nature-you.org Blog

Don’t Shoot at Me, Please.
June 20, 2010

It was a tough hike at Breakneck Ridge under 90 degree hot weather. I didn’t expect 6 years old boy would join and could complete without fear. What scared him most was not the steep terrain or ladder liked big sheet of rocks but cameras. I never meet an adult who could recover and transform from a loser into a winner in 15 minutes. It was a trip full of surprised.

I felt surprised that Emily and Ken would sign up for a high level hiking activity but once they signed up, it had been guaranteed no rain in that area. I had other hiking friends Simon, Jennifer, Carrie, Jocelyn, Rose, Esther, Philip, Chen and Moon in the trip. Anthony brought his friend Ryan and 2 sons: 11 years old Leon and 6 years old Ray Ray. Cindy and Hong signed up at last minute. Scarlett signed up early and woke up early in the morning because she was so exciting to have her first trip with a hiking club.

We reached the parking lot after passing through the tunnel at 9:45 am. I told the teammates to bring enough water as it would be a sunny day. The hiking plan was only 4 miles but could be extended to 6 miles if we all agreed. The stamp today captured the theme of Father’s Day and the picture on the stamp was exactly the same when Anthony held Ray Ray’s hand. We started at 10:15 am and I was stopped at 10:30 am when Ryan found no good to hike longer. He sat down with deep breathing and hands sweating. The steep uphill slope had defeated him as he slept only 3 hours last night. He decided to give up and would see us in the car by 3 pm. I chased the front group to inform Anthony about his friend’s withdrawn. Anthony had no choice but hiked down to find him because Ryan carried all the lunch for his family. I told Philip and Moon to take care of the boys and we would wait for Anthony. The view over Breakneck was terrific. What was missing was the regular strong wind. There was no wind at all at most spots. Scarlett was a strong hiker who could always stay at the front. Esther, Jocelyn, Rose and Simon took a lot of good shots. Ray Ray was one of their targets because he was definitely a cutie boy. I saw him always running and turning around in order to be hidden away from cameras.

Anthony brought back not only his lunch but also Ryan. I was surprised what Anthony had done to re-charge Ryan. Ryan was fine now and had mood to show us his good knowledge on Chinese History. Simon, Anthony, Cindy and Hong were his audience of story telling program. Jennifer could handle the trip easy but had to teach Carrie how to do rock climbing. Carrie was once stuck at a tough spot for 10 minutes. This was surely a very demanding hike as I saw Hong had eaten 3 buns during the trip. We reached the intersection of Yellow Trail at 11:30 am which was only 0.75 mile from the parking. I decided to take early lunch at this shaded area because no one would like to take lunch under the sun. Since the group was spread out and I would like to serve the treat at the right time, I kept the watermelon for next break. We continued our trip as there were 3 more miles to go.

The escape from cameras probably made Ray Ray more tired than anyone else, he refused to walk any further after lunch. I stopped the group at a shaded spot and pulled out the heavy weapon from the backpack which was a half watermelon. Since the whole watermelon was too heavy and I had to carry it for rock climbing at Breakneck, I decided to bring only the load that I can handle. The cold watermelon surprised new hikers. Ryan thanked for the treat as if he had received lifesaver. Chen was as hungry as he could eat the whole watermelon. We reached the Red Trail and where we took the group picture before separation. Ray Ray intentionally hid himself in the group picture.

Anthony would carry Ray Ray and Leon down at the shortest route with the help of Chen. Emily, Ken, Esther and Jocelyn felt exercised enough for today so they would go with them. In order to complete 4 miles trip, I brought the others on White Trail for another 0.5 mile to reach a viewpoint that I never went. The up and down slopes under the sun was quite tough for new hikers. We found a blueberry field at a summit but the fruits were not ready. The so-called viewpoint was misleading because all views actually were blocked by tall trees. We turned back in 30 minutes and descended along Red and Yellow Trail. Philip, Moon, Jennifer, Carrie and Scarlett turned on their propellers. I brought the second group came at our comfortable pace. As we were liked hiking in an oven, I didn’t suggest to hike an additional mile to Sugarloaf Mountain. We finished only 4 miles and reached the parking lot at 2:30 pm.

