nature-you.org Blog

At the Top of the Cliff
November 6 2011

“At 532 feet above the Hudson River, State Line Lookout sits atop the highest point on the New Jersey Palisades. The rock of the Palisades, called diabase, was formed underground by volcanic activity about 200 million years ago. Processes of erosion, including the glaciers of the Ice Ages, then uncovered the eastern edge of the buried diabase and shaped it into cliffs. (The name “Palisades” is from the resemblance of the vertical columns of diabase to a palisade-type fence made of upright posts.)” The above description attracted my eyes when I researched a place to go before the New York City Marathon finished at 5 pm.

It was the second event of today. After the 7 miles hike at Harriman State Park, we reached State Line Lookout at 3:30 pm. Some hikers couldn’t attend this event, so I had only 20 people. They were Bao Gong, Simon, Max, Dawn, Joe, David, Christine, Chung Kwong, Lina, XiaoZhong, Rose, Helen, Janet, Esther, Sandy, Wei Xi, Cindy, William and XueFeng. It was simply a photo taking event because I expected the fall foliage had spread southwards. It was my first visit to this Lookout. Just as Joe said he lived in the City for 20 years and never knew there was such a beautiful Lookout point of Hudson River. Since the sun had moved to the other side of the cliff, I gave up the plan of mandatory hiking 2 miles to the Shore Trail but gave everyone 1.5 hours of free time. Photographers could catch the last chance to take pictures and hikers could still hike 2 miles back and forth following the sign of Long Path.

The Lookout over the Hudson River was terrific. We saw also bird watching groups with telescopes. As I hoped to take more photos of colorful leaves and to co-ordinate for the separated groups, I stayed at the top of the cliff. After bringing the hikers to locate the Long Path, I let them go for a 2 miles trip on their own. Most people picked the exercise part except Max, Dawn, Esther, Janet and Cindy. Max taught me to shoot from a certain angle to get the beautiful photos with sunset sunshine. Esther was so proud to tell me even the sunshine was blocked, she could still take a lot of pretty photos with the yellowish leaves. Dawn was the luckiest model of Artist Esther. Janet always stayed with Cindy as Cindy was going to leave New York in 10 days. I entered the Lookout Café which was the perfect paradise to hangout with friends in a warmer place. It was also a bookstore that filled up with all the natural and historical information of this area.

The hiking groups returned separately after 4:15 pm after exercising for 2 miles. Lina enjoyed the chat with Simon because she found it was good to social with other hikers that she could learn new knowledge from their professionals. I saw Little Sandy came back with few little branches and asked her father if she could take home as her free souvenirs. David took a lot of pictures of his daughter, Christine. I stayed at the parking lot to make sure all groups were back and no one had been forgotten. I left the Lookout at 5 pm. As I only walked back and forth along the cliff, I would count only finished 1 mile for this event.

Escape Away from Marathon
November 6 2011

The chaotic traffic situation created by New York City Marathon scared me that we had to escape away from Manhattan before 7 am. I requested all drivers to pick up their passengers early and should arrive at Rockefeller Lookout before 7:30 am. As the hiking plan was short one, I had a big group of 27 people. I had Bao Gong, Simon, Ken, Emily, Max, Dawn, Joe, Janet, Clara Lau, Chung Kwong, Lina, Rose, Helen, Esther, William, Ary, Cindy, Clara Yu, XueFeng, and XiaoZhong. David brought her daughter Christine, Wei Xi brought her daughter Sandy and Susie brought her husband Tommy. Ken and Emily said they would sure be back when I organized easier short trip. But they forgot I had the habit of upgrading or giving out bonus mile if the hikers and weather were both appropriated. David’s last trip with Nature You was dated back to 2008 and he didn’t bring his wife but her daughter this time. XueFeng said my driving direction was so clear and accurate that they had no problem to locate the Rockefeller Lookout. A valid driving direction was always the top of my most important preparation list.

We reached Johnsontown Circle so early that we could choose our parking space from the empty parking area. After a briefing with all hikers, we started along Blue Trail at 9 am. As the weather was perfect and a visit to Lake Skenonta could bring us pretty view of a peaceful lake, I announced we would have an option of adding 1 more miles. There were a few steep slopes at the beginning of the Blue Trail that gave new hikers actual feeling of hiking. The young girls needed to get supports from their fathers especially Sandy needed to refill her energy from swallowing a few bread. We reached the open space called Almost Perpendicular where we took a long break for photo taking. After going through the narrow gap of Elbow Brush, I brought the group to Claudia Smith Den. The overhanging cliff provided a shelter for the outlaws in 1774. It was the first time that I brought the hikers to view and try to find any leftover treasure from the den. We took a group picture on the flat table rock. Then, I brought the group to hike to the top of the cliff to have another grand view over the valley. The white rock and blue sky were good photographic elements for camera people and models.

