nature-you.org Blog

Good timing
December 8, 2007

In order to accept hikers of different levels, I prepared both 3 miles route and 7 miles route for today. We could separate after the lunch break at 2 miles. I presumed I could get a few reliable and experienced hikers to lead one group for me. It turned out, 33 signed up for this early December hiking event including some first time hikers. As what I had predicted, I had Gary Deng and Moon signed up for this trip that I could rely on.

I was lucky to have Jeffrey and Chris took care of Flushing while I went to city to meet the others. I met Mr. Tsang’s Brooklyn group at Manhattan and we reached trailhead early. We knew three other cars were there even earlier but could not locate the parking lot. We had two more came on time but still missing three. I got Gary’s message on the phone knowing his car got a flat tire in the city so they might not be able to join us even they would still come. Mr. To signed up but always an unknown so I used not to count him if he didn’t showed up on time. Aileen and her husband likely quitted because of the cloudy sky.

The mountain was covered with snow and it was so white and clean. There were snow remains on the branches which was pretty. I had 26 people ready to step on the snow covered trail by 10:15. Base on the facts like: trail condition, hikers’ equipment and hikers’ experience, I knew it was impossible to bring the entire group to 7 miles route. It was undesirable to cut the trip to an easy 3 miles because some of them were expecting a challenging trip. Too bad, there was no any route in between that I could change into 5 miles to please both parties. I was debating if I should put all burdens on Moon to lead a team by her if without Gary.

We started by Orange trail and went to Blue trail to climb Sleater Hill. The snowy trail made the steps more difficult and be more cautious because it was slippery. They all knew the importance of hiking pole in winter. The viewpoint was not so great but the trail was wide so friends could walk side by side. It should be a good place to come again during fall season. We finished the Blue trail and when entered back to Orange trail where we met Mr. To. He was late so hiked along Orange trail intended to meet the group. The timing was perfect that he could catch us at the right spot.

I decided to add a fraction of mile to bring the whole group to Almost Perpendicular to compensate for the viewpoint on Sleater Hill. When we entered the Blue Disc from Kakiat White trail, I saw Gary’s group hiking on the trail. They made it and decided to pick a shorter trail to catch us up. It was another perfect timing that we met at the right spot. The presence of Gary had released my worries of whether I should split the group or not.

We had full lunch after Almost Perpendicular because the weather was so perfect that no wind at all. A lot of experienced hikers prepared hot water for instant noodles. Jeffrey even brought his small kettle to boil water on the mountain. Here I served the group with Russian sausages. I gave Moon the grapes for the 7 miles group while I led the 3.5 miles group turned back after lunch. I had 15 and Moon/Gary had 16 in the group. My group reached the parking lot by 2pm and the 7 miles group came back by 3:30pm. I heard the additional 3.5 miles was not so easy because of the snow condition so they were all satisfied with today’s outdoor exercise. My group was also happy with early completion so someone could make trips to Campmor and Ikea at New Jersey.

Storm King and West Point
Dec 1, 2007

It was freezing cold in the morning when I met Sunny, Louis, Linda and Tom at Flushing. It could be normal if we found the temperature would be 5 degree lower in Storm King. We met Yat, Moon, Eric, Karen, Gary, Chung Kong and Kwan at Palisades Parkway gas station which showed the coldness of winter. I will have 3 other cars (Ken, Emily, Jessica Wong and Ann; Ya Ya and Gong Wen; Danny and Fanny) met at the trailhead of Storm King. We had 20 warm-hearted hikers to test their leg muscles and winter hiking equipments today.

We started at 10am sharp on the orange trail which we had to climb up the Butter Hill. It was a challenge because no much warming up before the steep slope. Tom was not feeling well so decided to go back and waited for the group at the car. The view at Butter Hill was terrific where we could overlook the whole area. The wind was quite strong at the high points so it was impossible to stay long. We connected to Yellow and turned to Blue/Red trail afterwards. It was the first time I saw a trail mark with 2 colors so could not wait to take picture with it. We then connected back to Yellow trail to view the Hudson River. This face of mountain was probably colder because quite a lot of ice cones were stuck on the rocks. It would be dangerous to hike after snow season started.

