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14 “Thousand” Gifts
May 8, 2010

This was a special day of Nature You after the 100 trips celebration last year. It was because the 1,000th mile milestone would be touched in this trip. To follow the custom, I invited creative thinking to waive the activity fee for that could bring me a gift of 1,000 pieces or with the word “Thousand” in it. I had 18 hikers joined this trip and there were 14 “Thousand” gifts given at the after hike celebration party. This was a challenging trip of climbing Pingyp Mountain so I didn’t expect first time hikers. I was so happy to have Simon, Anthony, Magdalene, Chung Kwong, Su, Vily, Lorna, Rose, Esther, Yvonne, Philip, Chen, Clara, Sue, Moon and Nancy to be here. I got Ary’s “Thousand” gift even she couldn’t join this event.

The weather forecasted rain and thunderstorm in the morning and windy in the afternoon. It was so cloudy in the morning that I knew we might be in trouble. If the thunderstorm would be serious, I might have to give up the challenging part of climbing up Pingyp Mountain. I announced once we started hiking, we were in the process of approaching 1,000 mile milestone because I had led 999 miles up to last trip. We turned back to find the Yellow Trail from Route 106. We would go in and out along Yellow Trail so Simon said it would be unforgiving if anyone got lost today. There was a trail running Marathon in the same area, so we saw some trail runners and arrow signs. The rain started pouring on us. Lorna was not equipped with rain gear so she had borrowed my umbrella. We climbed gentle slope to reach Irish Potato in a mile. Here I thanked everyone who accompanied me to set the historical milestone for Nature You. We used different gestures to take different pictures reflecting “thousand” and a group picture in front of the giant Irish Potato milestone was memorable.

We continued on Yellow Trail as the rain kept falling on our heads. Luckily, there were enough shades along the trail. This section was basically downhill all the way to the Palisades Parkway. Chung Kwong felt knee pain again due to extensive downhill steps. Rose was generous to lend him her knee pad. As I heard a few thunderstorms from the sky, I knew we had to give more time for it to go over. I stopped the group and distributed the potato chips. No one could reject the temptation of the junk food. We reached the running stream in 2 miles. The sun and the blue sky could find their ways out of the clouds so we were also ready to climb up the cliff after crossed Palisades Parkway. I told Chung Kwong to be careful and be conservative because it would be hard for him to climb down.

We started with a section of big boulders. We were liked stepping up high stairs. Then we passed 3 spots that required hands to pull us up. Rose, Sue and I left the hiking poles down there so we could have free hand to hold the rocks. Sue said her legs were involuntarily shaking even she could keep her smiling face. Chung Kwong stayed at the back to guide the new hikers how to do the rock climbing. Moon, Lorna, Philip, Chen, Anthony and Magdalene were the first group landed on the summit and began their lunch. Yvonne and Su preferred to hike slowly at the back. Simon patrolled the whole area to find the best remaining spot to sit. Nancy and Philip had enough fruits to share. The weather was so good that we were happy to be relaxed under the sun. When Anthony put his raincoat on a rock, Rose sat closed to it liked a Buddha. Anthony immediately put some fruit before her and acted like someone in the temple to worship the goddess. While Rose was sitting still, we all laughed to tears. I remembered there was another viewpoint if we kept going for another 15 minutes. Therefore, we climbed up a steep slope and stopped at a grand open spot. Here we were welcome by 2 eagles which performing their gliding technique under strong wind.

Lorna and the new hikers worried about going downhill on the slippery rocks. They forgot the sun should have dried the rocks up. We hiked slowly on those few cliff spots but no danger if we sat down on it. I reminded them the most challenge should be the all the way 1.5 miles uphill to go back to Irish Potato. Moon, Susie, Clara, Lorna, Vily, Magdalene and Anthony were at the front. Vily was missing Chen and Philip so she preferred to wait. Clara was powerless after 1 mile. I chased from behind and was the second to reach Irish Potato after Moon. An ant entered Susie’s pants while she sat down to rest. Magdalene helped to settle her screaming. Lorna exclaimed how come the 6 miles was more difficult than the 8 miles trip last week. Since I had to set up the party at the parking lot, I brought the front team moved fast downhill. All hikers finished 6 miles by 3:30 pm and it was time to eat and see all the 14 “Thousand” gifts.

