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.

Different Grading Systems
July 17, 2010

There were about 15 people signed up for this trip but only 5 people could join. It was because we were short of cars on this weekend. 2 drivers couldn’t make it so I regretfully had to turn down 9 late registrants. My car could take only 4 more and the winners were Sherry, Eric, Rose and Chung Kwong. It was the first blueberry picking trip for Chung Kwong so he was so exciting to see fruits in the nature and picked for fun.

We arrived at the parking lot before 9:30 am but no one remembered it was the same one that we took a picture on the 20 miles trip. I joked it was nice to know that I led a group of hikers who could never hike on their own. We started by crossing Route 106 on White Bar and switched to White Nurian Trail. It was a hot day so we sweated a lot at those 3 very steep spots of uphill slope. Sherry was a beginner so got support from Eric and Chung Kwong was hurt in the trip of last week so gained help from hiking poles. We slowly climbed up to the big bare rock. I asked Sherry to sit exactly on the same spot that she stayed for 3 hours on the moon watching evening to capture back her memory. We were at the summit where blueberries were exposed to us and we were also very exposed to the sun. I brought the group to the bushes where I remembered we found a lot of blueberries last year. It was disappointed that the fruits were very small according to my standard. It might defeat Chung Kwong more if he thought about the blueberries in supermarket. There were big difference in grading systems of blueberries between nature and farms. But, here we produced only organic products.

Since it was not so hot in the morning, we started picking some bigger ones to make sure we wouldn’t go home with empty containers. Rose didn’t have enough hands as she had to carry 2 hiking poles, prepare a camera, pick blueberry, hold a plastic container and throw blueberry into her mouth. Sherry and Eric were not eager to pick so only threw a few into a plastic bag. Chung Kwong picked and helped to fill up my container and Rose’s. After a few minutes of warming up, everyone got into the mood of picking when Eric asked me to give him my extra container. I needed to pull the group to move on as I remembered there were other blueberry fields on the trail. I kept searching at the front to spot for better target of attack. Nothing was too good on the route we reached the Bare Rocks Shelter at 11:30 am. As it was too early for lunch and too far from the mission fulfilled, I suggested going on Yellow Trail to Bowling Rocks. I was sure we had good harvest there last year. We took group pictures with Eric’s handsome pose and Sherry’s pretty pose on the sides. Finally, we located a blueberry field on Yellow Trail. We found our main battlefield. The fruit was big enough and easy enough to be picked because these were tall trees. In order to look for bigger fruit, we had to leave the trail and went into the bushes. Sherry was now very excited to pick more while Eric concerned more on safety. He said he would rather hit the bushes to frighten away any snakes underneath.

We combined our fire net on the same trees to try to complete the mission. We kept hiking on Yellow Trail to look for more good spots. It was so fast that we had spent an hour and it was time for lunch. When we turned back along Yellow Trail, we found another target trees. I thought no one needed lunch before we filled up all our plastic containers with blueberries. As time was late, we decided to take lunch on Yellow Trail under a shade with breeze. I refilled my water bag after lunch and now I had another empty bottle to be a new container for blueberries. There were blueberry bushes right at the lunch spot. I was magnetized to the bushes immediately. Sherry’s container was full so she asked me for another empty bottle for Eric. The AmiGor and AmiGal were working hard again without a long lunch break. Rose and Chung Kwong were in a team but 50% of Rose’s pick were put directly into her mouth.

We finished only 3 miles by 2:30 pm because at least 2 hours spent on blueberry picking. We turned back to R-D approaching Blue Lichen Trail. There were still some blueberry fields but the sun was too strong so we had no much mood to stay. My forearms were colored with a thin layer of chocolate. The bare rock formation on R-D attracted models to pose. We met a huge group of Korean hikers in opposite direction. We turned into Lichen Trail following the trail marks with a letter L. Chung Kwong and Rose were disputed on who was the owner of this trail because they both had an L on their last names. Rose would probably want to forget this trail because she carelessly knocked at a rock and hurt her knee. We completed the L trail and spent 15 minutes on Red A-SB Trail. We had last 2 miles on relatively flat White Bar which was kind of easy. There were no more blueberries on this section but also no much breeze. Chung Kwong had difficult time as his knee pain kicked in. Rose felt she had eaten enough during the hiking so she generously gave me about half a bottle of blueberries. It turned out that only Sherry and I brought home 2 full containers of flesh blueberries. We finished today 6 miles by 5 pm with 2.5 hours on handwork instead of footwork.

