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White team, Blue team, Yellow team
September 16, 2007

After a few hours of morning rain on previous day, we got back a very sunny and perfect hiking day on 9/16. I got a team of 61 signed up for this first New Jersey activity for Nature-You. I led hiking here 2 times years ago. To play safe, I went Yahoo Map help that supposed to get an updated driving direction. But, the problem was on road sign this time. It took Jessica 30 extra minutes to lead the group to the parking lot. All cars except Dr. Hsu’s had problem to see the small turning sign at the corner street. I thought I urgently needed to have a high tech. GPS now.

We started the trip at 10:30 after a short briefing at the parking lot of Pyramid Mountain. Since we could get free map from the Park, more people interested on knowing what would be my plan. I led the group hiked on blue trail to climb the 934 feet peak which might have exhausted some new hikers. The visit to Lucy’s Overlook was nothing because there was not even enough standing space for 60 people. I served Jessica’s homemade brownie at that spot to slow down the team.

We reached today’s highlight, Tripod Rock before 12 noon. It was the only place in this trip that could accommodate 60 people to have rock to sit, I decided to take early lunch here. I served Jessica’s homemade tea leaves egg which was well welcome again by most people. It turned out, my hands smelled tea eggs whole day before I could wash my hands at home.

The trip continued smoothly by visiting Whale Head Rock and Bear Rock. The steep slope at Red trail defeated some first time hikers so the team was segmented. I knew it was undesirable either to slow down the fast team or push the beginners team. At the Bear Rock, I decided to assign Moon to lead the fast group to take a more challenging section and Jessica to lead the beginners group on the easy White trail to go back. We further broke down the fast group into Yellow team and Blue team because some teammates could not catch up the front. I led the Blue team while Moon kept leading the Yellow team. We were home safe and likely everyone got what they wanted. The fast hikers could climb one more steep slope and enjoyed the fast pace while the beginners could spend more time on photo taking and relax walking.

With the assistance of reliable leaders and walki talkis, it was a good trial today of team splitting according to different level of participants. If I could be sure about where were other teammates whom were led by experienced and capable leaders, I thought it would be more practical in future of Nature-You’s trip. This way of handling trips would include more friends they liked to join my trips while I could not schedule two different trips on every weekend.

4 Strikes, but not out
September 9, 2007

It was the first time in Nature You that combined hiking with an additional event. We would hike easy 4 miles at Fahnestock State Park to Beaver Pond in the morning and sightsee Chuang Yen Temple in the afternoon. It turned out, I had a record high 83 people signed up.

How long it would take to ask 83 people signed on the registration form? It took me extra 30 minutes for 34 people to sign even I had 2 books signed at the same time in Flushing; Jessica spent more than 20 minutes for 12 people at Manhattan. I would have more than 20 people met at the trailhead that would be another 30 minutes to sign up. First strike: I had under estimated the paperwork for a group so big. People were waiting too long before the activity started. A group of 83 was really too big to handle. For the benefit of the group, I should limit the size within 60.

It turned out only 16 cars could reach the Fahnestock State Park but had spent extra 30 minutes to find the designated parking lot. The reason was my driving direction was not wrong but outdated! I led trip in this area last year and didn’t scout again before this trip. There was a newly constructed additional ramp to exit from Taconic Parkway. The new one made my direction of turn reversed so all drivers drove to the wrong side of the park and called for help. 15 cars drove back and forth a few times on 301 that had caused the rangers to come out to patrol the area. I had one car could not make it because he had got lost in the Bronx. The driving direction from Manhattan was also not wrong but not cleared enough. Second strike: I should have scouted the area to make sure driving directions were accurate and clear.

Since the group was so big, I decided to split the group into North team and South team. I would bring 9 cars and 44 people hiked heading south while Jessica would lead another 9 cars and 39 people hiked heading north. This setting supposed to make the team size smaller and pace faster. We intended to meet at the Beaver Pond. My plan then followed by leaders switching so Jessica and I could go back to the same parking lot to drive drivers to pick up their cars. It turned out the parking lot for North team was not suitable to park because of bad maintenance. In addition that all drivers had difficulty to locate the other trailhead, I had to merge two teams together to form the longest hiking team ever. Third strike: parking lot was also very important that must be scouted before. The condition and location of parking lot must be certain before assigning drivers to meet there.