I led hikers to continue on White Cross Trail. The trail was basically descending so we could hike fast. XueFeng fell at a small stream because of the slippery stones. Our only challenge was climbing over a huge fallen tree that had blocked the trail. The front team waited for me at Victory Blue Trail because they weren’t sure about turned left or right. I corrected Simon’s judgment and brought the team to Lake Skenonta in 20 minutes. Here we could enjoy both the lake view and delicious lunch. Sandy had already finished her bag of bread and had to take food from her father. I told Christine her mom Marianna was exactly in the same spot in her last trip with Nature You 3 years ago. Cindy signed up for next trip in her last weekend in New York City. She said it was a big achievement from this short visit to New York as she would earn totally 3 stamps from Nature You Club.

I instructed Emily and Ken the right direction to go back first because they had another event in the evening. We enjoyed more time on chatting and photo taking. Since we started early this morning, I would like to add one more event on the way back. Those who wanted to get 1 more stamp should wait for me at the parking lot. We hiked along Yellow Trail after leaving the Lake. Some yellowish leaves attracted Dawn, Esther, Chung Kwong, Janet, Cindy and Rose. I hiked with them in order to drive them up. At the same time, I took photographic lessons with those good photographers. Chung Kwong said they had to guide me through the technique of taking good photos so I would join the photographers’ team in the future trips. We finished 7 miles by 2:30 pm. There was still enough sunshine to take pictures of fall foliage sceneries at our second spot, State Line Lookout at Palisades Parkway.

Hiking Under Missiles Attack
October 30 2011

The weather could change so dramatically. It was snow storm with 20 inches of snowfall yesterday but the weather turned into hot and sunny today. Due to the bad highway condition after the snow storm, I decided to change the location to the nearby Shore Trail to avoid driving. It turned out this was a wise decision because I met another hiking team in Shore Trail. They had no other choice except Shore Trail after visiting 3 trailheads because they couldn’t find parking spaces over there. The weather was perfect and warm that added us a new hiking experience which was hiking under missiles attack.

I had old friends Bao Gong, Simon, Max, Jennifer, Dawn, Sophia, Kok Chew, Chung Kwong, Rose, Esther, Masa, Qing, Chi and David in the team. David brought a group of his young friends included Yong, Kyle, Noel, Betty, Fenton, Tak and Raymond. I was overslept and rushed to Rockefeller Lookout within an hour after Esther called me at 7:30 am. The road after Exit 2 was full of snow and fallen branches. Luckily, we had volunteering workers to show their muscles. Qing, Esther, Masa and Chung Kwong were so exciting to run at the front to remove all the fallen branches which were blocking the road. We reached Alpine Boat Basin and started hiking at 9:15 am. There was no much snow in the Picnic Area but a few pretty and colorful trees for photo taking.

We climbed up a slope along White Trail and then Orange Trail. The trail was clear of snow but there was a lot of snow on the trees. When the snow was melting under such a nice day, we heard frequently noises of snowballs fallen on the ground. David got a big hit on his shoulder from the sky and he said it was really hard. Fenton took a lot of good photos when he found the angle of sunshine was perfectly on the leaves. Suddenly, we found snowballs flew from the left side. It was Max and Bao Gong who playing snow fight with David’s friends. The battle lasted for 10 minutes and we transformed back to hikers. No one knew all of us would be under the attack from the trees later when we hiked in Long Path. We entered snow filled Long Path after passing the Park Headquarter. There were a lot of fallen branches so the trail was blocked or discontinued. As more trees in this area, the missiles from the trees were fiercer. We were liked hiking in a battlefield with missiles from bombers. Esther, Dawn, Sophia and Rose were far behind because they were busy taking photos at the back. I called Chung Kwong to drive them up because they might get lost due to missing trail marks. Max, Bao Gong, Masa, Kok Chew, Qing and Chi were at the front as they didn’t take many photos. Max was a good photographers but he didn’t work today. He said nature sunlight was so important in photo taking that professional photographers usually worked only early in the morning or in the evening.

The young hikers were suffering from wet feet because of the snow. Max’s group took lunch and waited for us for about 45 minutes at the Women’s Federation Monument. The slow group had to cut short their lunch time. After taking a group picture at the Castle, we continued on Long Path and then Blue/White Trail descended from the cliff. The trail was slippery and probably was the most tolerated moment for those new hikers because they had no appropriate hiking equipment. Those who had borrowed my hiking poles in the morning knew now how useful the pole was. When everyone landed to White Shore Trail, I felt more relax. After showing everyone the sample of poison ivy and explained to them about the horrible outcome of touching the plant, I felt my role was over. The White Trail was basically flat with no more side trail so I let them stayed as much as they wanted. I hiked in the middle with Sophia, Chung Kwong, Esther and Dawn and spent time on photo taking. Sophia liked the photos that were taken by Esther because she found Esther really knew how to take good pictures. Chung Kwong told me he had good memory of his last visit to this Shore Trail a few years ago when it was a really heavy foggy condition. The fast group was in the car for an hour before me. We finished 8 miles by 3:45 pm.

