Part I: The walk

“Tomorrow’s walk looks like a mixed bag weatherwise,” said our leader, Jon. We (mostly) heeded his advice and packed a variety of clothing options. This was wise. 

On the freeway, driving out to Walnut Grove, we experienced sun, light rain, and then a sudden downpour — which set the tone for the rest of the day.

We dropped off food contributions at Ralph and Tina’s place and then carpooled to the designated parking place at Tynehead Regional Park. The weather looked suspiciously nice. When all were assembled, after some slight confusion owing to differing understandings of the route, we set off: 22 humans and two dogs. 

Finn and Maisie had a spectacularly good time: running around, sniffing out tracks, and generally exploring. They were a Good Boy and a Good Girl, respectively. The rest of us were pretty good, too, so we deserved our Afters.

Tynehead Regional Park was new ground for most of us. It has a great set of easy-walking trails, meandering through the park: asphalt to start with and then mostly hard-packed paths. We started out on Perimeter Trail and then did a set of loops that gave us just under 9 km of walking.

We checked out an old barn, formerly used for livestock:

“It is one of the last surviving regional examples of a building made with mortise and tenon joints.  This technique was used in the wooden ships of ancient Egypt, in the rock of England’s Stonehenge, and in sandstone temples in India.”

The park has historic signs throughout, alluding to past homesteads, a community hall, and a school in the area. A Looper ancestor, George Atchison, lived there. (See the end of this post for more details.)

The starting selfie was postponed until we came to this perfect photo-opportunity spot. It even has a helpful phone shelf at an appropriate distance from the cutout figures.

We began to see signposts with four-line poems on them, referring to older times. They turned out to be connected into a longer poem.

The weather stayed pleasant for the rest of our walk, with hints of blue sky and sun as the day progressed. The open meadows gave way to more heavily treed woods. We crossed the Serpentine River and Townline Creek on bridges a couple of times. Our lunch spot was in an open area with picnic benches.

Returning, we took a mix of different trails and retracing of our steps from earlier.

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Part II: The BBQ

We carpooled back to Walnut Grove where we set out folding chairs or installed ourselves in varying degrees of luxurious comfort on the patio or indoors. We obtained beverages. We set out food contributions. The host dog, Mackie, welcomed Finn and Maisie. The grill-meister began grilling the corn. 

Then the skies opened and a dramatic downpour sent most of us into the house for shelter.

How long did it last? Hard to say. By the time the meat and non-meat items were grilled, the sun came out again. Changeable, just as predicted.

Thanks were extended to the hosts, the roast beef chef, and the grill-meister/supplier of corn and proteins. There was a valiant amount of cleaning up, but our hosts still had a lot to do to remove all traces — for which, we thank them again.

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Part III: Photographs of the Atchison family at Tynehead

From Tynehead Memories, published 1982 by the Tynehead Historical Society.

Party at the Atchison family home and barn, 1898

Mr. Atchison explored the Fraser Valley, looking for land. He met Albert Ward, who had homesteaded on the Coast Meridian Road; received his deed to his homestead; and sold eighty acres to a Mr. Belanger. He was looking for a buyer for the other one-half of his homestead. It happened to be just what Mr. Atchison was looking for so, it didn’t take him long to come to terms with Mr. Ward and they made a deal.

Mrs. Atchison and their family arrived in Tynehead about May, 1898. They had a family of two daughters and nine sons.

Mr. Atchison became very active in municipal affairs and was a member of the school board for many years.

Great-grandfather Hugh is front row centre. The baby in the woman’s arms front row right is Victor Atchison, whose third daughter owned the Tynehead Memories book.

George Atchison, Mrs. Atchison, Harry, Olive (Mrs. McRae) and Jean, Lorne, Rose, Clarke, Jim and Lloyd. Taken at side of Atchison home in Tynehead.

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Photos: Adrienne, Angela, Julie, Jon, Michael