nature-you.org Blog

98% on Leader’s Role
April 21 2012

After the tough 12 miles last week, I came up an idea of adding a tough 11 miles trip this week. I got good feedback that 7 people raised their hands but it turned out only 4 hikers could show up in the morning. They were Philip, Esther and Qing. The group was the smallest ever this year but elites were usually small number in a group. There were no photographers in the team that would pull back our speed. We had enjoyed a perfect trip under perfect hiking weather. Another record was broken on this trip was I could lead the entire team for 98% of the trip which was rare in last 4 years because we usually divided into few teams with more than 1 leader.

We arrived at the parking lot at Route 106 before 9 am. The designed route was 11 miles with enough of up and down slopes. Qing and Esther were satisfied with the mileage and level of difficulty. Since Philip was a serious hiker, I suggested if he wanted to go for extra mile to make it 12 miles. He said he preferred to hike with other teammates. Qing worried about the fast pace so she tried to minimize the load in her backpack. She was so happy later at the endpoint said she was smart to take away 1 pound included keys, raincoat and other stuffs from her backpack, otherwise she might not be able to complete this tough 11 miles trip. We crossed the Route 106 and began the trip from White Bar at 9:15 am. We switched to another White Trail in 0.5 mile which included the first uphill slope. Qing didn’t warm up enough so she had to stay at the back. When we were at the summit of Black Rock Mountain, the nice view rewarded her enough for the exhaustion. From her Buddhist point of view, she marked this one of the best spots to practice mediation in the mountain.

After a short break at the summit, we descended along R-D back to Route 106. The R-D brought us climbed up Tom Jones Mountain which was the second challenge of today. We met few CMC hikers as they were doing their 26 miles challenge. Qing asked me for the location of the first Shelter. It was too late because it was quite hidden away from the trail and we had already passed it. After a few up and downs on R-D, we had about 3.5 miles on Yellow Trail. This was the easiest slightly downhill trail which might be too boring for them. While I pushed up the odometer, the ladies were exchanging ideas about hand exercising. They had different schools of hitting their hands and arms to increase the blood circulation. Their practice added more sound and fun for the journey. Philip shared his secret of breathing in exercising with Esther and Qing. Esther tried and felt the extra power from this new way of air combustion. Philip suggested to the young hikers that if they could insist to hike tough 10 miles every week, they could keep fit and built up their endurance for sure. We hit the trail end of Yellow Trail and had descended a lot from the mountain. Qing was still fine even we hiked in the speed of 3 miles per hour. I decided to set the lunch point at a viewpoint instead of the pond area because the flies around the water might be hungrier than we could expect. Esther was so happy to find a piece of shade at the lunch spot.

The view over the nearby small Tuxedo town was peaceful. The lunch under breeze was even a bonus from the nature. Philip laid down to take a nap as when Qing was giving Esther and me pressure points stimulation to cure our allergies. Undoubtedly, my nose congestion was released because I could climb up the slope easy after lunch. Qing joked she shouldn’t have helped me so she could have a chance to follow my defected pace. There wasn’t any other hiker at our lunch spot. We took turn to be the photographer to shoot the group picture. Esther said even she didn’t bring her camera, but it didn’t stop her to give out professional comment on the picture that we took. We continued on R-D after lunch and reached the little pond. Esther gave up the idea of changing the route to Lake Skenonto to view the Mountain Laurel, if any. Qing was tired on the fourth uphill as expected so we waited for her to catch us up. I knew she had reached her limit but I was cruel enough to tell her the bigger challenge would be on the fifth and sixth hill.

We switched to White Bar and descended 300 feet into the valley. The girls didn’t know the parking lot now was 400 feet above us. When we were at the bridge before the last 2 uphill slopes, I asked Esther to lead the team as I needed to have a private break. This was the first and only time that I left the position of leading the team today. I caught them up after 10 minutes and back to my leading role. The fifth uphill was steep and long which totally exhausted Qing. It would also be a big difference for Esther if we climbed this hill in the morning. She needed to take a break in the middle even she had learned the new way of breathing from Philip. As we weren’t far away from the parking, we took a break at a viewpoint. We definitely refreshed a lot after the break so it wasn’t so bad when we climbed up the last hill. I pointed to a direction and told Qing it was where the other Shelter located. We supposed to see 3 Shelters but we eventually saw none today. It was because we changed the route to skip the first one and we had no energy to go extra distance to search the other two. We finished this tough 11 miles route at 3 pm. The pace was very quick and we had passed the test of our physical fitness.

Fear Factor at Pingyp
April 15 2012

There was a small portion of cliff on SBM Yellow Trail at Pingyp Mountain. Hikers had to overcome the height and climbed with hands or knees liked Spiderman. The worst situation was when the hikers had to climb down which meant they had to face the 500 feet depth valley in front of their eyes. By knowing the difficulty of the trail, I designed a trip with only 6 miles but we had the challenge of climbing up and down on the cliff. There was a longer version to double the mileage by hiking further down to Cats Elbow before heading back. Since we would hike only on Yellow Trail, I felt comfortable to make it an All You Can Hike trip. It turned out I had 12 miles hikers included Masa, Kok Chew and Moon; 11 miles hikers included Susie and Mike; 8 miles hikers included Anthony, Vivian and Chew Bian; 6 miles hikers included BaoGong, Sophia, Chung Kwong, Kaichiao, Josephine, Esther, Mary, Robert, Liang, Clara and Raymond.