Snow Storm at Minnewaska
October 29 2011

The weather forecasted did say snow storm would start at noon and about 5 inches of snow would be accumulated. As all of us were prepared with winter hiking equipment that 5 inches of snow was really no big deal. I didn’t cancel the trip and drove 2.5 hours from home into Minnewaska. It turned out; we had under estimated the high risk of driving 150 miles under extremely dangerous road condition. I had Joe, Chung Kwong, Rose, Esther, Janet, James, Karen, Philip, Tony, Moon and new hiking friends John, Shu Yi and Yue experienced an unforgettable snow storm trip in Minnewaska.

The staff at the entrance had already warned us about the approaching of snowstorm but we insisted to pay and parked our cars at the Minnewaska Lake. The weather was cloudy, cold and windy which attracted only few groups of hikers. We gathered at the beach and took a group picture because I didn’t expect we would stay together for the whole trip. I showed everyone the route from a map hanged on the tree and started hiking on Red Trail at 9:45 am. The carriageway Red Trail brought us to a fork of 2 Yellow Trails. I ensured everyone had entered the corrected one because our target today was Gertrudes Nose. Yue brought her mom, Shu Yi and Yue exclaimed Shu Yi could hike and enjoy the nature better than her. When we reached Pattersons Pellet, this was our first viewpoint that we could overlook the valley and vegetations. We found we were late for foliage colors because 50% of the leaves had turned brown or fell. One or two reddish vegetation attracted our cameras. Someone also posted liked tough rock climbing on the edge of the cliff. When we reached to a spot with 7 huge stones, we took pictures with seven hikers on seven stones. We posted liked movie stars.

Rose named the two touching stones Kiss Kiss Stone and labeled the smaller one as the wife. Someone challenged her said the stones symbolized mother and daughter. Dawn, Esther and Janet stayed at the back as usual while Philip, James and Joe had been disappeared for hours. New hikers liked John, Shu Yi and Yue were always around me. I tried to go fast to reach Gertrudes Nose hoped to catch the front team. The sky turned gray and light snow started. I decided to take lunch at a spot with less wind and had coverage by few pine trees. The snow fell heavily after 12 noon as forecasted. Moon said she was so happy to meet the snow storm in Minnewaska because she never saw a mixture of autumn leaves and winter snow together. The scenery was beautiful but the trail was slippery especially on rocks. We had to hike with extra care so I estimated we might have not enough time to hike on the steep Red Trail. I guessed the front team should have almost completed their 8 miles route so I didn’t want them to wait too long at the parking lot. For the reason of safety, I announced we would change to an easier route but still would hike 8 miles. As the snow accumulation on trail had been 6 inches and the snow storm was fierce, no one rejected the change.

We turned back and hiked on Yellow carriageway after taking pretty snow pictures. The trail was filled up with white new snow. Moon and Tony played snow baseball hit on the trail. The ice frozen on Esther’s hair at the front made her looked like Santa Clause. Some snow even stayed at Moon’s face to give her shinny crystal eyebrows. The snow storm was getting bigger so we had tried to move quickly. When I reached the restroom at the Minnewaska Lake, I found there were 12 missed calls on my phone from Philip, Joe or James. They were waiting at the parking lot since 2:15 pm which was 1.5 hours already. Joe worried about us that we might have been in trouble in the mountain because there was no contact for almost 1.5 hours. We finished 8 miles at 4:45 pm.

The biggest challenge of today wasn’t in the mountain but on the highway back to New York. My email to a friend in Hong Kong could capture the second part of today which was the unforgettable 6 hours of adventures inside our cars.

“ 話說我們一行14人早上開車離開紐約市到150哩外的山區看楓葉。雖然有暴風雪預警，但早上只是天陰較冷並不嚇怕大家，所以照常出發。山區風猛而楓葉期已過，大家轉而興緻在看今秋第一場山中雪景。所以大家邊行邊玩，並不想趕在中午12時風雪前離開。
 
12時正暴風雪準時到達而我們距離停車場尚有4哩！結果在山上冒風雪行到4時半才到，地面積雪已有6吋。我們仍要等公園管理員鏟通車路才可開車。下斜坡公路的積雪開始有些結冰，安全起見，我們只能開時速20哩。其中在最後的一輛車更短暫滑下淺坑，需報警求援。車隊在未開到高速公路前被倒樹所阻，需要改變到較迂迥的鄉間小路。我車上沒有GPS和汽油較低，所以必須緊跟同伴和找加油站，否則隨時整車人在小路上被逼長期冬眠至明年春天。
 
就是其後安全進入高速公路，由於天黑、路上有冰雪、遍地倒樹佔據了一條行車道和有幾處交通意外，我需要以駕駛F1賽車的高度集中程度開時速30哩的慢車。結果是正常2小時的距離開了6小時，10時半才到家，差點虛脫而死。

這次大家能平安而還算是有點好運，我身負一眾山友的安全，下次不敢再與天鬥了。:) ”

The Mountain is All Ours
October 23 2011

Ice Cave at Ellenville was well known among my hiking friends. It was a very primitive area without trail mark so it was hiked totally depended on the memory power of the leader. There were rock climbing section, hiked under cliff walls and inside gully, viewpoints liked Grand Canyon and expedition into dark caves. Finally, I had the chance to hike at Ice Cave of Ellenville under the lead of Anthony and Max. Since the team size was restricted by permit, I could only recruit 18 people in the team. Others were including Bao Gong, Jing, Jennifer, Dawn, Joe, Leon, Magdalene, Chung Kwong, Rose, Esther, Masa, Stanley, Vincent, Tony and Moon.