Rain Started after We Finished
June 13, 2010

It was a potluck lunch event which meant food had priority over foot. We would first have big lunch party in the mountain before going hiking. Max had leg surgery but volunteered to serve as the food ambassador to make this event possible. He prepared pasta, shrimps, vegetarian dish and fruits platter and delivered Rose’s chicken claws and dumplings, Betsy’s fried noodles and Moon’s bread and buns to the lunch point while we walked 2 miles along a flat trail. Since it was basically an easy trip, a few families joined. There were Han’s family which included Minh Van, Fang Nong, Tiffany and Vivian. Mak’s group included Stephen, Betsy, Doggie and Eric Luk. Jing, Eric Chen and Dawn helped Max to set up lunch. Yu’s group included Clara, Raymond and Susie. Others included Kam Sun, Pinphia, Jocelyn, Angela, Kaichiao, Josephine, Esther, Moon, Philip and Rose. Chung Kwong joined to support even his knee was seriously injured weeks ago.

We met at 9 a.m. at the gas station because I didn’t want a lunch too early. It took about 45 minutes to bring the cars to the trailhead parking lot. After a briefing with the group and souvenirs were given, Max drove to the picnic area and we started the trip by going downhill along the auto road. The weather was cloudy as forecasted so we had a fast pace than expected. There was a dog training show presented at the river which had attracted us to stay for 10 minutes. Esther, Moon, Rose and Jocelyn spent time on photo taking. Chung Kwong said they would all soon turn into botanists because they took pictures for every plant on the trail. We met Max at 11:15 am which was so early that Max had to be hurried to make his on-site fresh dish. Kam Sun was puzzled about how could Nature You Club being run without an office. Good food in pretty scenic area with breeze, shades and river side sitting platform made us relax as being home. I saw Han’s family had a 30 minutes family lunch meeting by the Hudson River. I wouldn’t feel surprised if any hikers was thinking about taking a nap of 2 hours and cancelled the 4 miles hiking in the afternoon. I set them free and grouped them together before 1 pm.

According to the situation, we would divide into 3 teams. Max and Jing would take the tired Doggie and drove back to the trailhead. Chung Kwong couldn’t handle downhill slope, so he would walk back 2 miles along the same trail. I would bring the others to climb Hook Mountain as planned. We left the Nyack Beach State Park and passed an amateur backyard stone selling booth. Philip sat there pretended he was a selling boy. Angela and Pinphia missed the turn until I called them back. We passed an area where ground vegetation with huge leaves. Moon found a stone with a few pennies stuck into its gap. After 15 minutes on White Trail, we turned into Long Path. The sun was shinny hot and luckily there were shades on the uphill slope. Josephine and Kaichiao were always at the front but they were still not confidence enough for next week’s level D event. We reached the first viewpoint which could overlook Tappen Zee Bridge and Hudson River. Since the summit was too exposure to the sun so most people preferred to hide under shades. I distributed the baby carrots to the teammates.

We approached to another viewpoint which could overlook the picnic area down there. We saw a group of teenagers were playing group game. Stephen was so hot that he had to release buttons and showed off his 6 in 1 muscle on his tummy. Since we were standing on a cliff, Tiffany could only dare approach closed to and watched down from the cliff by using 4 legs landing format. We saw cactus with pretty yellow flowers which was so special that Rose was hit by cactus while she was taking picture on it. There was a gigantic plant with big flowers at the summit which attracted camera shots. Eric Chen was supposed at the front but was pulled by Dawn for photo taking. As the photographers were serious at the back, I suggested Moon to lead the big group to go first. I stayed at the back to wait for Rose, Esther, Jocelyn, Dawn and Eric. The downhill slope was longer than I expected. Esther, Dawn and Jocelyn caught us up before we saw the parking lot at Rockland State Park.

Everyone met again at the parking lot at 3:15 pm after 6 miles exercise. Max served us trip end coffee and Susie shared us her cold pineapple which she left in her car this morning. Some hikers were still energetic enough to chase the wild cock for shooting a few photos. As the sky turned gray, I announced the completion of the event. The heavy rain started at once after I went into my car.

