Super Hikers’ Level A
December 13, 2009
Pine Meadow Lake was a huge and pretty lake in Harriman which could be accessed by an easy 2.5 miles Red Trail. It was the most popular trail in Harriman and it was not unusual to see family of all ages and pets on the trail. I always said this was the first trip for any new hikers. I scheduled this Level A trip in December intended to let new hikers to try a winter hike. It turned out there was no new hikers in the team. Since all of us had equipment and experience, I decided to upgrade the regular Level A into special edition of Level A for this group of super hikers. I had Guidan, Dawn, Angela, Chung Kwong, Su, Rose, Esther, Xiao Mai, Joe, Karen, Philip and Moon in the team.
It might be too boring if we hiked on the same trail back and forth. The weather forecasted rain would start at noon. It was cloudy but I hoped the rain would start late or just a drizzle that wouldn’t hurt. I still announced our course would be changed as follows: we would approach Pine Meadow Lake by climbing some hills on White Trail, Blue Trail, White Trail, Black Trail and Yellow Trail. The winter sceneries on Seven Hills and Raccoon Brook Hills Trail should be great.
We started at 9:45 am and all hikers were happy for the pretty sceneries on the hill side. We took pictures of the ice features at the stream and terrific views at the viewpoints. The snow on the trail was not soft but still safe to hike. Rain started at 10:30 am and never stopped for the rest of the day. This added up the difficulty because now the trail was more slippery and hikers might feel cold. Angela said it was her first hiking on the snow and probably also the first trip under heavy rain. It seemed Su hadn’t got what I said at the beginning and now questioning about how came so many hills for a Level A trip. I joked this was a special Level A for super hikers. We switched to Seven Hills Blue Trail in 1.5 miles. There were some rock climbing spots that scared some lady hikers. I found most of us were wet through because of the rain and decided to change the course. We hiked all the way on Blue Trail to Red Trail and discussed what to do for the rest of the day.
It was understandable that someone was suffering under such bad weather. I should also consider those who still wanted to complete the event. As the Red Trail was easy and linked back to the parking in less than 2 miles, I decided to split the group. I had Chung Kwong, Rose, Philip, Moon, Esther, Karen and Joe wanted to follow me to take lunch at the Pine Meadow Lake. The trail was very slippery because the rain had polished it for hours. We reached Ga-Nus-Quah Rock in 15 minutes. This was a spot with 2 giant rocks leaning each other to create a gap in between. Moon had a good idea to take lunch here because there was no shelter at the Lake. It was better to have coverage so temporarily away from wet and cold. There was not enough space for 8 but perfectly fit 6 hikers. Rose could even find a spot on the rock for her coffee cup. I gave someone warm pads to save their frozen hands.
We continued to approach the Lake after lunch. We saw a quiet Pine Meadow Lake under extreme bad weather. After taking a few group pictures and I shared them some snacks, we took the trip back on Red Trail. The Red Trail was full of icy spots so we had to walk very carefully. We took a few pictures with a tiny pine tree to celebrate Christmas ahead of others. When we were back to the parking at 3:30 pm, I saw the quietest Visitors Center ever. There were only 2 cars other than ours. We finished 6 miles under such a cold and wet hiking day.