Father of Hiking Passport
July 11, 2010

There were six names on the thank you list of Nature You website, not many of us knew who Ray Lin was. Ray was the voluntarily webmaster of the Club and actually also Father of our Hiking Passport. It was his initial idea of giving out a record book to hikers to put down the trip they joined and a souvenir after the event. I modified and beautified his idea into an information booklet and implement the stamp collection game. It was Ray and Sarah’s first trip with Nature You this year. Another new hiker was Eric who came from New Jersey. Others included Ken, Anthony, Ray Ray, Leon, Magdalene, Emily, Chung Kwong, Rose, Esther, Philip, Kelly, Sam and Moon.

We hiked on most part of Cornell Mine trail before but we had the mission to go through the full course today. It was because Ray and Sarah started being the volunteers of maintaining this trail this year. It was Nature You’s pleasant to co-maintain this trail with them. It was a new era for the Club as we could contribute to the New York hiking community and claimed we had a trail called Cornell Mine Trail.

We started at 9:45 am along Blue Cornell Mine Trail targeting Bald Mountain. Ray and I were discussing about what else should be done on this trail in next trail maintenance trip. The trail was actually very clean except the water pool closed to the parking lot. Eric carried a huge camera bag because he had brought a complicated camera. Ken told him he also had a good camera but Emily banned it on all hiking trips because it was too heavy. I asked if Ray knew where Cornell Mine was since the trail was named by it. He said he would prepare the map and brought us there next time. It was very steep at the last portion of the trail. We had to climb 900 feet within 1 mile. It was not easy for new hikers. Ken joked were there any trails which had no up hill or down hill slopes. Ray Ray and Leon were at the front for 30 minutes but couldn’t keep up to the top. Once again, Moon was the first one touched base on uphill slope. I was the third because the 15 pound watermelon pulled me back. Kelly sweated liked shower. Sam enjoyed the tough exercise. Magdalene was faded to know we finished only 1.25 miles of Blue Trail so far.

Even I was almost cramp because of the watermelon, I decided to cut it at the Bald Mountain as we would have a better viewpoint. I brought the team climbed up more on R-D and reached the best viewpoint of the day. We could oversee the Bear Mountain and Hudson River with Bear Mountain Bridge at the far end. I served everybody a cold and sweet watermelon included 2 other guest hikers on site. Eric was first too shy to take since he never enjoyed a cold watermelon at the mountain top. The scenery was so pretty that if it was a cloudy day, we would probably take a nap here. My plan was to take lunch at Bear Mountain Recreational Area where Magdalene could use the civilized restrooms. I brought the team left the viewpoint and returned to the R-D. It was my fault that I didn’t realize a few photographers were still shooting, only half team could follow me with the correct direction. I found Ken, Emily, Philip, Chung Kwong, Esther and Rose were missing after 15 minutes. I waited 10 minutes which was enough to eliminate all the hopes. When I was ready to go back to search them, I got the phone call from Chung Kwong. He knew they went to the wrong direction so he would bring back the missing team. As we had waited too long, I asked Ray and Sarah to wait and bring them on an unmarked trail while I would lead others to hike according to the plan. We stopped at the intersection of R-D and 1777. I thought it was the point of meeting them so I told my teammates to take lunch. I realized I was wrong after 30 minutes, so we wrapped up and hiked along 1777 until another junction where cut an unmarked trail. They were there for almost 15 minutes. Rose said there ought to be some drugs in the watermelon so they lost conscious and went into the wrong route. It was disastrous that Chung Kwong hurt his knees again because of running back too quick on the return trail.

We continued with the lunch break. As we had spent extra time on waiting and taking lunch and extra energy on bonus miles, I didn’t think we had time to visit Bear Mountain Recreational Area. We hiked down slopes along 1777 which was easy and relax because it was full of shades. We passed Doodletown remains and spent photographic time at Doodletown Reservoir. The mile on 1777E was almost flat. When we reached the intersection of 1777E and Blue Trail, we had a decision to make. Most people thought it was too hot, too tired, too important to know the World Cup soccer final game and too curious to know what Moon had prepared us the after-hike treats, we decided to finish the trip by hiked along the last quarter mile on Cornell Mine Trail. We finished 5 miles at 2:30 pm. We were clear about our 2 miles Cornell Mine Trail and would be back in October to do some maintenance jobs.

