nature-you.org Blog

Grace, Jeffery, Joey, Yvonne and Geric
June 21, 2008

Pan’s family arrived at last minute made this trip totally 25 people joining this third Kids Hike of this year. Even it was the same area but we had a new game on a new route which was flat and safe for kids. Thanks for Dodo and Moon for the contributions of planning this program.

We had 5 kids who were Grace, Jeffrey, Joey, Yvonne and Geric who belonged to Mahony, Mei, Lai and Pan’s families. They were all new participants. It was also the first trip of Su Yi, Cathy, and Wen Yen with Nature You. I had old friends come back so it was Linna, Maggie and Tom’s first trip this year. Danny brought Fanny this time. We had also George, Simon and Jacky. Moon and I were at the area at 8am to prepare the game ribbons.

We started along Yellow trial towards Fingerboard Mountain. They were all exciting to find the first ribbon after the game description. We passed the BBQ area and crossed Seven Lakes Drive where the game started. It was a family time when seeing every members tried to locate the spots and search the ribbons. The team was not too big but still segmented because they needed time to find the treasures. Moon helped to lead the group at the front and I assisted at the back. We finished 2 miles game and presented the gifts to all kids and adults who had participated in the game. As time was too early and everyone enjoyed the outing, I decided to change the plan to climb Fingerboard Mountain. This route would bring us to a nice viewpoint, to see a shelter and added 1 mile.

That might be a wrong decision after the plan changed. I found little Jeffrey was so tired and Brendan had problem on walking rough trail. I encouraged them to keep going slowly and they would be rewarded with a cold watermelon at lunch near shelter. We climbed the Cave Shelter where I found it was the best lunch spot with shades and enough place to sit. We had cold watermelon as the dessert after lunch.

It was a nice day with breeze so a perfect day to hike. There were enough shades on the trail so a perfect location for all young and mature hiking beginners. Grace was a strong girl who hiked with a heavy baseball bat. She shouted “Michael” at the back to remind me about the segmentation of the team. Jeffrey was the youngest hiker of today so felt tired when climbing upslope. This trip likely was his most difficult outing event. Joey was a tough boy who always hiked at the front with his mom. He went to Pyramid Mountain last year with me so had experienced a trip even more difficult. Yvonne and Geric were siblings. Yvonne hiked with smiling face and always assisted by her mom. Geric was very outgoing. He was comfortable with other people. I held his hand for half mile and he told me his school life. When I had to wait for the group, he got along very well with Danny at the front.

Unluckily, the back group had experienced bees attack on the downhill Yellow trail. Cindy and Brendan were targets. I hit away the bees which was chasing Brendan. I commended the other hikers to walk away from the bees cluster. Fortunately, it was not a bee hive but only a small group of bees working on pollen collection. We passed the pine tree forest where Su Yi took some pretty pictures. We finished totally 5 miles and were back at the Picnic Area by 2pm. All young hikers were so happy to see Winnie the Pooh and Tigger on the special stamp that was designed by Moon.

First hike at Black Rock Forest
June 14, 2008

It was my first trip in Black Rock Forest even I knew there was a large State Forest Park closed to Storm King for long. Since the location was far from the city, I would like to cover most of the viewpoints in 1 trip. I had 18 people signed up for this 10 miles adventure. I brought Moon, Dodo, Eric, Chung Kwong and Wing; Ken brought Emily, Esther, Janet and Gary; Yen brought his family; Gong drove by himself; Kevin brought Lily and Hua, it was the last car arrived trailhead just the minute before we started the trip at 10am.

As weather forecasted thunderstorm would kick in at 5pm, I announced we would have to hike at quick pace. I found we had to switch to different trails for 10 times, so it was no meaning to tell but distributed the color map that prepared by Moon. I found a map on hand was better than 200 words from mouth. I had rough idea about the terrain based on the map but had to experience it because the scale was different from the Harriman’s. The weather was quite humid with no wind so likely it would be quite tough for less frequent hikers. I suggested Yen’s family brought 3 more bottles of water since dehydration was easy under such weather.

After a warmed up section along Red and Blue trails, the whole mile climbing on White and Yellow trail to reach Black Rock (1,410 feet) was tough. The view was great at the mountain top where we could have chance to know the names of each other. After going down to connect to another Yellow trail, we were told by a trail runner that she saw a bear at the swamp. Even my plan was not going to go that direction; we were alert about this potential hazardous of nature. Gong Wen’s bear bell might work and I just tried to keep the team closed to make the size larger to scare away the fierce animal. As wind was important to cool off the body heat, I decided to take lunch at the next viewpoint. It was not a huge open area at that spot so we had to sit in small groups. Lunch break was not too long because we finished only 1/3 of the trip. According to the plan, there were 4 more hills to climb before hitting the cars.

