nature-you.org Blog

Cici, the 1 year old baby
March 22, 2009

Good weather returned so brought back more hikers. We had 14 hikers but should count as 15 participants because Cici was a 1 year old doggie. New friends included Charlene, Mark, Vincent, Sean and Anthony. Welcome Ann, William, Kim, David and his daughter Karen. Jennifer, Rose and Ping were old friends. It was a new parking area at Ramapo Equestrian Center so we first met at Palisades Parkway and drove together. Everything went smooth; we were ready to hike at 10 am. My plan was 6-8 miles depended on the situation of the new participants.

We started from the new extended Pine Meadow Trail trailhead ascending 400 feet to Ramapo Mountain. This was the toughest part so all new hikers included the young ones felt exhausted except Cici. Someone confused about 6 miles half way or round trip so face turned white when I told them we had just finished 1 mile so far. The Red trail afterwards was basically flat so we hiked in a fast pace. We finished 3 miles at where Red Trail hit the White Trail at noon. I announced I would increase to 8 miles which we could have a splendid spot for lunch adjacent to Pine Meadow Lake. Anthony took out his professional camera until now when he saw the pretty lake. The water was quite rough which reflected wind was strong. We continuously hiked on Red Trail around the Lake and took the group picture at a BBQ spot. As wind was too cold, it was not desirable to take lunch at an open area. I led the group landed at the observation point of the Lake where we could find wind shelter.

It was a busy day for Pine Meadow Lake to serve more than 10 hiking groups. I saw small clusters of people all around the Lake. Even Cici found half dozens of friends during her lunch time. Ann was nice to serve us the cakes. David and Karen spent their family time away from the group. As Karen was always an indoor girl, it was quite a tough trip for Karen indeed. In order to save herself from strong sunshine, she covered up her face liked a terrorist in mission.

We hiked back to the White Trail after lunch and continued the trip aiming at the Egg. Vincent entertained the front group by singing funny songs. Rose and Ann were photo taking buddies at the back. After 5 minutes walked on Yellow Trail, the giant egg sculpture was found. We climbed up to the giant egg without breaking its shell. Cici lay down to rest as we were calculating the best angles of taking the picture with the Egg. After another 5 minutes, we reached the Stone Memorial Shelter. William insisted I brought him here last year, but I told him I didn’t hike in this area for 20 months. David brought Karen to inspect the Shelter looked like he was ready to buy it for her. There were terrific viewpoints at the ridge of Ramapo Mountain which could even see the skyline of Manhattan. We connected back to the Red Trail to descend back to the parking lot. Mark liked to hit and break the branches so Charlene joked he was a born destroyer. The downhill trail with full coverage of fallen leaves was not safe at all. We had to walk with extra care because it was slippery. Anthony felt knee pain due to overuse of the muscle. We reached the cars by 3:30 pm and completed an 8 miles course. I had extended the trip into 8 mile for new hikers, but I could tell everyone were happy for the achievement of their first trip.

Spring at Turkey Hill Lake
March 15, 2009

We had a few people could not make it in the morning so only 7 hikers were lucky enough to encounter the Spring at Turkey Hill Lake. The warm Spring time weather made it a perfect day of staying outside. That was the reason that we could view another “Spring” at the Turkey Hill Lake which was impossible to be happened again.

We had 4 tiers today in our group. David Wan, David Wu and Hong were freshmen, Su was sophomore, Rose and Ping were juniors and all led by a senior leader. We started at Route 6 parking lot after warmed up exercise. My plan was 6 miles relax trip with lake views and a high point to climb. Since there were not too many trails in this area that I could add mileage, our junior hikers had to sacrifice any way. We entered Long Path approaching Turkey Hill Lake at 9:45 am. After half mile on Long Path, we switched to Red Trail and at the lakeshore of Turkey Hill before 10:30 am. It was still quite misty at the lake. David Wan carried a professional camera so he was busy shooting the nature from different angles. Rose had a good comrade today. Ping had good eyes to spot a tiny little red flower grew on a fallen trunk. This attracted immediately the nature photographers rushed there to investigate by their cameras.

The trip continued by entering the basically flat White Trail. We were in the highway salt storage site at Route 6. As the trail cut a few times on Route 6 and Seven Lakes Drive, Su questioned about anything wrong of the leader. We entered the 1779 Blue Trail which might give Su comfort of mind of not getting lost. Hong was excited because of being walked in nature. He made a loud sound without warning which scared everybody. We were at the lakeside of Queensboro Lake around noon. There were geese in the water. They broke through the water to a small island as they swan away from humans. Of course, it was too late to escape from the shots of our camera twins.