We arrived at the parking lot at 9:30 am after visiting MacDonald of Ellenville. The foliage scenery in that area was colorful although we didn’t find too many red leaves. My friends knew the route so Anthony had bought a rope ladder and Max, Jennifer and Stanley had brought ropes. The trail head was sealed for road construction but Anthony said it was fine because we carried the permit. We hiked uphill along the main road until we found a spot with 2 trees twisted together. That was the trailhead of the unmarked hiking trail towards the gully. We took a break until our photographers Esther, Dawn and Chung Kwong arrived.

The trail going up was clear but as narrow as a one-way route. That might be the reason they only approved 1 team each day and the entire mountain was all ours today. There were side trails sometimes so it was important to follow the leader. Since it was their first time visiting here in fall, most photographers and models couldn’t resist the temptation of colorful leaves. It was quite risky because the team was segmented. People were communicating by shouting out loudly. We were in front of a huge gully in 30 minutes. Moon fell and her foot was trapped by tree root when moving into the spot. Jing and Dawn decided to skip this section and took the easy way to wait for us up there. The gully was created by rock movement that cliff walls were formed on both sides. Joe hurt his forehead as when he climbed down to the gap. Stanley got back Vincent’s hiking pole from a cave where he accidentally threw it there. The view was so grand when we hiked inside. We had to hike carefully because some stones were loose and sharp. When I reached the rock climbing spot, I witnessed the rolling down of Joe’s backpack for 20 feet. What a scary moment if it was one of us.

The rope ladder was set with extension added by ropes. Max joked if the rope ladder cost everyone $2, his rope should charge each one $1 because we wouldn’t be able to climb up that rock without the rope. It took a while for each one to learn how to climb up a moveable rope ladder because it would swing to both sides. We all passed the test and took a break at an open area. Chung Kwong said this kind of rock climbing spot wasn’t only challenging each one’s physical ability but also intelligence of tackling the slope. We kept going uphill for another 30 minutes and stopped at an entrance of a huge cave. Anthony commanded us to take out headlights and gloves because it was the entrance of the Ice Cave. It was the most exciting moment for the first time visitors but not Anthony, Jing, Joe, Magdalene, Esther, Dawn and Rose.

The entrance actually was in between a small gap and started with a ladder climbing down. It was totally dark and we needed to step on irregular rocks. Max and Bao Gong led the team until they found water flood the route. We might come too early to see the ice inside the cave. On the way back, Stanley, Vincent and I explored into another dark hole and found a narrow gap to come out from Ice Cave without going up the ladder. Stanley was so excited to be one of the pioneers. We finished lunch around 12:30 pm and continued to go to Grand Canyon. After ascending for another 30 minutes, we were hiking on the edge of a cliff with a canyon in between another cliff. The canyon was a hundred feet deep and it was grand. We took a lot of pictures on the spot so the team was again cut into 2. I had only Chung Kwong, Moon, Tony, Esther and Bao Gong in my team. We climbed down to the canyon and started 45 minutes trip of hiking in all nature route. I could see vegetation grown on the rocks which meant it wasn’t a route with busy traffic. Tony liked this portion very much because it was so much primitive and nature. Moon felt a little bit scary because the image of Jurassic Park came up to her head.

I led Moon, Chung Kwong and Tony to find the route out because I had no clue of where the others were. I just used the instinct of picking a safe way. It was so happy when I saw all others in front of the Ice Cave again soon. As all challenging spots had been delivered, it was time to descend back to the parking lot. There was no trail mark on the narrow route so I had to use my instinct again to lead the way for Moon and Tony. We touched the carriageway in 30 minutes and reached the parking lot at 3:30 pm. It was only recorded 4 miles on Anthony’s GPS device. We went to MacDonald again before we headed back to New York so I joked if Anthony got commission from the restaurant since he had taken us to there twice a day.

So Glad to Join This Trip
October 22 2011

My friend of a Church recruited about 20 people so I had rooms to add 12 more to join the fall foliage trip at Silvermine Lake. I had Bao Gong, Yu Wei, Dawn, Sophia, Kaichiao, Rose, Helen, Esther, Chen, Philip and William from hiking club and Pastor Yuen and his family, Laurie, Fang Xiao and others mainly for sightseeing and picnicking. It turned out Fang Xiao was found having talent to take serious hiking activity. It was the first trip of Yu Wei and her doggy Xiao Wu in Nature You. Yu Wei said she had brought Xiao Wu hiked in Bear Mountain area in which she got there by taking train and then transferred to bus. It was much easier today because the Club arranged carpool for all hikers.