Fresh Blueberries and Cold Watermelon
June 5, 2010

The terrific views over Beacon at Casino Trail and under the fire tower caused me to hike again on this route at Fishkill. It was a re-visit for Simon, Jennifer and Moon. Anthony, Magdalene, Philip, Chen, Carrie and Lorna had never been there. It was Raymond’s first trip with Nature You. It was such a sunny day which might be too hot for long hour of outdoor activity. I told the teammates our first destination after completion of the trip would be a cold drink from the grocery shop that near the parking lot. The treat that I could provide at the middle of the trip was a cold watermelon in my backpack.

We started at 10 a.m. along the auto road until we saw a metal stairway. There was a sign board telling us the history of this abandoned cable car system but everyone was attracted by a huge blueberry tree and its huge sized fruits at the trail. Lorna picked and tasted the fruit and claimed they were fresh and sweet. Magdalene was afraid to try the unknown source of food and advised Anthony to be careful. I found the fruits were sweet but the look was different from the blueberries that we saw from supermarket. I would rather wait for next month when we would go to other familiar natural blueberry fields. We climbed up 152 steps and hiked on Red Casino Trail. This was a very steep slope so we moved slowly. All new hikers could overcome the uphill slope and hot sun and surprised to see the remains of the cable car engine room and the rusting engine. The view over Beacon Town and Beacon Bridge was also rewarding for this difficult climb. We were lucky that there were enough breezes to cool us off. We took the group picture with the help from another hiker. I pointed to a fire tower which was about 1 mile away and it might be our lunch point.

We continued on Red Trail along a flat terrain. It was the last section that Chen still had curiosity to ask me for mileage completed. He was really tired because of not completely recovered from flu. We found some little shinny stuff had been stuck on a tree in a square pattern. Everyone guessed but nobody knew the answer. Anthony was brave enough to touch it with his finger. He felt it was chewing gum. Magdalene stopped him to touch her bag of potato chips at once. We found the White Trail and climbed up a slope to reach the fire tower. As it was a windy spot with excellent view underneath, I announced we should take early lunch here even it was only 11:30 am. Lorna treated us her baby carrots and thanked those who had helped her to lessen the weight of her backpack. I pulled out a 15 pound watermelon from my backpack which surprised Raymond. He said he never saw a leader would carry a whole cold watermelon to the mountain for the teammates to share. Moon felt she was not ready to take lunch so she ate only an apple and skipped the watermelon treat.

As our target was 8 miles and we finished only less than 2 miles, we should be hurried. I led the group hiked down from White Trail and found a good viewpoint before hitting the Yellow Trail. Here was where we could have a picture with a background of green vegetated valley. When we reached an intersection of Red Trail, I let the teammates to decide either a 2 more or 6 more miles trip. Chen was the only one who wanted the short cut so he had no choice but followed others. Even we would have a long way to go, Carrie still preferred to use the water to wash away the dirt mud on her hand rather than saved it for drinking. We reached a viewpoint where we could see the Beacon Reservoir but we had no mood to stay long. The Yellow Trail was liked endless. Raymond and Lorna were still hiking with smiles on their faces. Magdalene claimed Anthony didn’t notify her about the difficulty of this trip. Carrie and Chen were exhausted and could talk nothing. I could still see energy bars over the heads of Moon, Philip, Jennifer and Simon. We finished 2 miles on Yellow and reached the Blue Trail. We climbed up the short Blue Trail and saw an abandoned vehicle where some hikers remembered we took a group picture on it before. Magdalene remembered even the stone that she had sat in her last but different Fishkill trip. After taking a long break, I led the group into the White Trail. We had 2.5 more miles to go. Magdalene fell and scratched her leg on this section when hiked after me. I felt sorry of not bringing the first aid kit. I used to have one but left it home because I had to carry the big watermelon. She told me the small scratches actually were minor when compared with her headache after lunch. She always had headache if doing outdoor exercise in a hot day.

