nature-you.org Blog

First trip on Level C
August 23, 2008

It was supposed a 13 miles Level D but I decided to cut short into 8 miles Level C due to low number of signed up. If I didn’t make the change, likely I would have only 3 people who were qualified for the challenge.  I had 9 first time Nature You hikers who were: Jia Ping, Kwok, Aiko, Sandy, Ei Jin, Lin Chiao, James, Zona and Feng. The other 6 were: Moon, Janet, Esther, Yat, Eric and Harry. As the finish point wouldn’t be the same parking lot, we had to prepare shuttle arrangement. Yat helped me by volunteered to put his van at the end point.

We didn’t see Lin Chiao’s car until we finished the shuttle arrangement and warm up exercise. New drivers should follow the driving instruction line by line or they might get lost in the mountain. Don’t presume our cellular phones would have signal coverage in the hiking area. We started on ASB Red Trail at 10:15 by climbing up a steep slope. It was a big challenge for the new hikers as the uphill was at the beginning of the trip. We took pictures at the viewpoint where we could see a few lakes on a straight line. Next 3 miles on Red Cross Trail was not so difficult but mosquitoes were annoying. This Level C trip was really not the appropriate one for Lin when I saw her moving slow.  I once asked if she wanted to quit when the trail hit a main road but she refused.

We finished 4 miles at the junction of Red Cross and Yellow Trail at 1pm. There was 1 more mile uphill before we could reach our designated lunch point, William Brien Memorial Shelter. No one complained even we would take late lunch because they were expecting a cold water melon at lunch which I had been carried for 3 hours.

This was a perfect lunch spot because of enough shades and stones to sit. The area was a wide opened area. The beds in the shelter attracted eyes of new hikers and probably raised them a lot of questions (who, when, why and how) in their minds. We took group picture after lunch with the help of a passer-by hiker.

I announced the rest 3 miles were not difficult compared with those uphill slopes in the morning. The route on R-D Red was a little bit up and down and we would eventually go more down slopes until we hit a main road. This gave hope for those who had been quite tired after the morning section. Few first time hikers liked Aiko, James, Jia Ping and Kwok might think it was a trip too easy for them as they were able to hike at the front but it might not be the same story for Lin. When I saw her slow motion floating down to reach the main road, I knew this was probably a surprisingly difficult trip for her. It was a mistake that she picked a Level C trip as her first returned hiking trip after years of rest. It was also my mistake that forgot to ask when her last adventure of hiking 80 miles in 5 days was. We reached Tiorati Picnic Area by 4pm after 10 minutes walk on Seven Lakes Drive.

Colorful mushrooms
August 17, 2008

Since not many people signed up for BBQ event, I had changed the event into 8 miles level C hiking. I sent out email on Tuesday but might be too late for people to change their plans. I had only 9 signed up with 2 cars. Ken and Emily brought Sunny, Jennifer and Harry. I picked up Moon, Dodo and Jackie.

The weather was sunny with breeze, a perfect day for hiking. It might be Sunny who brought us a sunny day. Sunny knew this route so clear because she had hiked so many times here with her own teammates. They used to hike 15 to 20 miles here a few times a month. Today, she carried a 25 pound backpack because the target mileage was only 8 miles.

We started from Blue Disc climbed up Almost Perpendicular to reach the first pretty viewpoint. We overlooked the entire valley and found Visitors Center on Seven Lakes Drive. We reached Claudia Smith Den in 2 miles where Harry dared to sit much closed to a cliff edge and took a photo to show his friends. I served them sweet grapes for the hard worked. We realized there were so many big mushrooms on the trails. Most of them were light brown or white in color.

The climb on R-D Trail was really tough for those new hikers. We took lunch at a windy and shaded area where we could have a nice view over the nearby mountains. Once again, Moon’s healthy salad lunch box attracted other hiker and Jackie wanted to place an order for his next trip. We finished 4 miles when reached the junction of R-D and Blue Victory Trail. The trails turned into relatively flat after this point. This area was not so popular and due to enough humidity, we found lots of different species and colorful mushrooms in these 2 miles. Ken made a detailed photo presentation on his photo album. I could even find mushrooms in charcoal black color.