We arrived at the Picnic Area by 11 am. We were 30 minutes late so Pastor Yuen’s church group had started their own hiking trip by climbing up the ski track. I captured a large BBQ site for the church but knew later they had cancelled the idea of doing BBQ. I found Pastor Yuen in the parking area and told him to group their friends together at 12:15 pm for a 3 or 5 miles trip. The yellowish leaves on many trees were pretty models of Dawn, Esther, Sophia and Rose. Therefore, I gave my teammates 1 hour of free time for either photo taking or taking lunch. We started hiking along Yellow Trail at 12:30 pm. When Pastor Yuen saw my teammates, he said our equipment reflected that we were professional hiking group. The sceneries along the Lake were terrific. We took picture with those reddish or yellowish trees. There was enough sunshine that made all the leaves transparent in front of the cameras. Philip, Bao Gong, Chen, Helen, William and Yu Wei couldn’t wait to reach William Brien Shelter. Fang Xiao followed my pace and felt easy to climb up that steep section. Philip explained his experience to William that the difficulty of hiking long distance depended on presence of how many up and down slopes. It would be relax if there were no slopes on that route. Esther and Dawn were just on time to join into the group picture outside the Shelter. I predicted the church group might have difficulty to reach the Shelter. I expected they would return along the same Yellow Trail and called it a 3 miles hiking trip. Fang Xiao decided to join the 5 miles team to finish the entire journey.

I led the team continued into AT and let the front people flew. The color in the mountain wasn’t too great so we could focus on hiking. Esther and Dawn had to run to chase me because they had spent a few minutes on photo taking. When we turned into Seven Lakes Drive, I had only Sophia, Dawn, Rose and Esther hiked with me. The photographers found pretty leaves next to a stream so they ran into the scenery. We took even a small group picture in front of the colorful trees. Esther found the leaves of a tree were all brown but the leaves were so shiny and their textures liked plastic. Rose and I proceeded to take photos at the Lake Nawahunta. The reflections of blue sky, colorful vegetations and white clouds on the Lake were so pretty. I thought all photographers weren’t disappointed to have joined this trip. I led them found the Yellow Trail again and reached back Silvermine Lake Picnic Area at 3:45 pm. It was a 5 miles trip of which new hikers might think it too easy because we had 1 mile on Seven Lakes Drive.

Rose, Dawn and Esther found the softness of sunshine at 4 pm, Rose immediately requested 20 more minutes which excluding restroom break to take pictures at Silvermine Lake at this perfect time of sunset sunshine. I was told she had taken 800 shots in her camera. It was a perfect day for hiking and an appropriate time to see fall foliage in that area.

Three Parks in One Day
October 15 2011

We tried to be early as I predicted the parking spaces would be in demanded. We met at 6:45 am at Palisades Parkway and reached there before 8 am but were told that we had to pay $12 per person to enter Mohonk Preserve. Since we weren’t ready and didn’t feel reasonable to pay such a high fee, we decided to change the plan to hike at the nearby Minnewaska Preserve. While we were lined up at the entrance of Minnewaska at 9 am, I had time to clear up my mind. I had Bao Gong, Max, Jennifer, Dawn, Queenie, Anthony, Paula, Chung Kwong, Vivian, Kaichiao, Esther, Janet, James, Yat, Karen, Kitty, Ary, Philip and Joan in the team. Most of them had visited Minnewaska but never went Sam’s Point Preserve. I immediately made up my mind to change the location again and decided to drive 30 minutes more to Sam’s Point. It was first and last trip of Kitty with Nature You as she would head back to Hong Kong next week. We wouldn’t see Joan again this year because she only promised herself 2 hiking trips per year and her quota had been made after this trip.

With the help of Anthony and his GPS, we arrived at Sam’s Point Preserve Visitors Center around 9:45 am. Since we had gone through 3 Preserve Parks this morning, Jennifer suggested me to give out 3 stamps to capture the record of today. I said no because I didn’t want to put zero miles under the mileage of previous two Parks. Even we had to start at 10 am, I insisted to follow the scheduled 9 miles route to cover the entire area of pretty sceneries. We followed Blue Long Path Trail climbed up to the landmark of Sam’s Point viewpoint. The colorful vegetations at the far front attracted at least a few hundred shots. The wind was very strong and cold that we couldn’t stay too long. We continued on the carriageway and turned into Blue Trail facing Verkeerder Kill Falls. The reddish blueberry leaves and greenish pine trees created a big color contrast that held both photographers and models here. A short period of sunshine kicked in that made the teammates crazy because it was such an important element for photo taking. While the front hikers were taking lunch at the waterfall, Esther, Dawn, Vivian, Janet, Chung Kwong, Joan, Queenie, Kitty, Paula and Yat were still half mile away. The trail was flooded so those sneakers hikers had to hike very carefully in order to keep their feet dry. The last spot of the trail was covered by rough stream so we had to walk on overflowing water. Chung Kwong and Joan decided to take the shoes off because they would like to continue the journey with dry feet. The running water on Joan’s bare feet was so cool and comfortable that she had never experienced before. We took lunch together at the spot where we could overlook the Fall.