The White Trail brought us to a small waterfall and a rough running stream. The whole group was happy to stay a while to cool off the body. Our time was not rushed but the flying inserts were fierce near water. We continued to the Yellow Trail after seeing another abandoned vehicle and we were 1 mile from the parking lot. We still had to climb uphill on Yellow Trail but we had no choice. We finished the Yellow Trail and saw the metal stairway after hiking a small fraction mile on Red Casino Trail. We survived and no one get into big trouble in this high level trip under this high temperature weather. We finished this 8 miles trip at 4 pm.

The Biggest % of Bonus Miles
May 23, 2010

Due to the fierce flies and mosquitoes last week, I decided to cancel the kids hike and replaced with a family hike for this week. We went to Chuang Yen Monastery for lunch and 3 miles easy hike afterwards to Beaver Pond at nearby Fahnestock State Park. This setting attracted a few new hikers to join so there were 19 participants in this event. I had Christina, Nelson and Helen’s 3 children David, Vinnie and Anne. Clara, Donna and Chi joined again after their last trip last year which was also Chuang Yen Monastery. Hopefully, they would reach the hiking parking lot and hiked with us this time. Other old friends included Simon, Max, Jing, Dawn, Helen, Rose, Esther, Philip, Chen and Moon.

My car was the first one at the parking lot at 10:45 am and Philip came 5 minutes later. Anthony left me a written note at a lion’s mouth at the entrance because his family group was there yesterday. I told him to prepare me a treasure hunt map next time so the group could participate. The monastery was quiet even it was Buddha’s birthday 2 days ago. Moon and Rose could spend a lot of time on photo taking outside and inside the temple. I had time to watch the sculptures at the stand of the big Buddha in details. Rose suggested me to take a photo of hundred small Buddha to see the special visual effect. After prayed at Guang Yin Hall, we went to Lotus Pond to see the standing Guang Yin sculpture. Here we met Max’s group and other good photographers. Rose showed Max the branded new toy on her hands.

Chen was playing modeling at the Pond and he shouted when seeing a long snake by the water. There were a lot of big fish in the Pond fighting for food feeding. We went back to the dining hall to buy the vegetarian lunch box at noon. Here I met Clara’s group of hiking friends in the canteen. The vegetarian food was good as usual that made some of us to go second round and completed with a coffee round at the end. We took a group picture in front of the big temple liked a typical group picture of a touring team just without a banner. It was time for exercise as the sky turned cloudier than this morning.

I led the drivers to find the parking lots on Route 301. I intended to put 1 car at 3 miles point so we could finish the hiking if the weather turned bad. There was an option of bonus 3 miles to hike back to the starting point by another trail. The ingoing Red Trail was flat until we reached the quiet Beaver Pond. I worried about Christina because she wore very light shoes which had no protection on her feet. The Pond was pretty but rest area was too small for a big group to stay. Moon found wild orchids by the Pond which attracted Clara, Donna and Chi to take photos with them. Vinnie wrote her Chinese name on the sand so I suggested her to come more to the mountain because there was a mountain symbol on her name. The Zhang’s family usually hiked in a group which showed they had a strong link in between. We turned back from the Pond and approached Canopy Lake by Blue Trail and AT. There were some up and down hill on this section which made it more liked hiking instead of park walking. I introduced to all new hikers about AT trail when came across the sign in box for AT through hikers. They didn’t believe some serious hikers would take 6 months off from work and took this 2,160 miles challenging trip. We finished 3 miles at 3 pm. Donna, Clara and Chi promised to join more of other level A or B trips but they would prefer to call it a day at this point. Since the Canopy Lake was pretty, Max’s group also decided to stop at this point. Simon felt the trip was too short so he welcome the plan of additional 3 miles. Chen was unwilling but no choice of walked away from his father. We had 11 hikers continued on AT to hike back to the cars.

We saw fresh mushroom grew on the tree trunk which was the same color of baked bread. The trail on AT was actually very flat. According to my map, we supposed to go back along Blue, Yellow and Red Trail. There was a notice posted about the closing of the Yellow Trail due to conservation purpose, Simon felt puzzling about what to do. I trusted the rangers would set up clear trail mark and re-routed us back to Red Trail. I led the group continued on Blue Trail. The weather was sunny hot now so not easy for beginners. Chen was tired so had no energy to lead the team but kept asking about how many miles remaining. Nelson could survive even we had the biggest % bonus mile ever. We reached the Red Trail junction in 2 miles so I knew we were now only 1 mile from the parking lot on Red Trail. There were more up and downhill on this section. Simon said no sweet at all until now. Helen had to take care of her 3 young teenager children and Philip stayed at the back with Chen. Moon was the first one got back to the parking lot. We finished 6 miles at 4:30 pm in a quick 2 miles per hour pace.

