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Looper Creek
The following description and photos were provided by
Chris Hood:
Looper Creek is one of the most scenic gorges in the entire
Pacific Northwest, a spectacular, narrow slot carved into
the limestone country east of Nitinat Lake on southern Vancouver
Island. The canyon includes a classic example of limestone
karst as well as watery narrows encompassed within a world
of emerald light. A descent of the canyon is relatively straightforward,
with one short rappel, several teetering logjams, numerous
swims and downclimbs, and a keeper pothole requiring a partner
assist to exit. The rewards are considerable, culminating
in a passage that narrows to a few meters wide between overhanging
walls up to 50 meters high. Required gear includes a 20 meter
rope and rappelling gear, full length wetsuit, a few meters
of webbing, and protective headgear.
Allow four hours round trip.
Access to the canyon requires a long drive on logging roads,
beginning at the town of Duncan on southeast Vancouver Island.
The route heads west on Highway 18 to the town of Lake Cowichan,
situated at the east end of the big lake of the same name.
The main road continues through town, heading along the south
side of the lake and passing through the hamlets of Mesachie
Lake and Honeymoon Bay, where the pavement ends. The broad
gravel South Shore road continues beyond roughly parallel
to the southern lakeshore, keeping right at several major
junctions with logging mainlines. Most major junctions on
this route are marked with small blue signs for the Carmanah-Walbran
parkit is best to follow these as the route continues to the
western end of Cowichan Lake and the Heather Campsite. Continue
following the signs as the route turns southwest onto the
Nitinat Main, another broad 2WD road that leads into the Nitinat
River valley and the head of Nitinat Lake. The road generally
traverses 2nd growth forestland as it eventually encounters
a one-way split, then re-merges and follows the slow-moving,
sinuous Nitinat as it twists towards Nitinat Lake. Stay left
at the next two major junctions (again following signs), the
second right fork leading to the reserve and recreation area
at the head of Nitinat Lake. The road now climbs a short hill
and drops into the Caycuse River valley, staying right at
the next junction and crossing the somewhat entrenched, lushly
vegetated Caycuse River on a bridge. A fork follows immediately
after-stay right and ascend slightly past another left-hand
fork ("Looper Main") to a tiny bridge with room
enough for a few cars on a nearby layby. The bridge crosses
the deep gorge of Looper Creek, with pools visible far below
amid a tangle of vegetation. Park here.
The route begins by following the Looper Main logging road
(passed a few meters back from the parking area), a 2WD track
leading moderately gently to moderately uphill through 2"d
growth forest towards the head of the Looper Creek valley.
The route stays right at a junction and drops slightly, soon
entering an open area of regenerating cutblock. A small borrow
pit is passed on the left, with views expanding over the narrow
forested strip bordering the creek to the clearcuts on the
opposite side. At this point, one can drop down steep, brushy
slopes leading directly towards the creek, following the path
of least resistance through dense salmonberry thickets and
into the remnant forest. With luck, a game trail may be located,
leading down through WH-WRC forest before thrashing the last
few feet into the open creek channel.
The stream is relatively small by late summer, but traverses
a wide, wonderfully lush path through overhanging BLM, alder,
and spirelike WRC. The channel is broad and open, floored
with gravels, boulders and the bubbling stream that flows
over multicoloured limestone outcrops. Little pools punctuate
the course as mossy limestone walls develop on both sides,
with maidenhair fern, swordfern, mosses, and liverworts growing
out of moist crevices in a riot of emerald. The pools expand
as the limestone becomes more abundant in the streambed, and
gorgeous cascades appear, along with the first full pool requiring
a swim. The canyon begins to form as the valley bottom entrenches
and deep wades become more frequent; two logjams follow in
this section, descending from slides on the left (LDC). The
jams are precarious and somewhat unstable, requiring careful
negotiation.
Not far beyond the logjams, the canyon narrows somewhat,
with a few pools requiring swimming. Seep springs appear among
the solution pocketed limestone walls, adding an irenic quality
to the developing gorge with the attendant greenery. Another
smaller logjam appears, providing anchors for a 4 meter rappel
over a cascade. The canyon beyond is narrower and increasingly
watery, with impressive limestone solution features decorating
the overhanging walls. After a string of constricted pools
and cascades, the gorge opens briefly and the West Fork of
Laoper joins in on the left (LDC), doubling the volume of
the rushing stream.
The narrows really develop below this point, becoming increasingly
deep and spectacular as the route descends towards the road
bridge. The walls are initially down to 3-4 meters apart,
up to 30 meters high, and often wildly overhanging, all in
multicoloured, solution featured limestone. Numerous pools,
including many deep waders and swimmers, are linked by glorious
cascades sliding over living rock. Huge, weather-stripped
tree trunks diffuse the strange greenish light in the narrows,
with some specimens lying wedged across the chasm far overhead.
At one point, a logjam forms a small "Devils Pit"-one
can pass the precarious wall of logs by sliding through the
tunnel formed by the stream and over a small cascade. At one
point, the stream channel narrows down to a 1 meter passage
through the limestone, dropping over 2 cascade-pool combinations
before initiating a 20 meter swim. Little caves and sheltered
overhangs decorate the walls, and the delicate forms of maidenhair
fern punctuate the grandeur of the canyon.
The canyon at this point re-opens and the stream abruptly
disappears into a gravel-lined hole in the wall. Nearby is
a dark rift in the fractured limestone-one can apparently
follow this back quite a ways, with the possibility of a significant
cave system developing. The now-dry streambed travels about
80 meters to a sharp, right-hand bend and another logjam.
A route past can be located by tunneling underneath on the
right (LDC). Beyond is a series of non-flowing potholes.
The first pothole, rather surprisingly, is a keeper requiring
a partner assist to exit through a corner on the right. The
water in the pothole is incredibly clear and very deep, and
the rock-walled chamber produces the most surreal lighting
imaginable. A second longer swim is exited on gravel, followed
by a third swimmer pool that passes directly beneath the road
bridge. The canyon here is very deep and overhung, with the
diffuse, green light creating the atmosphere of an otherworldly
cathedral; caves pocket the complex, 50 meter high limestone
walls. Beyond is another reflective pool beneath rapidly subsiding
canyon walls, a huge log dropping into one side amid a universe
of green. The pool requires another swim, soon ending on more
broad, bouldery streambed-watch for a small cairn in the middle,
marking the location of the hard-to-spot exit trail on the
right (LDC).
The exit trail is short, but very steep, with a pair of ropes
providing assistance as it climbs through the dense vegetation.
The final climb soon leads back to level ground, popping out
on the road a few meters back from the parking area. In the
renewed brilliance of the roadway, the memory lingers on the
sublime otherworldly lighting permeating the hidden chasm
far below. In the quiet moments, the mind drifts back to the
striated limestone and emerald seeps of the slot, and the
endless procession of cascade and pool, until night drifts
up from the abyss to reclaim the world.
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