The sky turned into cloudy and finally rained heavily. Those who had prepared umbrella and raincoat were smart. For those didn’t bring any rain gear, we hid under the pine tree. As the temperature was pushed down by the strong cold wind, there was hail shower for a few minutes. We were lucky that the size of hail was only as small as beads; otherwise we might get hurt by the falling ice from the sky. We finished 3 miles so far. When I threw out the option of short cut, Joe said he sure wouldn’t take it because he took it last year when his leg was hurt. Vivian wanted to turn back because she wasn’t wearing enough. Anthony gave her silver space blanket to wrap on her body. She joked it might become a new fashionable outfit for hikers. As Chung Kwong had an extra jacket to share, it gave Vivian possibility to keep hiking on the prettiest 3 miles of today’s trip.

We continued on Blue Trail and then switched to Red Trail. The Red Trail on the ridge brought us to climb to some high points with white rocks. There were enough dwarf pine trees and red leaves on the trail. In addition with the yellow and brown leaves in the valley, the colorful nature slowed down the pace of Dawn, Esther and Chung Kwong. The only element that missing was sunshine but Chung Kwong felt a little wet matched the loneliness of Autumn. The trail was also slippery and full of puddles. Kaichiao fell 3 times which was her personal record high. I finally saw few more hikers at the junction of carriageway that included Bao Gong, Max, Jennifer, Anthony, Vivian, Janet, Queenie, Joan, Paula, Ary, Yat and Kitty. Since it was too windy to wait too long, only Anthony and I waited for Chung Kwong, Karen, Esther, Dawn and Kaichiao. The last 3 miles on carriageway was flat and wide. Anthony, Chung Kwong and Karen persuaded me to bring them to Indian Rock. We went into the Yellow Trail along boardwalk and found the huge rock in the mountain. Anthony was brave enough to jump over a gap and climbed up to take a photo with the Indian head. We took this extra mile and finished 10 miles by 4:30 pm. Most teammates had left except Philip who was nice enough to serve us the croissants which were brought by Max.

Catch You
October 9 2011

There were basically 2 portions of hiking trails in Storm King State Park. Most people hiked only 1 in relax pace but it was possible to cover both in a trip. We had 16 people today in which Simon, Rose, Jennifer, Masa and Janet preferred to hike more. Bao Gong, Max, Dawn, Chung Kwong, Kaichiao, Helen, Esther, William, Felice and Zhong Xin preferred to take more photos. It turned out the 4 miles team had waited 2 hours at the parking lot for the 8 miles team.

We arrived at the parking lot at 9:45 am and started hiking at 10 am. The Orange Trail next to the parking lot was so steep that Kaichiao exhausted after climbing 200 feet. Her cardio-respiratory function wasn’t so good to support her climbing up steep slope without a warm up section. The photographers took the chance of taking photos while Kaichiao, Zhong Xin and Bao Gong were taking a long break. The views from the viewpoints were terrific especially we had enough sunshine. Simon disappeared at the front so we took the group picture at the third viewpoint where I could catch him. Since there was 4 miles difference between 2 teams, it was time to split at this point. We were surprised to hear Rose and Simon to join the long team. Rose had hiked 10 miles yesterday and Simon usually took the easy way. Simon said the weather was nice for hiking while Rose wanted to train herself. As both trips were long hikes, Max hoped Rose wouldn’t be exhausted to dead because she had already got 1 more stamp.

I told Chung Kwong the route of 4 miles trip and set the time to meet at the parking at 4 pm. Simon, Masa, Jennifer, Rose and I went fast into Yellow Trail and then the Blue/Red Trail descending Storm King Mountain. It was rare to have 2 colors on 1 trail mark. After 0.5 mile on Blue/Red Trail, the Yellow Trail brought us back to the summit of the mountain. While I was thinking about where to take lunch, I heard the noise of a group of Chinese hikers at the White Trail. The voice was so familiar but I dared not to believe because the short team should be behind us. Sure it was our teammates who were taking early lunch at a great viewpoint. If I wasn’t wrong, it would be the reason that they changed their route. Chung Kwong said they couldn’t locate the Blue/Red Trail so they decided to reverse the route now. It was great to meet friends in the mountain. Since we still had a long way to go, we couldn’t join their lunch break. I joked I had caught a group of students who skipped the class. Janet took this last chance and decided to transform herself into a long team member.