We reached the most terrific viewpoint of the trip where we could see the Breakneck Ridge, Bull Hills, Pollepel Island and mouth of Hudson River. It would be better if we could come here 2 months ago with enough vegetation on the hill sides. All leaves had fallen covering the trail that made the hike more risky because rolling stones were hidden. While I was looking for a lunch spot, I heard someone shouting Michael at the front. It was Tom!

Tom missed the Orange trail and walked into Yellow trail. Luckily, it was counter direction with us. We found a less exposure spot so we could have 30 minutes full lunch. Gary, Eric and Yat took out their hot noodle soups and cold cut while Ya Ya served us her homemade biscuits. Moon prepared fried rice for me and we shared them with Louis. Emily preferred fruit salad and Sunny liked cookies more. We had to warm up again after the rest so we finished Yellow and Blue trail in a fast pace. With the help of Moon and Gary to lead at the front, I could hike with Tom at the back. The last 0.5 mile on White trail was done fast so we finished 4 miles before 1:30pm.

I decided to bring the team to West Point Military Academy because it was so early. We spent an hour to tour around the Visitors Center and Museum. We probably added another mile over there. The 2 most important exhibits in the Museum were the signed surrender document by Japan of World War II and one of the two atomic bomb shells that dropped to Japan.

As I had prepared both stamps for Storm King and West Point Museum for today, and we could have enough time to do both, all participants were happy to get 2 stamps for today’s event.

First snow at Pine Meadow Lake
November 18, 2007

Once again, we came back to this most popular lake of Harriman Park to have the relax 5 miles hiking event. This level A trip attracted some first time hikers like: Wei Guo’s family, Chung Kong, Karen Qing, Chun Ping, Angela, Diana, Danny & Fanny, Chih Ying, Teresa and Jewel. We had totally 37 hikers to witness the first snow of this year at Pine Meadow Lake.

Clara and Sean were the latest to arrive at the parking lot. While we were waiting, light furry snow was flying in the sky to show us beauty of winter hiking. It was not too cold though. As stated on the trail description, I kept the plan of hiking up to the pretty Pine Meadow Lake along gentle Red trail. The river at the left side running down showed us power of water. I took chance of teaching new hikers how to read trail mark at the split of Yellow and Red trail. The trail was easy and wide, still showcasing some colorful leaves on the branches. Some new hikers were busy taking photos of late autumn.

At the 1.5 miles point, three trails (White, Red and Blue) merged at a bridge. We kept on Red trail after a break when furry snow came again to greet us. In 5 minutes, we reached the prettiest part of the river where we could touch and listen to the river. The big flat rock served as a big bench for all hikers. We saw the pretty Pine Meadow Lake in another 0.5 mile. Some hikers took out their lunch immediately but were stopped by me. Since the group hiked fast so I decided to add a bonus by bringing them to hike 0.5 mile further deep along the lake. There was a historical ruined house there and the view from that angle might be new for most of us. We took lunch at another view point aside the lake.

The weather was acceptable so we could have 45 minutes full lunch. Chris served different kinds of fruit while Jessica shared the Vietnamese bread with a lot of friends. Jessica also shared her famous tea leaves eggs with all participants. Pei Pei said she could eat more than 3 eggs if we had enough. It was time to go back as stronger wind kicked in. We went back to the most popular spot where we had our group picture with the cliff rocks at the background. I decided to further increase the difficulty by going back along a different but more challenging and pretty trail. When we reached the 3 trails merging point, we took the Kikiat White trail to tackle the stony trail. It was not as easy as the Red trail. In return, there were pretty colorful trees and flowing water to be shot by cameras.

The last mile on Yellow and Red was easy as the beginning. Finally, we finished 6 miles which I still thought it was a Level A trip. Wei Guo’s son had to sit for 30 minutes to recover when he was just 5 minutes from the parking lot.

Use of compass
November 17, 2007

The traffic was smooth that most of us reached parking lot at Route 106 before 9am. It was quite cold and windy on that morning. In order to fight against the cold and bore, Feng taught us how to play the 2-wheels roller board. All 24 people were ready to climb Jackie Jones Mountain by 9:45am. We had a few new hikers like: Chow’s family, Shek, Toni, Situ, Xiao, Paula, Jeannie, Na Li and Wendy Wang.