After went through a pine tree forest, we took a break at a site where we could touch the water of Lake Sebago. We were not prepared to touch the water but there were 2 other swimmers enjoying the cool water. I emptied all grapes with all hikers and ready to finish the last 3 miles on Yellow and White Bar Trail. Sunny and Jennifer brought us into an unmarked trail which I knew it was fine. We skipped the Yellow Trail and hit back into White Bar Trail in a mile. After passing the Dutch Doctor Shelter, I knew we were only 2 flat miles from the car. We finished 8 miles before 3:45pm.

Cut water melon at Ramapo Torne
August 10, 2008

Ramapo Torne (1,100 feet) was an excellent high point could oversee the Ramapo and Sloatsburg area. It was understood that we had to climb up some steep slopes in order to reach the high point. Fortunately, there was a warm up mile before the tough uphill slope. Unluckily, there was a thunderstorm warning in that area in the afternoon, I had to keep watching the change of weather if I had to cut short the trip.

We had 25 signed up. New friends included David, Flora, Fu Sheng and Christina. It was Xinli and Maggie’s first trip in 2008. The terrific viewpoint and uphill slope attracted Moon, Feng, Gary, Karen, Jennifer, Helen, Danny, Dodo, Eric, Harry, Hsu Huei and Yat to join. It turned out the viewpoints at Ramapo Torne and Russian Bear worth this trip.

It was a hot and sunny day. We started at 9:45 after 10 minutes warming up exercises outside Visitors Center. After the mile on Blue Trail, we had to climb on steep Orange Trail which was a good test to leg muscles and lung capacity. The little portion on rock climbing made the trip even more challenging. I decided to cut the water melon at the Torne because it was the perfect moment after we had climbed 500 feet. What an enjoyable time that we could view the scenery while holding cold water melons on hand.

We took group picture at the Torne and targeted to take lunch at Russian Bear. Moon and I led the team in a fast pace as time was running late. Russian Bear was a perfect lunch point not only because of good viewpoint but also comfortably strong wind. When Moon took out our salad lunch boxes, Danny added Salmon into them. It was what he caught from his Alaska fishing trip.

Strong wind with heavy cloud reflected the rain might be much closed. In order to play safe, I decided to cut short the trip into 6 miles and took the shortest route to go back. I skipped the Black Trail but stayed on Orange Trail until we connected to Pine Meadow Trail. The trails were easy compared with that in the morning. We reached the cars by 2:30 without being hit by a single drop of rain. Most hikers were satisfied with the early completion because the climbs in the morning were challenges big enough to call it a day.

33.33% of people were missing
July 26, 2008

I had 30 names on my sign up list but only 20 people joined the hiking. 1/3 of total hikers were missing before the trip started! This was the record high dropped out rate of Nature You. I had someone didn’t show up and someone quitted in last minute. There was a car with 4 new hikers which could not make it to the trailhead. A better arrangement of giving out driving direction might be necessary.

It was going to be a 6 miles trip intended to see if any more blueberry could be picked. We started at Lake Askoti went onto A-SB Red Trail to reach Times Square. As 2 cars were still missing, I asked Moon and Joseph to lead the hike at 10:15 because I would like to give more time for the 6 years old girl in the team to have fun. I saw Harry, Tom and Jimmy at 10:40 so sent them to chase the previous group. I still could not see David’s car when I started hiking at 11am.

I caught up all groups before reaching Times Square. This big rock attracted people’s cameras especially those first time hikers. We switched to R-D Red and hiked on the ridges of Hogencamp Mountain. This was tough. Moon recognized the Ship Rock because it was one of her first few trips last year with Nature You. She was now one of the most faithful hikers of our group. We still found lots of blueberries on the mountain that slowed down the speed of the trip. When everyone was taking lunch at Bald Rocks Shelter, we found Janet was missing. Likely, Janet was exciting in berry picking that she didn’t find ways to get back to the trail. Joseph walked back to the bushes and found the lost. After taking Moon’s salad lunch, I served everyone a cold water melon. It was just the right size for now, 20 people.