We finished the White Trail and descended from the Blue Trail. I stopped at the junction of Blue and White Trail reminding everyone to memorize this point. This White Trail was the only trail to bring us back to the parking lot. Once we picked Blue Trail, it would be the beginning of the nightmare because we had to descend deeply and climbed back to this point afterwards. I brought them descended to hit the river and then stopped at the trailhead of White Trail. I let Simon, Jennifer and Masa left first as I had to wait for Janet and Rose. We set our lunch point to be at the parking lot of Route 293 closed to Stillman Spring. When we reached the parking lot, I was surprised that I didn’t find Simon and others. I presumed they might not like to eat at the roadside so hiked further and took lunch at the Blue Trail. Only Rose and I were hungry and Janet used this break time to call her friends. The lunch time was short because I worried about those 3 disappearing teammates. After about 10 minutes hike on Blue Trail, I got the phone call from Simon. They were actually behind us!

The story was they went directly into Route 293 which wasn’t the parking lot. Simon found out now we were eating in 2 different spots which were only 20 feet apart. I told them to chase us because our pace was a little slow. We still had long and difficult way to go and I didn’t want the short team to wait too long. I didn’t stop even we had passed a few viewpoints. Masa caught up my pace and hiked with me. We stopped at a shaded area before the North Point where Janet was the next one arrived. Rose came soon to take photos for us. We continued on Blue Trail after enjoying the nice view from North Point. The Blue Trail brought us descended 550 feet and then ascended back 500 feet. This was the real challenge of our leg muscles. Jennifer and Masa were at the front while Janet, Simon and Rose were struggling at the back. I was lucky to catch Jennifer and Masa before they ran too far into the wrong direction of the White Trail. They sighed that they still need a hiking leader even they were so experienced in hiking long distance trips. Even Esther called and told me they had been waiting for us since 3 pm, I had to sit on that spot to wait for the arrival of last teammate. I couldn’t take any chance though I had mentioned to everyone about this junction of Blue and White Trail. We finally all finished 8 miles at 4:45 pm.

Chung Kwong told me they had come across a snake on their trail. There were some teammates intended to catch the wild animal so he reminded them of not interrupting any animals or plants on the trail. It was very important that we had to follow the codes of conduct which I had printed in our hiking passport.

7, 10, 12 and 15 Miles
October 8 2011

Likely 7 was a lucky number for this trip. Janet found she had signed up for the wrong trip and Moon replaced her spot at last minute. We still had 7 people in this trip. Others were Philip, Rose, James, Karen and Anthony. I decided to change the route from 12 miles on R-D into 6.5 miles on R-D and returned along AT and TT trails. This helped to save time for preparing shuttle in the morning without downgraded the level of difficulty. Karen, Anthony and Rose targeted on a shorter version of only 10 miles. Anthony told me at the trailhead that he would look for any possibility of hiking even less. We started from Ramapo at 9:30 am after taking a group picture at the parking lot. I knew it would be the only chance that I could see the whole team.

We climbed on steep uphill slope for first 2 miles and gained almost 1,000 feet. Philip, James and Anthony were at the first tier and Karen and Rose were moving slowly at the back. The trail was filled with movable stones that we had to hike in extra cautious. Moon and I were puzzled when we walked in a section without trail mark. We went back 200 feet to ensure we located the last trail mark. We stopped at junction of Blue Cornell Mine Trail to make sure Rose and Karen wouldn’t return from this trail. They were in good mood even the trip was so difficult. Karen said it was a big breakthrough of her to hike 10 miles especially on such a trip of high level of difficulty. When Moon led us continued on R-D, she screamed and ran away from the trail. I knew the only thing could scare her in the mountain was snake. I could hardly locate the tiny baby snake under the leaves. Moon said though the baby snake was as small as a chopstick, it had scared her because it was only 10 inches from her left foot.

We passed the Bald Mountain but we had no time to spend there. Since Karen and Rose would hike 2 miles less so Moon and I had to speed up. We pushed up the fast gear for 30 minutes and reached the Blue Trail at 11:30 am. We were 4 miles away from the Shelter which was impossible to reach there for lunch before 1 pm. I just hoped we could catch up Philip, James and Anthony so Moon and I wouldn’t be too late to finish the trip. We continued on R-D and took a break until we saw the Red Cross Trail. Even the Timp Pass Trail was tempting to reach the Shelter in 30 minutes, we insisted to complete the planned route. When we were climbing on the cliff, I got the call from Philip who told me they were taking lunch at the next viewpoint. It was so nice to see other hikers. Anthony had found a shorter route so he decided to give up the Shelter and descended along Blue Trail. He probably could reach his car around 2:30 pm and finished 7 miles. This was a tough 7 miles though. We finished lunch around 1:30 pm and knowing Rose and Karen were still about 10 minutes away from the Shelter. We finished only 5 miles and there were still a lot of ups and downs in front of us.