Do It the Other Way Round
May 15, 2010

It was the same 13 miles route as in June 2009 in which we had only 8 hikers. This year I had the same crew members were Feng, Rose, Jennifer and Moon. The only new member was Philip. I had confidence on all teammates but didn’t expect we could have such a fast pace. I reserved 8 hours in the mountain so we met earlier at the parking lot at 8:15 am. We started at 8:45 am from Lake Shannatati along A-SB Red Trail. We climbed up a steep slope and reached a viewpoint where we could line up 3 lakes. Since the trailhead of Red Cross trail was hidden away from A-SB Trail, I had missed the turn as planned. I realized the error in a few hundred yards but then decided to change the hiking plan. Since most of us had hiked on this route last year, it was good to do it the other way round this year. I told the teammates to reverse the plan by going Times Square first. We then would go for R-D and AT to the lunch point at William Brien Shelter. After a mile of downhill on Yellow Trail, we would climb up along Red Cross and turned back to A-SB before hitting the parking lot.

Feng described in detail about his family’s encounter with bear in New Jersey 3 weeks ago. It happened in Pyramid Mountain which I had led groups there 3 times. His adventurous experience made me remove all hiking plans in New Jersey. We reached Times Square in 1.5 miles. After taking a break and we could locate the right direction on R-D, I let the fast group to fly 1.5 miles until they reached the intersection of R-D and AT. Philip, Jennifer, Moon and Feng turned on their turbo. Rose and I could only see the dust from their heels. There were some nice viewpoints on R-D but they were not attractive enough to the endurance training team. Rose had to give up photo taking because there were no models at all. We spent a few minutes at the Fingerboard Shelter and I announced we would go by AT to reach next shelter to make the trip more difficult. We hit Arden Valley Road in 2 miles and finished 5 miles totally at the split between R-D and AT. The fast team crossed Seven Lakes Drive at 6th mile and went into an unmarked trail. Rose and I could finally pass them over for a few minutes before they came back from the wrong trail. Moon couldn’t believe we had finished 8 miles with less than 4 hours when taking lunch at 12:30 pm at William Brien Shelter. Rose said her hair was flying in the air because she had to chase the trail running team.

There were residents at the Shelter so we had to stay outside. Feng showed us his weapon of an electrolyte pill which was important in prevention of dehydration. Philip told us his weapon was a pack of salty preserved vegetables which was once a lifesaver of him in a hot day long hiking trip in China. We took a group picture at the lunch spot. Rose was so thirsty of photo taking that a bundle of bananas on the rock was also her target model. The flies and mosquitoes were fierce so Jennifer demonstrated her homemade orange colored mosquito net. We continued a mile on downhill Yellow Trail and started the last 4 miles on Red Cross Trail. The Red Cross Trail was a trail slightly uphill but always very wet. Because of its wetness, it was also home of flying insects. We couldn’t stay too long in taking a break so Moon had to keep her treats to the very end of the trip. We met few hiking couples groups on this portion but I really didn’t know where their destinations were. There were no viewpoints or parking space on the direction they were heading.

The front team was so fast that I had no clue where they were until they took a break at a viewpoint. The weather was sunny but also windy. Jennifer asked if we could have a few more bonus miles because the weather was great. I said negative because I had to save some energy for tomorrow’s work. We came back to the same spot we saw 3 lakes in a line and took some group pictures. Feng found the trailhead of Red Cross that we had missed this morning. It was happened because the trail had been shifted off a few yards so the meeting point between 2 trails was disconnected.

We reached the crowded parking lot at 4 pm. We finished 13 miles in 6.5 hours which was exactly 2 miles per hour for whole day. Actually, we could do it faster but we were just being more relaxed in the afternoon. For those who had tried the other direction last year, we all felt it was a little bit easier to hike on this way round.