What an amazing day Division 5 had with staff and students from John Oliver’s Take a Hike Program! We went to Deep Cove and hiked through the rain and mud to Quarry Rock.

It was fun to trek up steps, across bridges and over tree roots.

Despite a lot of rain, our smiles beamed through!

Reaching the top gave us this beautiful view!

The view from here is pretty amazing

An hour through the rain and mud made us pretty proud. We climbed a mountain!

We love the Take a Hike students. Always smiling and always encouraging!

Our hiking tour guides!

For many of us, this was the first time ever in a forest. In fact when we were doing the poll, “How many people have ever been to a forest?” one child said: “This is a forest?!” Yippee for first time experiences!

Trees, even burnt ones, offer many stories . . .

After eating lunch on the top of Quarry Rock, we needed to head back down. We spotted a large black bird swooping in to eat our lunch crumbs.

Mr. M and Sergio watching the bird on the edge of the rock

We finished our day sitting on the grass in Deep Cove. Everyone got to share their favourite part of the day and how they were feeling out of 10. Some highlights of the day included: “climbing a mountain,” “seeing a waterfall,”  “singing a song together,” and “being out in nature.” A beautiful day. Rain and mud didn’t make it any less wonderful!

Our circle on the grass

Riding home in the vans . . .

Sergio: “I’ve climbed two mountains now.”

Ms. Gelson: “Really? Which ones?”

Sergio: “I just climbed one now. And when we went with them to Cypress in the snow.”

Read about our other mountain adventure here.

Thanks again to the Take a Hike students and staff for taking us to “mountains” we never thought we’d climb!