Un-uniformed Civil Soldier Squad
July 3, 2010

It was a hot day and probably first day of long weekend, I had only 4 names on the signed up list. Fai was a hiking friend that I knew for decade but it was his first trip in Nature You. Raymond was a new hiker who would like challenging trip. Moon was an important asset of the team because we couldn’t claim us an un-uniformed civil soldier squad without her.

Seven Hills was named because the route had passed 7 hills tops within 7 miles. Since the Blue trail lay between Visitors Center and Lake Sebago, I was lucky to have 2 cars today to make shuttle possible. I put Fai’s car at the endpoint at Lake Sebago and we started from Visitors Center at 10 am. The first mile was a warm up section before the elbow turn to climb the first hill. There were enough of shades so it was a pleasure walk. Somebody dig out and put a giant mushroom on a rock at the trail. It was the largest mushroom I had ever seen which was quite similar but even bigger than Raymond’s hat. I joked if Raymond wanted to switch his hat with nature. Fai claimed it was his first hiking trip after roughly 7 years of hibernation. That was why I didn’t hear any news or see him in any hiking trip. It was my pleasure to be the first trip leader of him to celebrate for his returns. After a short break at the junction of Blue and Orange Trail, I announced we would go a little more on Orange Trail to Ramapo Torne because we had new hiker who never been there. The scenery would be guaranteed excellent which no one would complain of this quarter mile. We took pictures of the area and also to the sky because at least 5 eagles were on duty patrolling. Raymond was an alto phobia so he dared not standing too closed to the cliff edge.

We went back along Orange Trail and continued on Blue Trail. The trail bought us to a summit and climbed down a steep slope. We climbed up the second hill and followed by the third hill. Moon recognized this spot because she thought it was a wall without trail when she was first time here 2 years ago. We climbed up steep slope to the top and enjoyed another good view over the green valley. It was very hot and no much shades along the trail. After finished 4 hills, I found a small tree in an area with breeze so declared we should take lunch at that spot. The shaded area was big enough just liked a table for 4 persons. Raymond said he didn’t really feel sweating after completion of climbing 4 hills. I hoped he has no problem on his body’s ventilation process.

We had a nice chat during the lunch because we were sitting closed. Fai shared his hiking experience and knowledge to the new hikers. We continued on the trip and the trail brought us to a bridge in 20 minutes. Here was where I planned to take lunch and now we could take a group picture with the help of other hikers. I brought them to face the fifth hill which was very tough because we had descended a lot. There were few spots required rock climbing. I told them there was the best viewpoint of this trail up there. The green valley was again in front of us with a few pine trees. Raymond made a pseudo rock climbing picture in order to make a joke with his mom. The sixth hill was not too tough but the trail was on the uncovered summit. It was not easy because it was such a hot and sunny day. We took picture at the spot which Moon made the stamp from. It was a large trail mark with a big blue number 7 on the ground. Moon first found 4 soldiers sitting on the trail. I dared not to say anything when we passed them because I was not sure if they were in a mission. This was the first squad we met.

About 50 yards from the first squad, we saw the second squad resting off the trail. I was afraid that they were in a fighting game and they would fire at each other so I passed them quick. Then we saw the third squad which was on feet. It was again a team of 4 soldiers with 1 female. They were carrying bullet boxes. Raymond was wondered if they would be very hot to wear thick uniform to hike under such weather. After a few hundred yards, we met another squad on the trail which was carrying plastic barrels. We dared to ask the pretty female soldier knowing they were student soldiers from West Point. They were in a 3 weeks continuously training program in the mountain. The fifth and sixth squad appeared on the right side of the trail seemed they were searching something at the bushes. The sixth squad even followed us for a few hundred yards on the trail. Moon said we were the un- uniformed civil soldier squad in the mountain because we were also a 3 men 1 woman formation.

I felt sorry of forgetting to take a picture with any soldiers because it was never happened in my hiking experience. The Blue Trail bought us downhill and we could see the endpoint in a few hundred yards. Here came out the seventh squad with only 2 men 1 woman crossing the trail. Moon and I stopped them to take pictures and knowing there were about 60 squads in the mountain. We finished 7 miles by 3 pm. We met 7 squads and Fai completed his first trip after 7 years of silence.