We walked back 1779 Blue Trail and switched back to Red Trail targeted to reach our lunch point at Turkey Hill Lake. After climbing a steep slope following the lake outlet stream, we found the pretty hidden lake. I found the spot that we could take lunch accompanied with the prettiest lake view. The reflection of 3 pine trees with blue sky background could be a postcard candidate. The elements of warm Spring all over the lake and grew even stronger when we saw a man took off all his clothing at the other side of the lake. He was naked for only 15 minutes probably because afraid of our cameras. It was the first time that I saw this scene in the mountain. “Spring” started at Turkey Hill Lake.

The topic among the hikers turned into those individual experiences of seeing undesirable naked person in the subway. We finished the Red Trail and went back to the junction of Long Path. As we were in this area, we should not miss the chance of visiting a viewpoint that could overview the entire area. I brought the group to climb a steep slope to reach the spot of R. Torrey Memorial. After a few shots under the rich sunshine and lecturing Hong how to tie his shoelaces, we took the Long Path and went back to the car by 3 pm.

Three Days Late for Ice Cave
March 7, 2009

The historical big snowstorm on New England on Monday made me an immediate idea of relating the Saturday trip with Ice Cave at Harriman Park. I changed the route by extending the trip into 6 miles which would end at Tiorati Circle. Ping and Rose signed up early. But, my adjusted plan worked at last minute until Helen and Charlie signed up because I needed 2 cars for the arrangement of car shuttle.

All 5 people arrived at Silvermine Lake Picnic Area on time. After putting Ping’s car at the end point, we started on Yellow Trail aimed at William Brien Shelter. The little ice arch built on the ski slope attracted our eyes. We ran to take pictures with it before the ice sculpture completely melted. The last steep 0.25 mile on the Yellow Trail was a challenge for the new lady hiker. When I told her we had just finished 1/5 of today’s trip, she checked immediately on her energy level. There were 4 bunk beds in William Brien Shelter which attracted curiosity of the hikers. We took the first group picture at this spot.

We continued the trip by hiking on R-D West. The trail condition was basically clear of ice and snow. At the junction of R-D and AT, Ping saw a deer at a distance. We kept on R-D and took a break after climbed up Goshen Mtn. I joked we were at the top of a tortoise because it was shaped like a sphere. Helen raised an interesting question on what R-D stood for. She thought it was Red Dot because of the trail mark sign. The downhill section of the R-D before hitting Seven Lakes Drive was full of puddles. This was a test of our so claimed waterproofed hiking boots. It was almost time for lunch so we rushed to keep going in order to find a spot away from the main road. Finally, we found a few dry stones at the junction of R-D and AT that were good enough for a small group liked us. The weather was so warm today that we survived without a shelter. Charlie practiced his aiming technique after lunch by throwing snow balls at the tree trunks.

We were at the Arden Valley Road after 1/3 mile on Long Path. I announced we would still go Ice Cave even I found there was no any trace of snow on the hillside. I guessed the warm weather in last few days had cleared up all the ice of this area. We hiked up to Ice Cave by the steep slope which was nothing when compared with Charlie. Helen said her husband was born liked a rock climber. He went to the other side of the giant rock and tried to take the challenge. He gave up finally but still climbed up along another steeper slope.
We felt cool at the entrance of Ice Cave that gave me hope of seeing at least some ice formations. A huge ice-fall in the middle of the cave fully paid for today’s trip. It was the biggest ice formation that Rose and Ping saw this year. The incredible ice sculpture made Helen busy taking pictures while Charlie was busy throwing away the fallen icebergs into the cave. We took another group picture at the spot. To be honest, this was the greatest view of Ice Cave for last 3 years but I saw one triple the size 5 years ago. We were three days late for a full sized Ice Cave. What would be the scene if we could come 2 days after the snowstorm? It was a perfect last chapter of Ice Cave this year and I told Ice Cave we would be back next winter. We reached Ping’s car at 2 pm and finished 6 miles today.

First Visit to Lake Sebago Beach
March 1, 2009

I had glanced the Lake Sebago Beach 2 times when I led hiking trips before. We were running late at first time and the group was too big on the second time that made impossible of exploring to it. Thanked to Rose, Ping and Simon who were willing to accompany me to have the first visit to Lake Sebago Beach in this trip.

It was forecasted a snow and shower day with no any precipitations after 9 am. We reached the parking area at Route 106 by 9:30 am and the light snow just started. It was quite windy at that spot. We could wait no longer but started climbing Tom Jones Mountain right away. First few yards on the icy slippery uphill R-D trail scared Rose so I requested everyone put on their stabilizers. Simon had no idea about this equipment so I had to lend him my extra hiking pole. This made him 2 stable points of contact instead of only 1 hiking pole. Rose was the safest one as she used 2 hiking poles so she had 4 points of contact on the hard ice. After struggling for 30 minutes, we were standing at the summit of Tome Jones Mountain. When they were told we had to go back downhill on the same trail this afternoon, I saw few faces turned pale.