We began the party by singing a theme song. I gave them the lyrics to sing a song named “Thousand Mountains Hiked Together” which I re-wrote from a Chinese song. Chen read us his short story of how he appreciated Nature You by using 6 sets of “Thousand” words. Susie gave me a framed plate directly written “1,000 Miles” on it. Clara made us a traditional Chinese food called “Thousand Layers Cake”. Esther arranged a wafer and 3 round cakes after to display “1,000” on the table. Simon gave me a bottle of 1,000 raisins. Sue delivered Ary’s 1,000 sesames to me. Magdalene gave me a bag of delicious red ginger pieces named “Thousand Cut Ginger”. Anthony gave me a container of 1,000 sunflower seeds. Chung Kwong gave me a cup printed with my photo and a riddle and claimed those 4 numbers could come out the answer as 1,000. Rose gave me a heavy gift which was a 4-hikers photo framed into a crystal stand with the title “Thousand Miles of Joyfulness”. Moon used exactly 1,000 Nature You logo designed me a banner of the Club in both English and Chinese. I returned everyone an individually written bookmark with a picture of a “Thousand Miles Horse” and 2 sentences on it. Though I was the first thousand miles hiker, it was impossible if I didn’t have all these friends to be my hiking companions. In addition with a special stamp for this 1,000th miles trip that Moon designed, we had totally 14 gifts to capture the theme of 1,000 in this special day of Nature You Club.

The Bread in My Car is Toasted
May 2, 2010

If you wanted to know how the bread felt in the oven, stayed in a car with 80+ degrees for 6 hours. It was such a hot and humid day but luckily, we were hiking under enough shades and breeze, otherwise we would be toasted like the bread that I left inside my car. I had Simon, Max, Jing, Dawn, George, Vily, Susie, Rose, Yvonne, Ary, Philip, Chen, Clara, Sue, Moon and Nancy in this event. It was Lorna’s first trip with Nature You.

I led the drivers to find the parking lot of Castle Rock at 9:30 am where George had been there waiting for us. It was a new route and new area of the Club. I included 2 parts in today’s menu. First 3 miles to climb up and down Sugarloaf Hill and hiked another 3 miles sightseeing Hudson River at Arden Point. If the first part was too easy, I might add 2 more miles to give more challenge for those serious hikers.

The big green lawn in first hundred yards had attracted all the photographers and models. We spent a lot of time to capture the beauty of nature. The photos could be uploaded as the computer wall paper or screen saver. We followed the Red Trail gradually climbed up along the green valley. Sue was known for her afraid of uphill but surprisingly she was found at the front team. Likely, she had leveled the slopes as her hiking experience accumulated. When we were standing at the junction of Blue and Red Trail, Chen remembered we had been here 2 weeks ago. We climbed again to the Sugarloaf Hill because Max, Jing, Dawn, George, Vily, Lorna, Susie, Yvonne, Ary, Clara, Sue and Nancy had never been there. Moon felt the upslope was not as steep as before probably because we were more energetic in the morning. We stayed long on the hill top to take photos and enjoyed the views and sunshine. Moon ran away from an unmoved snake which later Max found it was only a dead body. As it was too early for lunch, I decided to add 2 bonus miles to visit a small pond and climbed a steep slope. We would take lunch at the pagoda as last trip. Chen didn’t feel good to hike the bonus miles so Philip had to stay with him. It turned out Max, Jing, Rose and Dawn also chose to take photos at the pond rather than doing exercises. I chased the team and led them into an uphill portion of AT in a mile. We met an AT hiker who asked us for a possible carpool ride back to Connecticut because he would like to change his ambitious hiking plan. It was too bad that we didn’t have anyone come from Connecticut. Simon and I suggested him to try his luck at the parking lot of Bear Mountain Bridge. George ran up to tell me Ary, Sue and Nancy couldn’t wait longer for lunch so they would eat before meeting us at the pagoda.