We climbed Yellow trail to reach the fire tower in a mile. All new hikers didn’t save their energy walking up stairs to the top to overlook the area. The view was terrific. They could see the beach at Lake Welch and colorful scenery of entire area. We walked with extra care since the trail had been covered by fallen leaves. In another mile we reached Big Hill Shelter. We met a Boy Scout squad there and the team leaders were busy chopping woods for camp fire. After taking a few pictures with the axe, we continued with Yellow trail until we saw the first reservoir.

We had to hike coming 2 miles on unmarked trail visiting 3 reservoirs. Base on my memory, the best lunch point should be here next to this reservoir. Too bad, the water was not enough to fill up the reservoir so the water reflection was not bright. We finished lunch quick because it was winter time. The unmarked trail was clear enough to bring us to second reservoir. The water level here was so low that we could see the bottom soil of the reservoir. There was a hanging rope on the tree for swing to dive but now even the best long jump athlete could not reach the water. We took group picture here with Feng’s magic tripod.

The unmarked trail was covered by vegetation at this point which I had difficulty to find the trail. I tried one, the direction was wrong. I tried the other one but that only brought us into the woods. Since I knew roughly the direction and distance between second and third reservoir, I led the group with the help of map and compass. I set up the hiking bearing between 2 reservoirs and went through the slopes or bushes. With the help of compass, we didn’t need to find the trail any more. Since the adventure wouldn’t be long and I had a team with good hiking ability, I didn’t worry at all. With the magic of compass, we came to third reservoir in 25 minutes. All participants enjoyed the maze game.

The third reservoir was the prettiest one of all. The sun came out to give us good pictures and the pine trees next to the reservoir gave us best photographic background. We stayed and took long break at the site. Last mile on Old Turnpike was steep upslope to hit Yellow trail. We finished 7 miles before 3:30pm.

Minnewaska, “Mei Li de” color
11/4/2007

Minnewaska State Park Preserve has been voted by Hudson Valley Magazine’s readership as the “Best Park” since 2003 to 2005. With its 12,500 acres of cliffs, summits and plateaus, Minneswaska State Park Preserve is the uncut gem of the Palisades Interstate Park system. Its sapphire lakes, lapidary cliffs, soaring precipices, panoramic views, and forests of dwarf pitch pine and oak occupy the high ground along the crest of the dramatic Shawangunk escarpment.

It was Nature You first trip to this well known and pretty place on 11/4 which hopefully not too late for the fall foliage scenery. In order to make it more relax for sightseeing, I picked the easy 7 miles level B route. We had 40 signed up but turned out 1 car (5 hikers) didn’t show up and 1 car (5 hikers) was routed to the other parking area so they couldn’t meet the group. They had to go for their private trips and hiked on other hiking trails. When I could contact them at the evening, I knew they were hiking on the other side of the canyon which we could view from our side. There was one illegal passenger in my car, doggy Happy. Gary brought it with a bag that I didn’t know until we parked. It was trained not to make any noise when traveling.

We started at 10:30am following the red carriage way to water touched the Lake Minnewaska. The poster view of the white rock cliff with blue water lake was there. Cameras were raised and we knew that it was worth coming no matter we could see the coloring leaves or not. Usually, fall foliage color was peak from mid October to late October. Catherine Chan’s group caught us up on time because of car mechanical problem. We moved slowly to the first viewpoint, Echo Rock. The vegetation within the canyon was not too rich but the rocks and pillars were special features which surprised new visitors. We tested the function of echoing here and confirmed the name was well given.

Hamilton Point was the biggest surprise ever when we could have wide open panoramic views over the area. The vegetations of the entire area were under our eyes, the colors were still peak. The sun came out to support us to complete a lot of pictures of golden leaves. Some of us were really scared while we stepped on the sides of pillars looking down to see those fallen blocks. We continued to the blue trail climbed up to Castle Point which was a bigger surprise to us. We could sit at the edge of cliff with all colorful trees below our legs. The weather was too cold and windy so we had to be hurry to wrap up the lunch. We served the group with snacks and grapes.

The blue carriage way was wide and basically flat. The pine tree at Kempton Ledge attracted most photo shots. Here we had our completed group picture by the help of a passer-by cyclist. The last mile before catching the lake was boring. The whole group moved fast under such a freezing wind. We reached the parking lot before 4pm. Minnewaska definitely will be the best place to watch fall foliage due to its special landscape. We would get grand views of colorful leaves every year in October. It is a place that photographers should never miss.