Finally, we started hiking at 10:30am with 75 people on the trail. The trail was quite narrow so the team moving slowly. The trail was not difficult but we hiked in quite a quick pace because we had to meet the deadline of 1pm to be at Chuang Yen Temple to take the vegetarian lunch. We reached the Beaver Pond but there were not enough open space to sit or rest. We saw two Americans jumped into the Pond to swim while we also had someone walked to the Pond to cool down their feet. Since the team was so long, I brought the team going forward intended to find a circular trail to U-turn the team and back on the same trail. Moon helped me located an unmarked trail but our attempt was failed because the trail later turned into densely covered with thorny vegetation. The whole team had to turn back and walked on the same trail with no other choice. Fourth strike: it was not desirable to bring a big team, which with seniors and minors on unmarked trail unless in emergency. I was too aggressive and over-confidence on that day.

We finished the whole 4 miles in 2 hours that was a normal pace for flat terrain. The driving to Chuang Yen Temple was easy because most of our drivers had passed its entrance this morning during the time of lost. We were there before 1pm just in time because the big bus tourists were gone. The lunch box from the Temple was delicious so some of our friends had asked for refill. Jeffrey said he hadn’t asked for refill except going buffet in past 10 years. We enjoyed a very relax and leisure walk in the Temple until 4pm.

It was a lucky trip that the most drivers could make it under an outdated driving instruction. It was a good trip that most people did fast paced exercise and first visit of Chuang Yen Temple. It was a successful trial that to combine hiking with an additional event. It was a 4 strikes set but I am not out because I would not let it happen again.

11 down to 9, 6 up to 7
August 26, 2007

“It is a trail recommend for those who wants to test their leg muscles” stated on the website. It turned out only 11 people signed up for this event. As weather forecast predicted a humid day would be, I decided to start the trip earlier. Moon could not make it on time at Manhattan because of subway delayed. Yuen called for personal in the morning so it further downsized the group. Before Karen and Martin arrived at 9am, I was wondering would the 20 lbs water melon be too big for only 7 participants. 9 hikers came to test their leg muscles to climb West Mountain and the Timp.

We started climbing the uphill slope after seeing the small nature swimming pool. The Blue trail brought us up to the Red trail in 1.25 miles after 800 feet elevation gain. Both Martin and I sweated like waterfalls. We took a long break at the junction since Wendy needed more time to overcome the slope.

We reached the most terrific viewpoints of the day after another uphill slope. We saw Bear Mtn Bridge, Perkins Tower and Hudson River down there with very greenish vegetation covered hills in the middle. The photographers could not stop taking photos and our lady hikers enjoyed the view so much that they could not wait to call their friend who had missed this trip.

We reached The Timp (about 1,100 feet) after climbing 2 more slopes. The wind was not too strong even at the mountain so it made our lunch time more relax. It was the right time to serve water melon. Amazingly, 20 pounds of cold sweet water melon were not really enough to fill up all hikers’ stomachs because we all needed water to cool off. Feng’s first designed penta-pot was failed so he rebuilt a quad-pot to complete the first group picture. We found another good view so he had to invent a 4-bags-pot to take another group picture. He was so creative that he should change his profession from computer into interior design. After lunch break, I decided to change the route so we could hike on marked trail instead of unmarked trail. I had a tough team today that I knew none of them was going to complaint about the change. This change upgraded the trip into 7 miles with an additional slope to climb.

We took a break at the West Mountain Shelter where Wendy lied down on the big rock to recharge. She said she really want to take a lap here if the whole group agreed. Karen and Martin were running out of water since they didn’t prepare for such an exhausting trip. Jessica shared her water with them. We climbed to the last viewpoint on S-BM and then followed by 1.5 miles of downhill slope until we reached 1777 trail. We came across a big lying trunk when showed balance beam should not be limited to women only in the Olympic Games because Feng could walk on it better than Miu, Wendy and Jessica.

The last mile in Doodletown was a historical walk. We saw many settlement remains of Doodletown by the help of notices and signs. There were about 300 population in this town before 1945 and was abandoned after 1965 because Harriman Park bought many of the Doodletown homes. The Doodletown Reservoir should be a good place to view foliage at fall season, we all agreed that we would be back soon.