Most hikers enjoyed their good lunch at the luxury lunch spot. Here we had clean benches, roof and nice greenish scenery. We had enough time for photographers to catch the pretty sceneries. Chen liked to post so he was everywhere in our photos. Rose set up the tripod waiting for the reunion of all group members to take the group picture. I brought the team back on the Red Trail going downhill. Everyone was happy to see the big green lawn again. It was such a sunny day that we would like to cross the lawn in a quicker pace. We saw the cars at 2:30 pm. It was time for Max and Jing to leave. I led 15 hikers continued for the remaining 3 easy miles after someone had to put away their backpacks and hiking poles.

We crossed the Route 9D intended to find the trail towards Hudson River. The trail was not clear so we accidentally entered the backyard of Philipstown Community Center. With the directional instruction from a resident, we found the trail closed to a big church. The scenery at that spot was pretty so I gave them chance to sit and chat at the benches. Rose was so busy to investigate into each plant and took good shots. We walked a short distance on Marcia’s Mile and crossed a bridge over Metro North railroad. We hiked along Red Trail northwards and stopped by a viewpoint where we could touch the water. Philip asked Rose to take a family photo for Vily, Chen and him. We saw West Point on the other side of Hudson River so I suggested if Clara could call her son to swim here to find us. George hoped I could be Mighty Moses to make a passage for them to walk across the Hudson River.

As I would like to visit the Arden Point as planned, I brought the group back to hike along Red Trail. The Arden Point was too small for our group so we didn’t stay too long at it. I brought the team back to the cars again by 3:45 pm. We finally did 8 miles and pushed the total mileage of Nature You Club since 2007 into 999 miles.

20 Miles Club
April 25, 2010

Record breaking could be happened only under good planning, preparation and most importantly, the luck of favorite nature conditions. The longest mileage trip ever of Nature You Club couldn’t be completed without the support and persistence of nature and participants respectively. This 20 miles route that I designed would cover 6 shelters and a lot of ups and downs at first 3 quarters. I intended to hike last 2 miles on White Bar as a comfort section for exhausted legs. We have 8 hikers joined the membership test of 20 Miles Club which included Jennifer, Chung Kwong, Rose, Esther, Eric, Philip and Moon.

In order to save daylight for the long trip, drivers had to pick up hikers from their homes as early as 4 am. I intended to start hiking at 6 am and planned to spend 12 hours on this trip. I set the target timeline as follows: 2 hours for first 5 miles, 5 hours for next 10 miles and 4 hours for last 5 miles. If everything worked out, we would have 1 hour for lunch and breaks. The sunset was around 8 pm so we would have 2 extra hours reserved for tired hikers and I had requested everyone prepared flashlight for night journey.

It was raining so heavy when picking up hikers in the City. No one talked too much in the car because of sleepy or disappointed with the weather. The gas station was so quiet at 5:30 am. The rain poured non-stopped and accompanied us to Seven Lakes Drive. Since we needed a shelter to put on the rain gears, I stopped by the nearby shopping area where we could have a roof and dry spot to talk. It took more time for everyone to pack and prepare so we started the challenge at Johnsontown Circle at 6:45 am. We lost almost 1 hour and the slippery trail might slow down the pace, could we be back before dusk?

I led the group climbed the Blue Trail under heavy rainfall. Part of the trail had been turned into small stream. I usually stayed at the front to control the pace. All hikers could keep up because we knew it wasn’t a trip for photo taking. Rose had to take quick shots when we stopped while Esther even left her camera home. Eric didn’t hike for a while so he had prepared knee support for the worst. We finished first 2.5 miles on Blue Trail in 1.5 hours. In order to save energy for the afternoon, I decided to change the route to Victory Blue instead of climbing the steep Black Ash Mountain. This would add a quarter mile but would help to catch up the timeline. We switched to White Bar and tried to hike fast. The portion at Car Pound Mountain was a big challenge. I distributed the tangerines to the members in order to lessen my load because my right knee started complaining due to the pants was wet. Moon and Philip were usually at the front, Jennifer, Esther and Chung Kwong were in the center and Eric and Rose were at the back. I brought the group to view the first Shelter. Most of them preferred to rest rather than going closed to take picture with it. Moon and I were the representatives. We reached the 5 miles point at Route 106 within 3 hours. The good support from nature was the rain stopped at this moment which gave us a chance to remove the raincoats and hiked more comfortably. We took group picture at the first 5 miles check point.