The Moon on the Stamp
June 26, 2010

It was the full moon day on Saturday so I planned this moon watching trip hoped to catch the pretty stages of moon rising. For those relatively new hikers, hiking with headlight or flashlight were also exciting and adventurous. I had all 16 hikers continued on this second program after hiking for 5 miles. We saw Feng’s family included Denise, Irena, Sabrina, Lu and Dong Sheung in the parking lot at 5:15 pm. Clara, Susie and Raymond were also waiting for us at the parking lot and brought us some fruits. I gave out the snacks bags, eating utensils, water and a portable stove for other hikers to carry. After a brief description of the destination, I sent Feng to lead the group climbing Black Rock Mountain along R-D. I had to pack 2 gallons of water and a watermelon into my big backpack and more important to wait for one last car. There were 2 other names on my list that were still missing.

I was carrying a 50 pounds backpack hiking slowly after Philip. Each uphill step was heavy and I could speak of nothing. Since the summit was within a mile, I knew I could handle. When I reached the intersection of R-D and White Trail, I saw hikers had been settled down. Chen’s family, Yu’s family, Ada & Alex’s and Eric’s group had set their bases while others were resting at the highest point. My plan was to set our base in another open area which was quarter mile away, but the cloudy sky disappointed me. I decided to stay here as they wanted because I predicted it was no way to see any sight of moon no matter where we stayed. I picked a spot for stove so I could prepare hot tea. The flat stone next to it could also be the cutting board of watermelon.

It was only about 6 pm so the sky was still bright. Photographers were busy shooting and painter Simon had found a good angle of the nature. He brought out his painting instrument and dissolved himself into his artistic world. People were enjoying chatting and the snacks that I brought. The weather with breeze was not bad except it was too cloudy. I got a gift of mosquito repellent sticker from Eric so I didn’t even feel flying insects. Feng gave comfort advice to all ladies that they should be happy to be targets because mosquitoes bit only those sweet ladies. Raymond served us some fruits and opened 2 cantaloupes. I boiled water to make tea but put in too much tea leaves liked cooking vegetable soup. The tea was so strong that Raymond said they might call me tonight if they couldn’t fall sleep at home. Moon said it was first time in her hiking experience that the whole group could sit down relaxed for almost 3 hours. The moon was still missing but 2 missing hikers appeared around 7:30 pm. They were Magdalene and Anthony.

Magdalene had just come back from Spain last night and joined this moon watching trip right away. Anthony had to work to 5 pm but still prepared us Lai Chee which was quite sweet. As everyone was here, I cut and shared the watermelon. Everyone was watching the sky but had no idea about where is east. I gave out the direction of east but Susie was puzzled by a bright object in the sky. She needed someone to persuade her with evidence that that bright object was the sun but not the moon. Philip concluded it was because I had forgotten to pray so we got a cloudy sky and the moon was hidden. As the sky was getting darker, Rose suggested taking a group picture before we lost our fingers.

Alex was so relaxed to have long chat with Ada, he said it was good to take a day off from the routine job and treated himself by do something different. Tammy, Queenie and Sherry had prepared enough food for every hour because I saw them continuously eating and pulled out a lunch box full of fried noodles at 8 pm. I could presume most food must be come out from Eric’s backpack. The sky was still cloudy around 9 pm. The moon must had been in the sky but blocked by thick clouds. I was afraid I had to disappointed Karen because she hibernated for a few months and came out today mainly for moon watching. The rural area after dusk belonged to wild animals. We heard a noisy bird in that area likely we were its unexpected visitors who stayed so late. I declared we would descend after 9 pm because no more reason to wait longer. I asked everyone prepared their flashlights or headlights. We turned into a miner’s team because most people carried headlights. Someone suggest taking a group picture with a background of deep darkness which reflected we had hiked at night. I requested the drivers to find all their passengers and we started hiking at 9:15 pm.

Magdalene and Anthony were at the front of the team. They joked that they came at last but left at first. Magdalene had the biggest responsibility as she was the one who break through the darkness and found the trail. When I looked back to the team, we were liked a long fire dragon. There were 27 lights so the trail was not too dark even without lights from sky. If night journey was not so risky, it was an activity with fun and excitement. The trail brought us back into a spot where Magdalene could not locate the next trail mark. Moon stepped up and found the trail so she led the last part of the trip. The shadow created by moving light could make something lively. Moon was scared by a yellow road sign which was similar to a killer in yellow raincoat. We reached Route 106 at 10 pm and finished 2 miles in this moon watching trip.

