Fifteen Loopers gathered at Cliffmont & Cliffwood in Deep Cove, for the first walk of our twelfth year of Looping. This year’s walk selection will be similar to last year’s, in that a different volunteer will select and “lead” the walk each month; a full list of the upcoming walks can be found here. January’s walk was led by Meister Dave, who had selected a rugged route through the forests behind Deep Cove; to quote from the original email: “The walk is about 10km, with 350m of ascent & descent, and it will probably take us 3-1/2 hours of walking.”

The first part of the route took us along a trail known to some as Cove Runner (others know it as Rain Dancer), which meanders through the woods more or less towards Quarry Rock, crossing many small-to-midsize streams along the way (a non-Looper video overview of this trail, accompanied by ethereal music, can be found on YouTube here). As the photos below show, many of the bridges along the trail are a bit dodgy, but we managed to reach the viewpoint above Quarry Rock without losing a single Looper.

Just before the viewpoint the trail crosses a small waterfall, known to some as Raven Falls, and the rushing water made it easy to imagine the many streams we’d just crossed as they would have been during the October 2024 “atmospheric river” event, when several homes on Panorama Drive, just below us as the crow flies (or as water flows), had to be evacuated when they were inundated by water.

At the viewpoint we recharged ourselves (euphemistically) at the power pylon which towered overhead, before continuing uphill along the Baden Powell trail to Indian River Drive, at which point Janet K wisely branched off to take a shortcut back to our starting point. The rest of us continued uphill along the Baden Powell, to a fork with Boundary Trail. At this point four Loopers opted to take the right branch, following the Baden Powell trail to the point where it crosses Mount Seymour Road, where a getaway car awaited them. The remainder of us took the left fork, continuing more or less downhill along Boundary Trail, until our route intersected Indian River Crescent, near Frames Place.

From there it was just a short walk along Evanders Path and Cliffwood Path back to our starting point (timing things perfectly, as you’ll see from the ending selfie, to encounter Janet K and Bruce just emerging from the forest). Afters were taken at JJ Bean and at GoodCo, where several additional non-ambulatory Loopers were waiting in relative comfort. And a splendid time was had by all!

Photo credits to: David S; Angela R; Adrienne; Bruce; and myself.