We completed 6.5 mile on R-D and then ascended back 500 feet from AT Trail. Moon was still the best hiker of going uphill. After 0.5 mile on Blue Trail, we reached the Shelter at 3 pm. We were late for an hour so Karen and Rose had left. We didn’t stop at the Shelter and descended from West Mountain. Philip sped up intended to catch up the ladies in front of us. James joined my group from now on. We hiked slowly on Blue Trail because we were tired. James concluded that was the toughest hiking trip he had ever joined even it was only 12 miles. We took few breaks and some pictures with the yellowish leaves. The trail was full of shades and breeze which was perfect for hiking. I got the phone call from Rose knowing Anthony had left around 4:30 pm so we didn’t need to be too rushed. We finished 12 miles by 6 pm and found Karen and Rose who had completed 10 miles were sitting outside the cars. I was so surprised that Philip hadn’t come back yet. He ought to be in the wrong trail and still struggling in the mountain. I called him and he told me he was descending along 1777 Red Trail. I drove him back to the parking lot from a trail that ended nearby. The story was he entered into an unmarked trail and then turned back to Blue Trail. Unfortunately, he hiked on the opposite direction so spent 2 more hours on Blue Trail. He was so discouraging when he saw the Shelter again after hiking up and down in that area for 2 hours. He was an experienced hiker so knew how to survive in the mountain. After reading the map and located the 1777 Red Trail, he descended along the shortest trail. He hiked about 15 miles today. Even we only had 7 hikes but we had hiked on 4 different routes.

A Trail Under Good Maintenance
October 2 2011

It was the second trail maintenance trip of this year. New faces included Judy and Kim. Helen and William joined again after knowing their friend Bao Gong was involved a lot recently. Other hikers included Harry, Jennifer, Max, Dawn, Lina, Masa, Janet and Philip. Our assignments were cleaning up the trash and cutting the bushes that invading the trail. We had to wait for next time on painting trail marks because Ray and Sarah couldn’t make it today. We arrived at the parking lot of Cornell Mine Trail at 9:45 am. After distributing the gloves, garbage bags and big scissors, we started along Blue Trail at 10 am. I was surprised to see Dawn was carrying the heavy scissors. She said it was the only item left behind after everyone picked their instruments.

The trail was kind of clean and the bushes were under control. Less than 10 items were thrown into each garbage bags. The 1.5 miles uphill Blue Trail was tough for the new hikers. Harry was the first one finished and I had seen stream coming out from his body because of the energy he generated. Kim was the last one sitting down on a stone. Kim told me the uphill slope at the beginning was so difficult that she thought she wouldn’t be able to complete 6 miles. I gave them a treat and let them rest enough. We were fast on this section because we didn’t need to spend too much time on trail maintenance. We were just 10 minutes away from Bald Mountain, the best viewpoint and lunch point of today.

We hiked on R-D after a long break. We were at the summit of Bald Mountain, where all hikers enjoyed the view at this wide open spot. Here we could clearly see Bear Mountain Bridge, Hudson River and Perkins Tower. The weather was nice and perfect. The bright sunlight gave us warm because it was a cool day. Even it was only 11 am, I announced we should take lunch at this time. Max said it was too closed to his big breakfast which was taken at 8 am. He decided to skip lunch and just chatted with new friends about his Alaska RV adventure. I treated everyone a cold watermelon that I carried up. Dawn didn’t feel lonely without Rose and Esther because Janet was there. Lina came without Sandy but she was still happy to take picture for Bao Gong. I assigned Dawn to be the group picture director when Rose was absence.

After I explained to everyone about the next checkpoint, I let the fast hikers left me. I stayed in the middle because there were many new hikers in the team. We hiked 1 mile on R-D and I found the front team waited at the junction of 1777 E. I waited for everyone to arrive. Philip gave me full confidence on my leadership said there would be no mistake if they saw me in the team. When we were ready to go on 1777 E, Jennifer had a little confused about from which trail we came from. The 1777 E was basically downhill trail and it was so slippery. I saw Dawn fell 2-3 times and I immediately advised Janet to pull out her hiking pole. Judy thanked me for lending her a hiking pole because it was undoubtedly her third leg which could help her balance when walking on slippery rocks.

We descended almost 500 feet and went through the Doodletown. Those historical sign boards attracted the eyes of new hikers. Kim was interested to know where the residents grew their crops in that day when transportation wasn’t so convenience. I stopped Janet and Masa before the sign of a waterfall. I decided to bring the group to visit the waterfall because of enough rainfall recently. We spent enough time at the noisy spot so hikers could either take picture or rest. Bao Gong, Janet and Dawn took pictures on a fallen trunk which looked liked a horse saddle. When we were at the last 0.5 mile spot of Blue Trail, I requested everyone got ready for picking up garbage. Since the first section of the Blue Trail was so clean, Bao Gong betted we wouldn’t even find 5 garbage bottles today. He lost because the section closed to the parking lot had a lot of garbage to be picked up. We finished 6 miles by 2 pm and enjoyed the treats from Max and Masa at the parking lot. As the trail condition wasn’t so bad, I suggested we actually needed only to come once a year.