nature-you.org Blog

Rose, Mary and Rosemary
August 1 2010

Due to someone quitted at last minute, only left 9 hikers today in this 5 miles trip intended to pick some blueberries. They were Joe, Vivian, Rose, Josephine, Esther, Paul, six years old Jeffrey and Anna. There was no either Mary or Rosemary in the team but these names were mentioned more than 30 times during the whole day. I carried a watermelon in case there were no more free picks in the mountain.

We started at 10 am along Long Path in order to reach Bowling Rocks earlier to pick blueberries. The first mile on Long Path with some slopes had defeated Little Jeffrey. He kept asking for how many more miles left in every 15 minutes. Paul and Anna were also tired because they had to take care of the boy. Esther led the team as she enjoyed hiking free to feel sweating. Joe, Vivian and Josephine took the challenge again after last week’s hike under hot wave. They could enjoy nice view under nice weather today. We stopped at the junction of Yellow Trail and here I gave time for the father and son to sit and eat. We hiked on Yellow Trail and where Rose and I found blueberry fields with good quality fruits. We started working while the others took time to rest. Anna picked and ate without bringing them home. As I didn’t like most people were boring while some others were busy, we could only pick for a short period of time. We finished the Yellow Trail and connected to R-D heading Times Square. There were big sheet of rocks on R-D ridge so Paul worried much for Jeffrey. Paul joined into the 311 team kept asking me how many miles left in every 30 minutes.

Rose was nice to play with Jeffrey to dilute his concentration on hiking. Paul kept addressed Rose into Mary even they met about 10 times in these 2 years. I joked Mary ought to be an important name other than Aida for Paul. I suggested Rose to rename herself Rosemary so both names could be referred to her. I was a dumbbells neck in the team now as I had 4 hikers in the front and 4 hikers at the back. I asked Esther to lead the front team to start lunch at Ship Rocks. It turned out she picked a better spot where more breeze and less sunshine. Rose spotted a tree trunk liked a salty fish head. I cut the watermelon and it was the first time that no one could take more. It was a good one but too big for only 8 persons because Jeffrey didn’t like watermelon. Vivian was a little bit shy to take more so I had to threaten her about consequence of not taking those 2 more pieces. Rose claimed she had never eaten so much watermelon before either at home or in the mountain. I used the container to keep the remaining and saved them for later afternoon. A few raspberry trees at the lunch point turned on the interest of free picking of Paul and Anna so they were busy working. We continued our trip after taking the group picture.

We continued on R-D until we reached the Times Square. As there were new hikers, I pushed them to take a picture with this landmark. I made up a regulation for MTA that they would get a 10% discount at subway ticket booth of Times Square of Manhattan if they showed this picture of Times Square at Harriman. They smiled sweetly in the photos. I first thought about splitting the team so fast hikers could hike an extra mile while the exhausted hikers could take their time at the back. Esther reminded me it would be too risky as the slow team was formed by un-experienced and under aged hikers. I took her advice and we spent more time on viewpoints and taking photos at the front. I knew now Vivian had used a lot of decaf coffee to tune herself up in hiking.

Even it was only a 5 miles trip and Josephine said she still had 50% of energy reserve unused but it might not be too simple for new hikers. Weather was an important determining factor on difficulty of a trip. Both Joe and Vivian were at the front team today. While we waited at the last viewpoint which could see 3 lakes on a line, I ordered the teammates to finish up the watermelon left over. Paul still called out Mary after 20 times of wrongs and laughs from us almost at the end of the trip. We needed to rush as the sky was getting cloudy rapidly. We finished 5 miles and reached the cars by 2:30 pm right before the big pouring started. Jeffrey said goodbye to Mary before we left the parking lot.

Blueberry and Woodbury
July 31 2010

It was a double event called Blueberry and Woodbury which was tailored for special groups of friends. Since they were all city people, I needed to put 3 magnets to attract them to the rural area. They were: only easy 3 miles, organic blueberry free picking and Woodbury shopping after the hike. There were 29 participants today which was a combination of 3 groups. Monica, Diana and Kenneth were my family members. I had a group of Church friends which included Wendy, Carmen, Mandy, Fiona, Kum, Alan, Julia, Kam Lung, Mary and Susan. I had Kit, Alexandra, Christopher, Elliot, Sharon, Jimmy, Anna, Janet, Melody, John, Tony, Edmond, Dominic, Sarah and Henry who were related to my friend’s law firm. Most of them were first time hikers. Only few of them had joined Nature You years before.