It was quiet a remote area for hiking because the trails were narrow. We met only 1 other hiking group today. I always waited when there was an intersection of different trail. This ensured I was on the right track and no one would go wrong. Lily told me her feet and toes were pain probably because of the shoes too big. Kevin was a young guy so the quick pace didn’t bother him too much. Yen’s family followed closed with good morale. Ken’s group always stayed at the back as wipers and I led with Moon at the front. Due to the tired situation of some hikers, I decided to cut the time of going more side trails to go viewpoints. As our time was running out, we cut the climb of Rattlesnake Hill. We climbed Hill of Pines and Mt. Misery which were quiet tough for those with heavy or painful legs.

Before we reached Upper Reservoir, we were stopped by a ranger who said we should notify the administration before hiking for safety reason. I felt it might be more convenience if they could put a signed up book at the trailheads. We took group pictures at the water side and Ms. Yen went to the water to cool off her feet. As it was quiet enough exercise under such a hot day, we all agreed to go back along auto road and cut the last climb on Whitehorse Mtn. We went back to the cars by 4pm after hearing a few strokes of thunderstorm from far area.

Mountain Laurel at Seven Hills
June 8, 2008

The thunderstorm warning made me first cancellation of the BBQ event of Nature You this year. It was too risky if I brought a group of inexperienced and unequipped friends to face the extreme situations of Mother Nature. Thunderstorm might cause fatal incident and rain might cause sick to those seniors or juniors. As I wish I could test the speed of hiking 14 miles later this month, I set up this Seven Hills scouting trip at last minute. I planned to finish 10 miles within 5 hours before thunderstorm hit. Due to limitation of car seats and highly demanded on physical ability, we had only 9 hikers who were Moon, Eric, Dodo, Chung Kwong, Emily, Ken, Jennifer, Helen and I.

We started from Visitors Center intended to test how fast we could go to finish 7 miles Seven Hills trail. I put Ken’s car at the 7 miles parking lot just in case if we could have an emergency way out. We hiked in a quick pace and climbed up first hill in 45 minutes. The ascending slope was tough under such a hot and humid weather. We knew later the temperature was record high 95 degrees. The high temperature made this hiking more dangerous. Luckily, it was not a very torture trip because our eyes and mouths were wide opened when seeing Mountain Laurel all over seven hills. Most Mountain Laurel was snowy white but there were outstanding ones which were pink. We took so many pictures of the flowers and with the flowers.

In order to save my energy in this un-favorite hiking day, I decided to cut the 10 pounds cold water melon before lunch time after finished the third hill. Undoubtedly, cold watermelon was the best treat under such a hot day. After each hiker intake 1 pound of watermelon juice, we had to continue the trip. When I was leading the team, I almost stepped on a 4 feet rattlesnake which was sleeping in the middle of the trail. Luckily, I could react fast and jumped over it without woke him up. All the other hikers were more alert of the bushes and dare not to hike at the front after this incident. We hiked fast to finish 2 more hills and reached our favorite lunch spot which was next to a stream.

The difference between experienced and un-experienced hikers was preparedness. No one was short of water and we had appropriate lunch under such hot day. Moon and I had salad which was healthy and easy to swallow. I had even a small battery fan to create little air flow in case we had no nature wind. We climbed the sixth hill after lunch which was quite tough for the hikers with full stomachs but the scenery was the best of all viewpoints.
Our pace was not too slow but the weather like this was not really appropriate to hike 10 miles. As we had a car at the 7 miles point, I announced our destination would be changed to Ken’s car which was only 2 more miles away. No one complained about the cut. We had more time enjoying the beauty of Mountain Laurel. All guys were emotionally high under such pretty scenery, we made some special posts.

The cloud accumulated as we were closed to the endpoint about 2:30pm. First thunderstorm hit arrived when Ken was driving me to pick up my car. I knew we were safe but I had to rush to drive back to pick up the hikers. Chains of thunderstorm and lightening started accompanied with very heavy rain dropped on the car while we were driving home. The only word I could conclude about today was: lucky.

No warm up or give up at Breakneck
6/1/2008

Breakneck Ridge was so steep that you had to climb 1,100 feet within first 0.5 mile. There was no chance to warm up and no chance to give up once you start because it would be even more difficult to walk down the steeply rocky trail.
 
We had 22 people signed up for this well known trip. I planned an 8 miles route to make it a level D event. As I planned to finish the trip by 3:30, the quick pace and hot weather together made it a trip with bonus hard work. I had Feng brought Esther and Wendy; Warren brought Helen Chang, Bai and Miu; Sean brought Kelly and Aileen; Ken brought Emily, Helen Xiao and Jennifer; Sam brought Gary, Masa and Simon; I brought Moon, Dodo and Eric.

After a tick warning seminar conducted by Warren about his experience of a tick bite in this area, we started the hand climbing trip by 9:45am. It was the first Breakneck trip for Aileen, Esther, Masa, Helen, Emily, Jennifer, Ken, Bai, Sean and Sam. As I had hiked at the front, I didn’t have a chance to see their faces gesture or color changed when seeing the almost perpendicular trail in front of them. Hikers with good physical liked Moon, Miu and Warren was always at the front while the newcomers and camera persons stayed longer with the views at the back. We finished 1/4 uphill slope to reach the first viewpoint where a new USA flag was hosted. The view over Hudson River under good weather paid for the effort.

