All photos courtesy of Netflix, unless otherwise noted
VIRGIN RIVER
The Chart-Topping Show
Finds the Beauty of Community
in Southern British Columbia
by Rachel Llewellyn
An hour north of Vancouver, intrepid location
manager Robert "Fluffy" Millar/LMGI bushwhacked
through dense coastal forest flanking the upper
Cheakamus River, looking for the next astonishing
backdrop for Nelix's surprise hit series,
Virgin
River.
"I spent the day out there trying to chase
down certain GPS coordinates with my camera
strapped around my neck and a phone in my
pocket," says Millar. "If I can get somewhere to
get an amazing shot, then I'm like, 'production
can get here, too!' That was always my idea."
Adapted from Robyn Carr's award-winning
22-book series, the show follows Mel, a Los
Angeles nurse practitioner played by Alexandra
Breckenridge. She leaves her tragic past behind
to set up a small practice in an idyllic Northern
California town that resembles a Thomas
Kincaid painting, Mayberry and Cicely, Alaska,
from
Northern Exposure, all rolled into one. Here
she finds love with bar owner Martin Henderson
as Jack. This surreal, green-carpeted paradise
is found in Canada's most western province,
British Columbia.
Virgin River's atmospheric forest dreamscape
is a cleverly pieced-together patchwork of
postcard-perfect shots. When Millar emerged
from the undergrowth at House Rock, a kayak
put-in at the lip of a rowdy class four rapid—he
knew that in spite of the logistical challenge,
he'd found
the spot for a dramatic confrontation
between Jack and Mel that production would not
be able to resist. "Oh, compromises will be made
to get them here!" he mused.
On Vancouver's mountainous coast, the
landscape is as ripe and evocative as the
show itself: Its glacier-scraped granite cliffs,
heaved up by earthquakes and volcanoes and
veined by miles of lush green waterways, are a
breathtaking scrim for the wholesome romantic
drama stealing hearts around the globe. Cloed
with log jams, frothing rapids and depending on
the season, chinook salmon and steelhead trout,