There was a mistake on information flow so 2 cars were heading to the wrong hiking location. Luckily, we could net them back before it was too late. After a simple briefing on how to pick safely and about mountain safety, we started the hike along White Bar at 11 am. There were 2 babies in the team so we saw 2 porters always at the back. Diana followed me closed to show me her physical ability which was trained after her numerous biking trips. She loved the hilly and pretty Route 106 and claimed she would like to bike on it next time. The steep uphill slopes at the beginning had defeated most new hikers. Even Wendy who was the best hiker of the church group had to beg for no more uphill in the afternoon. We climbed up to the ridge in about half mile after the last challenge of a big rock. Everyone was so happy to conquer the world because here we could overlook the entire area. The weather was perfect with clear views and breeze. I rewarded them by giving them enough time to take pictures and snacks. Fiona, Julia and Kum set up their snack circle at once. Kit ordered Alexandra and Christopher to share their snacks to everyone. Alan took a picture on a stone inside bushes. I found the blueberries were too small at this area, so persuaded them to save time and energy for later target. There were little ups and downs on R-D so we took more breaks to wait for the group. We reached the Bare Rocks Shelter around 12:30 pm and it was perfect time for lunch.

There was a big Korean hiking group resting outside the shelter. I pulled out the 20 pounds watermelon from my backpack after lunch which was still cold and very sweet. All teammates surprised except 2 years old Elliot because it was his regular nap time. The whole group enjoyed the treat and the Korean group left jealously. Even the watermelon skins were bio-degradable, it could be considered as garbage if just threw on the trail. I demonstrated to the kids a normal procedure of recycling. I dug a hole to bury the skins which made 3 years old Tony interested to join. I let him dug another one and hopefully gave him a good memory of environment protection after this trip.

I brought the group to the Yellow Trail which I knew there were enough tall bushes of blueberries. It was quite disappointed that the berries were dried up because of drought. Since we were running late and this was the last spot we could go, all teammates tried to search for better target around this area. Some hikers simply just picked and ate. There were some others who stayed under the shade and enjoyed the scenery of busy bees. The sky was blue with breeze message. It would be nice to sit down for the whole afternoon here if there was no other program afterwards. Alexandra and Sarah formed an alliance so they could reach some higher spots to pick. Henry didn’t prepare container but only a plastic bag so the fruits couldn’t be kept in good shape. He got a plastic container from Kum later which made him brought home some blueberries instead of blueberry juice. Most people agreed that the blueberries were small but fresh and organic. I concluded we had come 1 to 2 weeks late so most fruits on the trail were either picked or dried. Someone did bring home a small container of blueberries which could be priced $2.49. As we had been almost 1 hour delay according to the plan, we had to start hiking back along Yellow Trail at 2:15 pm. We connected to White Bar after half mile on Yellow Trail. Christopher never exercised 5 miles long so he was quite tired. Alexandra and Sarah kept spraying on themselves to cool off their body temperature. Tony was sleeping comfortably into John’s arms which might have made John impossible to drive home after hike. I knew it would be no problem for the new hikers because there were enough shades on White Bar. Mary and Susan were in good shape so they could always follow my legs. Carmen couldn’t exercise too long because of her injured ankle and this 3 miles journey was just perfect for her. Monica had a good conversation with Sharon and helped out on taking care of Elliot. Dominic and Edmond would stay in New York only for a short time so hopefully they would bring back Hong Kong an idea of how a hiking trip was running in here.

We finished 3 miles and reached the parking lot by 3:30 pm. Monica had to leave with Diana and Kenneth while the others were heading to Woodbury as planned. We landed on Woodbury around 4 pm and started another type of leg exercise. If we calculated according to the average of 2 miles per hour, some girls had walked 6 miles while they shopped until 7:30 pm.

Any Limits on Blueberries that We Can Pick?
July 24, 2010

It was again a day with high temperature up to 95 degrees. I had 8 hikers in this trip. I scheduled this location because I remembered there were blueberry bushes along the trail and it was not a very popular trail. I expected we could still find bigger sized blueberries. Vivian, Joe, Jessie and Kenny were first time hikers and I had Sam, Josephine and Rose in the team. It was not an easy trip for new hikers even we didn’t spend much time on blueberry picking under the sun.

