There Was Snow Over Ice
January 9, 2010
It was the coldest winter ever that had turned all still water into ice. It used to be a very risky situation because the trails were slippery. Standard hiking equipments under such weather were hiking poles and stabilizers. I had 17 hikers in this trip that only about 10 of them were equipped with stabilizers. We all were blessed with continuation of snowing in last few days so the icy trail was covered by a layer of powdered snow. The weather was luckily so cold that the snow was not melted. All hikers included Ken, Simon, Emily, Chung Kwong, Dodo, Susie, Rose, Esther, Eric, Yat, Karen, Philip, Raymond, Clara, Moon and Sherry enjoyed a nice and safe hiking trip.
We met at Silvermine Lake and started at 9:30 am after putting Raymond’s car at the Tiorati Circle. I intended to finish the trip at Tiorati Circle because there might be a chance to see Ice Cave. The trail was covered with 3 inches of snow that made the hiking really enjoyable. We followed Yellow Trail and found some questionable big footprints on the snow. Simon dared not go at the front because the size of that animal might be over 10 feet if we proportioned its feet size. We reached the white Lake Nawahunta which was so pretty under strong sunshine. It was white because it has been frozen. Most hikers wanted to find out how hard was the ice so no hesitate to walk on the Lake. Eric preferred to stay on land to take picture for Sherry and others because he didn’t want to be the last piece to break the ice. We passed the pine tree forest and climbed along Yellow Trail to hit Long Path. Before we saw the hippo, Chung Kwong realized a bear liked animal hidden behind a tree. This bear was not scary because it was just a piece of wood that looked liked a bear from a certain angle. I led the group walked closed to the bear and arrived at Hippo Rock in 5 minutes. After taking photos with the hippo, we turned back on the same trail to target at Stockbridge Mountain Shelter. Even it was a little bit too early, taking lunch at a shelter would be top priority at winter hike.
It was a very sunny day without strong wind. There were pretty ice formations on the rocks so all photographers and models were crazy about them. Ken, Esther and Rose were the last ones to reach the Shelter. We shared the Shelter with 2 Korean hikers but too bad they wouldn’t share us their Korean hotpot. There were accidents happened at this Shelter. Emily fell because she walked on the bare rock with her stabilizers and Simon hit his head against the roof because he forgot the roof was so low on that corner. This was the place you could act liked a Kung Fu master because you could jump on the roof so easily. A few hikers made the pose of sitting on the roof. Philip was very quiet as usual also because he was the only Mandarin speaker of today.
I announced we had to climb down the slope after lunch. This probably was the painful time for Karen because she didn’t like downhill. She would never join Ken’s downhill skiing trip. We hiked on gentle up and down slopes on Long Path. The trail condition was perfect because the snow condition was perfect. Yat made himself the only snow angel of today when we were taking a break. No other one would like to be the copy cat. While we were taking group picture at a hill, Rose’s camera shot at the sky because the tripod was fallen. It might be time for her to replace the weaken tripod. It was very flat at the end of Long Path which was the most dangerous spot. Since the snow layer was thinner and the water underneath had been frozen, Raymond fell at an icy spot. Karen and Esther demonstrated their stabilizers by walking back and forth on that icy spot. Esther was so proud even showed us her dancing steps. Susie and Clara were discussing about what would be the next item on their hiking equipment shopping list.
We reached the auto road at 2 pm. By looking at the snow condition of the area, I decided to bring the group to re-visit Ice Cave. We climbed to the spot and found the ice formation was grand. I graded it a Class C which still far away from the best I had ever seen. Dodo was first hesitated to go closer but finally posed happily at the Ice Cave. Most hikers were happy inside the Ice Cave so they didn’t want to leave. I brought Clara, Raymond, Susie, Rose, Esther, Simon, Chung Kwong and Karen to go closer to a fallen branch with hanging ice cones by climbing up a steep slope. The icefall was also a special feature that caught most shoots. We walked back to Tiorati Circle for the shuttle car at 3 pm. It was a typical moderate level 6 miles winter hike with enough snow or ice features to view.
