distinctive El Capitan granite mountain face.

But it doesn’t.

Untamed was filmed in Canada, and the El Capitan in the series is actually Mount Seymour, in Mount Seymour Provincial Park in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Part of the North Shore Mountains, it rises to 1449m above the Indian River.

Canada is a complete alternative for those considering touring the national parks of the US.

THE STORY

Untamed, a six-episode series, was released on July 17 and quickly racked up almost 25 million views, rising to No.1 on the Netflix TV charts for English-language shows.

Co-written by Mark L Smith and Elle Smith, it’s a mystery-thriller following Kyle Turner (played by Eric Bana), who is a special agent for the National Parks Service, based in Yosemite National Park.

He sets out to investigate the death of a young woman who falls from El Capitan, getting caught in the ropes of two young climbers on the granite face.

His investigation starts to reveal the dark secrets of the national the park, and in his own past.

THE LOCATIONS

It has been revealed that the log cabin in which special agent Kyle Turner lives isn’t in Yosemite, but in Murdo Frazer Park, again, in North Vancouver Canada.

Many of the snow scenes were filmed in Whistler Olympic Park.

In the series, some of the action is set at “Grouse Lake in Yosemite National Park”, but this is Grace Lake, in British Columbia. It is close to Vancouver — just take Highway 7 to Harrison Mills, turn left into Morris Valley Road and drive 11km and turn into Sts/Ailes Forest Service Road and you’ll find Grace Lake Recreation Site, where camping is CAD $25 ($28).

The forested trails of North Vancouver’s Greenwood Park provide good locations for the series. Greenwood Park and Kealy Woods Park are in the upper Grand Boulevard neighbourhood of Vancouver, with dramatic bluffs, bedrock outcrops. There’s a network of trails through both parks, making them very popular. The Green Necklace greenway (a 7.5km scenic loop), extends north into Greenwood Park and also attracts visitors to the area. There’s a quarry in Greenwood Park that is popular with locals for bouldering.

Kyle Turner’s investigation, with forest ranger Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) alongside, leads to a squatter camp, which was filmed in Deroche. It is an “unincorporated community” of growers at the foot of Nicomen Mountain in Fraser Valley, southwestern British Columbia.

There are a number of river gorge hiking scenes in Untamed, and some of these were filmed on Cheakamus River, with rapids and big fir and cedar trees. The river is a tributary of the Squamish River, and scenes were also shot at the Balls To The Wall waterfall, which is famous with whitewater kayakers. The Cheakamus River is synonymous with Whistler kayaking. Just search YouTube to see paddlers on the Cheakamus and shooting Balls To The Wall.