We continued the trip after lunch and saw 2 deer taking their berries lunch very closed to us. We hiked on Yellow Trail and passed the best blueberry spot, Bowling Rocks. There were not many big ones left so we didn’t spend too much time on blueberry picking. Even the trip was not so steep, it was already a big shock to those senior and junior hikers. The last mile on Long Path was easy with enough shades. I saw David when got back to the parking lot knowing they had a short hike around the lake. Song’s group reached the parking lot by 4pm with little Jenny being very tired. Hopefully, she would see the bright sides of today’s trip—knowing the beauty and tasting the free gifts from Mother Nature.

Hiking under 90+ degree weather
July 12, 2008

Likely because of the attraction of blueberry picking in that area, we had attracted more than 50 people signed up for the trip. This was the first time that I had to enforce the rule of maximum 50 people. More than half of them were first timers with Nature You. Due to various reasons, we had 49 people showed up at Route 106 before 10:30am.

I had to stand on the bumper of my car in order to let the whole group cleared about today’s plan. It would be a 5 miles trip with good viewpoints and delicious blueberries if it was season. We started the climb on R-D to Black Rock Mountain which might have made someone tired. The team was so long that I had to stop frequently. I assigned Joe and Ken to stay at the middle and team end while I led at the front with the help from Moon. This ensured the team wouldn’t get into segments and got lost in the mountain.

The team reached the ridge where we were given a panoramic view over the area. We spot out more and more blue shadows during the trip. When we reached the junction of White and R-D, we started the busy work of picking. There were extensive of blueberry trees but we had to look for big blueberries. We were too picky when supply was enough that we could have choices. Joe joked that blueberries should develop a survival skill of camouflage to change their color from purple into white when they saw us.

It took us an hour to finish the mile before reaching the shelter because of the blueberries. People were so exciting in picking forgot about the danger of being exposed under the sun with temperature of 90+ degree. Kwok Ng’s 80 years old mom felt dizzy and fell on the ground. She said she fainted out because of tiredness of taking care of the new born grandson. It was actually a warning sign to each of us to be more careful of protecting ourselves under such a hot weather. We needed to drink enough water to cool off the body heat. We should not spend too much time of being exposed under the sun. Grandma Ng was fine after taking a long rest under the shade. We spent 30 minutes at the Bald Rock Shelter where I disappointed somebody by distributing only raisins instead of cold water-melon. I gave up water-melon because of the team size. I didn’t think anyone would satisfy if I could only bring each one a super slim slice of water-melon.

I announced we would go through Bowling Rocks where I found best blueberries last year. We would take lunch over there so people could have a choice of taking shorter lunch and spending more time on picking blueberries. Since the group was big, we separated into groups and found shades or rocks for the lunch. Someone spent more time on blueberry picking than taking lunch. At 1:30pm, I announced we should transform ourselves from a blueberry picking team back into a hiking team because we had 3 more miles to go. I led the team in a faster pace in order to pull them away from the blueberry bushes. But the message on radio said Wallace’s daughter was not feeling good at the back. She had stomach problem and could not walk any further. I held the team at the junction of Yellow Trail and an unmarked trail because it might be the emergency route if necessary. We waited there for almost 30 minutes until I saw Tiffany was lying on Eric’s back. I knew the situation was more serious than what I thought. Tiffany was very weak and no more strengths on her limbs. After knowing this young girl didn’t drink too much water for today, I judged she was under heat stroke which might be a fatal case if we could not send her to the doctor on time.

Since it was an emergency case, I announced we would cut short the trip and whole group followed me on the emergency route. Kwan, Wallace and I took turn to back Tiffany on the downhill trail which was fastest route to get back to the cars. Feng ran all the way down first to drive his car to meet the patient at the trail end. Wallace family went to Feng’s car at once so Wallace could bring Tiffany to the doctor immediately. We finished today a 3 miles trip by 3:15pm with lots of blueberries in each one’s water bottle.

I brought back not only blueberries but also uneasy feeling of being a hiking leader. We had 2 cases today which definitely because of the hot weather. It was a lesson I learned that I had to be more strict in demanding people to follow the rules of mountain safety. 2 rules were going to be enforced: I would cancel the beginners’ trip when it was as hot as 90 degree and 1.5 to 2 liter of water was the minimum requirement for each hiker in summer. More responsibility would automatically give us more power in making decision.