2023 December 3: Sea to Sky (Lynn Creek)
15 hardy Loopers met at Inter River Park in North Vancouver under a steady rainfall. Undeterred by the weather, the group posed for the obligatory starting selfie and then headed south through a residential area. As we emerged to a street parallel to Highway #1, we observed the sound wall shielding the neighbourhood from highway…
2023 November 5: Hayward Lake Railway Trail
Seventeen Loopers met up at the Hayward Lake Recreational Area just west of Mission for a walk along the Hayward Lake Railway Trail, a trail which follows the western edge of Hayward Lake (and according to BC Hydro’s page on Hayward Lake, the lake was “named after Stave Falls Dam’s first production superintendent,” who was…
2023 October 8: Cypress Falls Park
A somewhat smaller than usual group of eight Loopers met at the Cypress Falls parking lot on what was a fine Fall morning. After posing for the starting selfie, we plunged into the woods. A short way along we could see the first waterfall ahead. As we approached, there was a fence with dire warnings…
2023 September 3: Salop Trail and Hastings Creek
Seventeen of us assembled at a car park within the Karen Magnussen complex in North Vancouver. We took a route through residential streets to the beginning of the Salop Trail, near Sutherland School. From this point, Salop Trail winds downwards, at times close to Highway 1, past Brooksbank Elementary School, and then under Highway 1…
2023 August 6: Capilano River Regional Park
This month’s group walk was a land-based version of the salmon’s migration route: making our way upstream until encountering a dam, then downstream again (your task is to itemize the many ways in which our route was not like the salmon’s; to start you off: no spawning was observed while we took our snack break…
2023 July 2: Derby Reach & Canada Day BBQ
Since this was the Canada Day weekend, we dropped off our contributions at the home of Ralph and Tina in Walnut Grove, shattering the Sunday morning peace of the neighbourhood. Then we car-pooled to the starting point near the Edgewater Bar campground. It was a warm and sunny day, so we appreciated the choice of…
2023 June 11: Lighthouse Park to Horseshoe Bay
This month’s walk was a three-peat of the ones between Lighthouse Park and Horseshoe Bay (previously done once in each direction). Previous outings were under somewhat wintery conditions. The first was from Horseshoe Bay to Lighthouse Park in January 2015 done in two groups, one on January 4 and the second on January 11. The…
2023 May 7: The Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve
Our May Looper walk in Chilliwack accidentally put the group at great risk, as we came dangerously close to being swept into an infinite recursion while following the trails. Yes, not only did we Loop in the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve, we Loop-de-Looped, with one loop enclosing another and so on, ad infinitum (possibly);…
2023 April 2: Pitt River and Minnekhada Park
Starting at the Minnekhada Lodge, the trailhead for Lodge Trail can be found by walking towards the washroom building and then turning left. Lodge Trail is a 1.7km loop trail that is well-maintained and marked with yellow blazes. The trail is mostly flat and is surrounded by lush greenery, tall trees, and a few wooden…
2023 March 5: Bowen Island
This morning 21 Loopers descended upon Horseshoe Bay. One group arrived early enough for a hearty pre-hike breakfast at Troll’s. Others gathered at Blenz Coffee for refreshments after a brisk pre-hike walk from the parking lot at the Gleneagles Community Centre. (Loopers are prepared to go some distance to avoid paying for parking!) After arriving…
2023 February 5: Fraserview trails and the Fraser River
When you’ve been walking together for as long as most of us have, you’ll sometimes find yourself retracing your own footsteps, and posing for group selfies in familiar settings (the theme of this year’s walks is Loopers’ Greatest Hits, so I suspect that this sense of deja vu will itself become increasingly familiar; at the…
2023 January 8: Burnaby Mountain
So—we embarked on the year of favourite walks by doing one we hadn’t done before. (It was, however, made up of pieces we had done before.) The weather: well, temperatures were mild for January but the rain was a wet welcome for two new Loopers. Those who had walked on January 1 had a clearer…
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