We visited the special Tom Jones Shelter which the sleeping platform was half size built. When we were at the junction of R-D and Blue Victory Trail, I released the hikers by announcing we could take this Blue trail back and skipped the slippery R-D if necessary. We took pictures with those special stone trail marks on the Victory Trail. After 1 mile on Victory Trail, we reached an auto road and saw the sandy beach which was 1/3 mile away. Both Simon and Rose were eager to go so I had no excuse of refusal. We found no trail but went only according to the direction of point of interest. We were puzzled when seeing only torn down houses and abandoned facilities. After climbing up to a high point, we found the new beach houses, parking area, restrooms and BBQ facilities on the other side. This beach was closed during winter but definitely would be a very popular and crowded paradise for swimmers and picnickers in summer. The morning snow and strong wind created very special and pretty pattern on the frozen Lake Sebago under the sunshine. We stepped onto the Lake and took our group pictures.

As I found there was an unmarked trail along the Lake which could bring us back to Yellow Trail, they followed my lead. After 1 mile on this small trail, we took lunch at the Yellow Trail which had been already 1 pm. We followed the plan kept going south on Yellow Trail and linked to White Bar going North. We first saw 2 deer taking lunch at the bushes. When we were at the junction of White Bar and Victory Trail, I decided to switch the course by passing Lake Skenonto. This was a debt that I owed Rose for a few weeks. Lake Skenonto was remote from any parking areas so it was not accessible for those who could not hike. We took Yellow Trail again after the lake visit. The climbing up to Parker Cabin Mountain was tough for new and tired hikers. We saw another 2 deer ran away from the trail as we were marched approaching. After 1/2 mile on R-D, it had been 3:15 pm when we were back to the same spot of junction of Blue Victory Trail. I took the chance to teach new hikers on map reading and we took the safe route to go back to Route 106. We reached the parking lot at 4 pm and finished a 6 miles fulfillment trip.

Where was the Hippo Dad?
February 21, 2009

We had Su, Simon and Eric Ng, three new faces joined Nature You in this trip. Even they came with no stabilizers, I judged it would be fine based on last week’s field investigation. Rose and Ping presented as always. We met at Route 6 parking lot at 9:30 am. As the wind was very strong, we had no chance to warm up. We ran down into Long Path find a better spot. We saw a warning sign of Bee Hive Alert which in fact turned into a stop sign for me of arranging trips on this trail in summer.

Both Simon and Eric joined different hiking groups before so they were experienced hikers. It was good to learn how other leaders led their hikes. Simon brought up the issue of what to do when encountered a bear in the mountain. Eric said he had been hiked on this trail before. First 2 miles on Long Path was flat and little uphill. The biggest challenge was at a slippery rocky trail which required 4 points hiking technique. As my plan was going back on the same trail, we had to determine which side route we could take on our way back. We reached the Fingerboard Shelter at 11:30 am where we found a small group of young Korean hikers. It was Rose, Su and Ping’s first time of visiting this Shelter so someone was exciting to walk on the roof. It was too early for lunch so I announced the plan of taking lunch at Lake Nawahunta or Silvermine Lake Picnic Area. We would first keep walking on Long Path to visit Hippo Rock and then would descend to our lunch point.

We thought there were not much ice remains in the mountain until we saw the one on a bare rock. This special ice crystal was created by flowing water and strong wind. There were also some ice needles formed on a cliff. All these satisfied our photo enthusiastic hiker, Rose so much. I brought the group in front of the Hippo Rock. They walked around the rock to figure out a better image of hippo. We took our group picture here with the hippo mom and hippo baby. Someone asked where was the hippo dad? A few people answered at the same time, “He still keeps his job and he is working somewhere.” It proved we were hiking with a worry because of the economic crisis.

I learned from Moon who would say goodbye to the nature after the visit. After leaving Hippo Rock, we descended along Yellow Trail and entered a pretty pine forest. We saw both grandpa pine trees and baby pine trees. It was a family with numerous generations. I decided to have a sat down lunch at the picnic area and brought them to the five star restrooms of Harriman Park. The sunshine was bright enough to let the photographers to have a few good shots at the Silvermine Lake. We had a good time chat around the picnic table.

As I promised Su to complete the trip before 2:30 pm for her next event at Queens, we had to give up the plan of going back along the same trail. I led the group to have relaxed pace along the fire route and hit back to Long Path at 2pm. We finished 6 miles before 2:15pm.