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 day.

Seventeen people met at North Road and walked up North Road and Dead Moped trails. Turning onto Powerline/the Trans Canada Trail (TCT), we began a more or less gentle uphill trail, with spurts of steeper sections making for good cardio exercise. At the beginning of this section, Alan demonstrated the turns between zero and 360 degrees. Sadly, there is no video.

The trail hugged the north side of Burnaby Mountain. We eventually emerged at Burnaby Mountain Park, where the Japanese totem poles were visible but the normally spectacular view of the lower mainland was shrouded in mist. We stopped for a break under a shelter near the former Horizons Restaurant, soon to be reborn as Mintara. Angela 2 provided delicious home-made nougat. (Later, David described how to make it. The process is not to be undertaken lightly.)

We then followed the TCT and other trails to the SFU campus, where we wandered through Convocation Mall (some pausing here for a quick game of foosball) and the Academic Quadrangle (nodding to the statue of Terry Fox) to the exterior of the Trottier Observatory where we could observe our location in the universe.

Because of the weather and the size of the group, we took a simplified return route, avoiding the narrower, steeper slopes. A quick trek down Cardiac Hill to the TCT and Powerline took us to the cars. Afters were at the Hop and Vine pub.

Photos by Jon, Dave, Angela