There were a few really tough and scary spots that we had to hold the rocks and climbed. Everyone was proud to overcome and achieve the goal. If we had only 5 hours to finish 8 miles trip, the pace after the climb should be faster to compensate for the time used at the front. I stopped only when there was an intersection with other trail. We reached Sunset Point in 3.5 miles before noon to have our lunch near the lookout platform. Gary finally caught us up as he started late in order to wait for his friend.

I distribute corns to the group which was quiet heavy in my backpack for hours. Sam didn’t sit at all likely because of the warning message from Warren about ticks. Bai said he was so tired that he might have to borrow a wheelchair to work tomorrow. Aileen never exercised so tough before hopefully it wouldn’t be her last trip with us. Once again, I had delicious and healthy salad for the lunch. By eating more salad on the trail, I guessed I was gradually transformed into a healthier and stronger mountain goat.

We had 4.5 more miles to go so we kept hiking with a quick pace after lunch. A mountain goat could keep the same fast speed no matter uphill or downhill. It was tough for those new hikers to catch up but good experience though. There were still a few viewpoints on the trail back. We took the last break at Sugarloaf Mtn. where we could view a mansion at the town and Pollepel Island. It was a hot day so a lot of new hikers were running out of water. Eric, Feng and I shared our extras and reserves to them. Experienced hikers always well prepared.

As promised, I brought the group back to the parking lot exactly at 3:30pm. It was quite a tough trip for everyone since the pace was fast and weather was so hot. I was lucky to get a group who was willing to do exercise and willing to get trained. We had a few more training trips in coming months.

Where the water comes from in Bushkill Falls?
May 24-25, 2008

I never thought it was so tough to get rooms even in Memorial weekends. Both Ken and Krsitie helped intensively so we could successfully book 11 rooms from Fernwood Resort at Bushkill at an affordable price. Since I had only 6 cars, I could only include 26 people to join this 2 days trip. The main event was Bushkill Falls and shopping at Crossings Outlet on first day and hiking on second day. Edward and Feng’s family came with their cars. Kuo brought Kristie, Hoi and Sally. Ken brought Emily, Jessica Wong, Jennifer and Helen. I brought Kathy, Bob, Wing, Dodo and Eric. The most difficult part was George Fung who had come to Manhattan from New Jersey to pick up Marisa, Audrey and Winnie.

George helped to ask for a discount rate for the group and Ranger Sean gave us a briefing before the Falls sightseeing trip. In order to cover the whole area and wouldn’t miss any viewpoints, we did the longest 3 miles route. We saw the Main Falls in 5 minutes which was really long but the water was a little bit yellow. The noise was big but still far behind from the level of Niagara Falls. Because we could not go too closed to the Fall, we had no way to feel the water vapor landed on our faces. The trail went down to view the Lower Gorge Falls which was closer to feel the speed of falling water. The prettiest viewpoint of the trip was Delaware Valley Lookout where we could take pictures with background of a huge greenish valley. Here was where we took the group picture. We kept going to view Upper Canyon and Pennell Falls which were not great views. There was a special 3 trunks tree bent liked a sofa so attracted a lot of photo shots. The walk on Pennell Falls Trail was the only section we had more feeling of hiking because more trees on both sides.

We all voted the prettiest Fall in this trip was Bridal Veil Falls. The water was clean and whitish liked silk under the sunshine. We stayed long at this area and then moved fast as it was almost time for lunch. On the site which could last see the Main Falls, Emily asked where the water came from? I joked there was a huge water tank hidden behind the bushes to ensure the water supply to maintain the Falls. I heard the same rumor that Niagara Falls was created by the U.S. and Canada because it was a joint project to attract tourists. We took lunch at Snacks Shelter after finished the sightseeing trip at 1pm where I served them water melon. They all surprised to see the photo of Bridal Veil Falls had already been printed on the stamps. I would like to give special thanks to Moon for designing us a pretty stamp that could best represent this trip.

Since the hotel rooms were ready earlier than we expected, we cut short the time spent at Bushkill Falls. We checked in around 2:30pm and 6 cars went individually to Crossings Outlet which was 15 miles away. Most friends spent more time and walked more distance at the Outlet than the trip at the Falls except George and I. We chatted on a bench for almost 2 hours. Most of our group members achieved their goals and bought some good stuff. As I would like to meet everyone at the Function Room by 10 pm, my group decided to buy some take out pizzas and microwave food back to the hotel for dinner. I disappointed Hoi, Sally and Wendy because sweet soup was undeliverable due to lacking of time. It would be more perfect if our rooms were more closed to the Function Room because we could have group activities instead of hiding back to ones rooms.

Many friends helped finishing the leftovers food next morning before checked out. George was so helpful to drive to the town early in the morning to buy food for us to pack lunch because I had decided to lead a 3-6 miles hiking at Delaware Water Gap. This was a tough trip because we had to hike fast but it was rewarding with terrific viewpoints overlooking Delaware River.