We were lucky that we didn’t have a single drop of rain even it had been cloudy for hours. But, sure we didn’t achieve our mission of watching different stages of moon rising. I would like all hikers to reserve another Saturday in October for another moon watching trip. At the meantime, we could only see the moon on the stamp because Moon had designed us a pretty night journey stamp with the biggest full moon I had ever seen.

When Talk about Ranger, Ranger is Here
June 26, 2010

If I told you I only saw park ranger 3 times on the trail in last 15 years, you would understand ranger was a really rare animal in Harriman State Park. Now I knew probably he was around and waited for us to call him out. I had 16 participants today in this afternoon trip which included new hikers: Queenie, Tammy, May, Ada and Alex. Experienced hikers included Simon, Jocelyn, Sherry, Rose, Esther, Eric, Karen, Philip and Moon. Chung Kwong was brave enough to join this trip to test his wounded knees after 2 weeks treatments.

As there were 2 programs on the same day and the later one began at 5 pm, we arrived at Route 106 at 1 pm. I planned to have a 5 miles hike within 4 hours to cover Parker Cabin Mtn. and Lake Skenonta. It was also liked a compensatory trip for those 20 miles hikers because we had omitted the Tom Jones Shelter on that day. We started at 1:30 pm from R-D climbing up Tom Jones Mtn. It was a long steep uphill slope. Queenie and Tammy were new but very eager to stay at the front because they were afraid of being left behind. Tammy was curious to ask me about how to handle the encounter with snakes. When Queenie knew I had a watermelon in my backpack, she suggested I should bring cold beer under hot day. As it was illegal to drink alcohol in the State Park, she joked how about filled up a water bottle with beer so a ranger wouldn’t realize.

Rose, Esther, Jocelyn and Simon could hike fast but they preferred to spend time on photo taking. Philip had few friends joined so he taught May how to hike. Ada used her brand new hiking equipment and carried a heavy backpack because she said she had to train herself. Alex felt hungry after 15 minutes so took snack breaks without hesitation. Chung Kwong tried to overcome the hard time of his not 100% recovered knee pain. Eric was so happy to have Sherry next to him. Karen said she joined today because of the moon watching trip tonight. I tried but could not locate the Shelter at Tom Jones Mtn.. Luckily, I had one more chance because we would hike on this R-D again later this evening. We kept on R-D to climb Parker Cabin Mtn. We found a blueberry field at the summit but the fruits were too small and not ripened. Moon led us to the junction of Yellow Trail.

I instructed the fast team to descend along Yellow Trail while I had to wait for the rest of the teammates. We finished 2 miles and reached the pretty Lake Skenonta at 3 pm where I cut the cold watermelon to serve the group. The sky, water, vegetation and watermelon were unforgettable factors for the hikers. Tammy called her husband onsite to tell him about how enjoyable this moment with sweet cold watermelon in the mountain was. Most photographers wanted more time at the Lake but I was afraid we would be late to meet the other hikers in the parking lot. I requested to wrap up and left the Lake along Victory Blue Trail. I requested the photographers to take only fast shots by now. Someone joked and talked about digging up a blueberry plant and moved to his backyard, I told him it was again illegal and would be ticketed by a ranger. While I was telling them about the very low chance of seeing a ranger on the trail, a ranger in a vehicle suddenly appeared in front of us. Likely, Lake Skenonta was a hot spot of where campers stayed overnight so rangers had to patrol there to make sure no fire would be illegally set. This encounter could totally modify the Chinese phrase into “When talk about ranger, ranger is here”.

We spent extra 15 minutes at a lakeside spot where we took the group picture. The Blue Trail was longer than I expected. We finished the paved road and passed through a pine tree forest before entered back to narrow uphill trail. The group was segmented so I planned to give a more challenging option for the front hikers to do more exercises. Moon, Karen, Esther and Rose were willing to climb up R-D with me to find the Tom Jones Shelter while the others would go continuously on the flat Blue Trail. I was surprised that Esther would join the uphill team. She said she joined because the sun had been gone so she wouldn’t feel too hot. Moon found the Shelter on the right side off the trail which was quite hidden by the trees. Later, we heard she screamed because she was scared by a hissing snake at the summit. We had to switch to the side to pass that dangerous spot.

We descended from Tom Jones Mtn. and heard noise down at Route 106. We reached the cars almost the same time as the other group. Feng’s family and Clara’s group were there since 5 pm. We finished 5 miles at 5:15 pm. I rushed in re-packing my stuff into a big backpack for the moon watching trip afterwards.

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.