Philip knew we should increase the speed so he turned on his turbo that tuned from Shum Chun. We switched into Nurian Trail and visited Green Pond and Valley of Boulders where we met a Korean hiking group. We knew we were not the only group under such a rainy day. We finished the first Red Trail and switched into A-SB Red Trail in a mile. Most group members remembered this was the battlefields of the winter hike. Jennifer hoped the remaining 13 miles could be as flat as this portion. The climbing of Green Pond Mountain was another strike on some hikers. It took Rose extra 15 more minutes to catch up the group while Chung Kwong served us his salty snacks. Most people felt hungry so we found a less windy spot at Island Pond to take lunch. Esther found she forgot about the meat and vegetables on the stove and brought only rice. Luckily, Philip had some extra food to share. Jennifer sat away from the group because she had to take off her socks to dry up the feet. I worried about my right knee because the pain increased.

We finished the 30 minutes lunch and proceed to Lemon Squeezer. We finished 9 miles so far. I led the group went for Long Path and reached the junction with detailed trail signs in a mile. After taking group picture at the second 5 miles check point, we kept going on Long Path and stopped at the second Shelter. Moon also felt her knees pain but very generous to lend me a knee support for my painful right knee. I led the group on an unmarked portion and targeted to the third Shelter on AT. We climbed up AT and found the Shelter. After taking picture with the Shelter, I told the group we would have 4 miles on R-D before getting back to Route 106. We met a small hiking group at Times Square where the doggie with yellow raincoat and rain shoes was so cute. The little ups and downs on R-D had turned into huge slopes for the tired hikers. The foggy condition made us liked hiking in fairyland. We first used Rose’s tripod to take a group picture on a spot that made her felt better of carrying it for the whole day. We reached the fourth Shelter where only 4 guys and Rose had excess energy to take a picture with it. Esther took every chance to sit. Eric exclaimed that he was prepared it would be a tough trip and found out now it was actually a super tough one. Philip, Jennifer and Moon were the first team reached Route 106 while Esther, Chung Kwong, Eric and Rose were behind me. All of us finished 15 miles at Route 106 at 4:30 pm. We had now 4 pairs of painful knees belonged to Chung Kwong, Eric, Moon and me and 1 pair of tired legs of Esther’s. I estimated we might need 1 hour to hike each mile so we likely would finish the trip at 10 pm.

As the group was taking big snacks at the road, I decided to change the route to make it easier without cutting the mileage. We will skip the Tom Jones Shelter by hiking on Victory Blue and then White Cross and White Bar to skip another uphill on Yellow Trail. This route might be able to let us be back to the endpoint before 8 pm. The sky was cloudy so it was a very comfortable hiking condition. After taking the photo of the third 5 miles check point, we wrapped up and hiked according to the new plan. The up and downhill on R-D worsened the knee’s injury of Chung Kwong. He couldn’t bend his left knee. Eric was generous to lend him his only knee support and Esther gave him her hiking pole, Chung Kwong was hiking in 5 legs. Knowing it was really tough for Chung Kwong to hike fast, I instructed the energetic hikers to go first. Philip, Jennifer and Rose could keep up with their regular pace. Moon and Esther were volunteered to stay behind with the injuries. The first mile on White Bar was not easy for Chung Kwong. He pushed his tolerance of pain to the highest level as he didn’t want to pull us behind. It was 7:30 pm when I saw the trailhead of Yellow Trail, my worry released because the last 2 miles wouldn’t be a problem even we would hike in darkness. Moon and I went up to take a picture with the fifth Shelter and prepared our headlights before lights out. It was quiet but also scary in the mountain at dusk. Moon screamed when shooting a notice board at the trail by flashlight because it looked liked a stand still human killer with hat. It would definitely be very risky if we were still hiking inside the deeply dark bushes trail. We were welcome by Rose, Philip and Jennifer at the parking lot at 8:30 pm. They told me they had reached the car by 7:30 pm without a chance of using flashlights.

It wouldn’t take so many hours if we didn’t have an injured hiker but the morale of the injured hiker glued us together because we came and left as a team. The morning rain made this trip more difficult than expected but it was better than hiking under the sun. Here announced all 8 hikers had passed the admission test and a new subgroup under Nature You Club was formed: 20 Miles Club.