Drivers were very punctual to arrive at Equestrian Center at 9:30 am. The horse riding school had given us convenience of using civilized restrooms and soda machine. Josephine taught us some theoretical skills of horse riding because she had some experience at Prospect Park. Our targets were lunch at Pine Meadow Lake which was behind the Ramapo Mountain and blueberries on the way. Vivian thought we were picking at a farm so asked if there was a limit on number of blueberry that we could pick. I joked that we had to stop if a bear came out and complained to us. Rose prepared 3 small plastic containers and I had 2 large ones. Both of us had an order to fulfill after last trip. But all the others didn’t feel too eager to pick or even taste. We started from trailhead of Red Pine Meadow Trail climbed up Ramapo Mountain. This first mile of steep uphill trail had defeated Joe. Even he ran 3 times every week on track mill, he was exhausted at first half hour. He said he could stop when he was tired on track mill but he had to complete the whole trip once started. Sam pointed out the biggest difference between doing exercise in the gymnasium and at the mountain was quality of air.

We took a few breaks at this section. I saw Jessie’s Gore Tex book bag which probably was the most valuable item in our team because a pair of hiking boots with Gore Tex would mean $50 dollars more. There were blueberries on the bushes but the situation was as bad as a damaged city after war. I found there were only a few small blueberries hanging on the branches, I just didn’t want to hurt the orphans. We kept going on a relatively flat section of Red Trail. All new hikers felt more relax and enjoyable. Rose and I spot a blueberry field with stronger bushes so we decided to fill up a little bit on our containers. I served Josephine the biggest blueberry of the day and she returned me 15 minutes of free service time of blueberry picking. Sam helped me also as he had nothing to do. Vivian tasted some good ones and took every minute to sit down. Joe, Jessie and Kenny had mood to pick now. We reached a metal notice board liked a door at the trail where our new hikers had a picture with it.

Blue colored Pine Meadow Lake was in front of us where I told the teammates that we would go further along the lake to take lunch at a pretty spot and returned along the White Trail here. We came closed to the water at an open land and took a group picture there. Vivian was so happy that wanted to fly as a bird. Rose was interested in Vivian’s legs so told her to stand facing the lake and she would take a shot of her legs in front of the water. That was the difference between female and male photographers as I didn’t think I could make the same request. We passed an abandoned manor site which was a special feature of this trail. I brought the group hiked into the small peninsula where we could touch the water and had shade under pine trees. Once again, Kenny took away his socks and cooled down his body temperature.

There were other groups in that site. Someone was swimming and playing with his dogs. The breeze under the shade made us forgot about time. Vivian was generous to share me some chicken wings and watermelon so I returned her raisins but not for herself later. We found a giant turtle in the lake which was liked a pre-historical feature. Vivian was excited to feed it so throw away all her remaining food into the water. Later came more fish and a family of ducks. It turned out she had to ask donations from Joe, Jessie and me. We spent extra time on a little girl’s activity and we had to go back under extremely hot weather. I gave a test to Josephine to see if she would follow the wrong leader and she passed.

We went back along Red Trail and connected to White Trail as planned. This 2/3 mile of White Trail wasn’t too bad because it was not so hilly. We took a break at the end of White Trail before moved on to Yellow Trail. After showed them where the Egg was as indicated on the map, the following 1 mile on Yellow Trail had totally defeated the new hikers. There were a lot of up and down on this section and the weather was too hot. After taking another group picture at the Stone Memorial Shelter, we started the experience of hiking inside an oven. All new hikers had almost emptied their bottles so I had to give out the water that I had reserved for them. The hiking was now under their willpowers. I intentionally hiked at the front so they would have no chance to ask but kept moving. Josephine told me the sweat dripped down from her face. I waited at the junction of Red and Yellow Trail where I knew they would be happy to know only 1 more mile left. There were only downhill slopes by now. Joe told me later, he was liked flying down at this last mile because his legs had been departed from his control but just moved forward.

The super hot temperature had made this trip super difficult for our new hikers. I was sure they would have different feeling to the same trail if we would do it again in autumn. We finished 6 miles at 4 pm and rushed to the soda machine at the quickest pace.