We started from Route 106 at 9:15 am. The weather forecasted cloudy and possible to rain so I reminded people to bring the rain gear. Chung Kwong wore rain pants which made him sweated like shower on his legs. I worried about if the cliff might turn into very slippery if it would rain. We were blessed because no rain until 5:30 pm when we were all back to the cars. The weather was fine but I underestimated the fear factor index on individual hikers. The fears today at Pingyp would implant into someone’s mind and be their nightmares forever.

We climbed up a small slope to a giant rock called Irish Potato. The ambitious 12 miles teammates could only wait a few minutes to take few pictures before they disappeared at the front. I tried to stay in the middle so I wasn’t too far away from the back team. We descended 400 feet to the main road where I waited for the last person to arrive. I told them we were going to take the big challenge of climbing up the cliff from this point. Anthony, Mike, Susie, Vivian and Chew Bian were at the second group when I was hiking with Sophia, Raymond, Josephine, BaoGong and Liang. Kaichiao was shocked by the cliff so lost her direction by climbed up to a big rock. Chung Kwong ran to help her back to the hiking trail. I stayed at the high point to assist the new hikers how to tackle the climb. Kaichiao reminded me to reject her registration if she mistakenly signed up for Pingyp again in the future. After Sophia, Josephine and Kaichiao climbed and landed safely, I decided to chase the front team because they might not know where to turn back. I suggested the 6 miles hikers to take lunch at the viewpoint and returned around 12:30 pm. After fast walk for almost 1 mile, I caught the second team because they were taking lunch at the valley before The Pines. I was so happy to see some teammates because I didn’t have to take lunch by myself. Anthony and Vivian had decided to turn back at this point but Mike and Susie were hesitated to turn back. Mike said he didn’t afraid of hiking longer distance but begged me didn’t let his shaking legs climbed down from that cliff again. I showed them another route which could skip the cliff but would have to walk 2 miles on Palisades Parkway. Chew Bian intended to follow me to chase the front team but gave up after 5 minutes because she was defeated by the steep slope before The Pines. She decided to merge into Anthony and Vivian’s group. I brought Mike and Susie into the 1779 Blue Trail and I transformed back into a lonely hiker again. I hiked in full speed in order to catch Masa, Kok Chew and Moon. I supposed they should have started hiking back so I didn’t need to hike as much as them. After passing a huge area of burned land, I called to locate their position. They were taking lunch at Cats Elbow which was the 6 miles check point. As I wasn’t too far away from them, I climbed up the last steep slope to meet them.

Since I didn’t want the others to wait too long at the parking lot, I brought back the team without resting too much. When we hiked at the burned field, Kok Chew said we were liked hiking around a volcano because of the smell and ashes after the hill fire. We hiked as fast as possible to catch up the time. Masa enjoyed the high intensity of her endurance training. We reached back to the cliff at 2 pm when I called each team to know their locations. Anthony’s group wasn’t far from the endpoint. Chung Kwong’s group was struggling on the uphill portion before Irish Potato. Raymond said it was unbelievable that Esther picked up her speed so easy and climbed up the uphill slope without taking a break. I heard Kaichiao was scared to tears when she hiked down from the cliff. Mike’s team had missed the turn back into the trail so they would hike all the way along Route 106. Moon was good at uphill but was defeated on the downhill cliff. When we were back to the trail after climbing down from the cliff, Masa shouted out because she thought she had seen 2 black bears in front of me. I shocked but clarified immediately they were just 2 big dogs on leashes. We took a break before the endless uphill slope because I had symptom of leg cramp. I knew it was caused by the over abused of my legs during the chasing game after lunch.

Masa turned on the turbo and disappeared soon. Moon and Kok Chew were nice to wait for me as I had to struggle from leg cramping. When I reached at the parking lot at 4:30 pm, most cars had left except Mary and Robert. Chung Kwong said it was likely could only be happened in Nature You that we could have 3-4 sub-groups within a trip and we all enjoyed a full day of joy. We finished a tough trip of 12 miles.

Where is My Last Easter Egg
April 1, 2012

It had been more than 3 months after Philip’s last trip with us and my welcome gift for him was to provide an upgraded 3 more bonus miles option so he could enjoy a full day of hiking. It turned out Moon, Susie and Esther joined his team and freed me to lead the planned 6 miles trip. Other regular hikers included BaoGong, Simon, Sophia, Joe, Anthony, Kok Chew, Chew Bian, Magdalene, Chung Kwong, Kaichiao, Rose, Mary, Robert, Cheong, Liang, Clara and Raymond. It was first trip of Zhao and Cora in 2012 and Yi Ying’s first hiking trip in New York. When I gave out stamps to them, Cora said her hiking passport should be classified as multiple entries with validation for 10 years because she came only 2-3 times a year. All hikers were quite busy at the trailhead at 9 am. They had to be quick to prepare themselves because drivers had to move the cars to the trail end. I had to tell drivers the arrangement of car shuttle and described the details of the egg hunting game in the mountain. Moon was nice to help me to set up the game so we ran up the trail at 9:45 am. We would have 15 minutes while others were waiting for the drivers to come back.

Even the first mile was steep, it wasn’t so tough if people took time to hike slowly. Since someone might think the early birds could start the egg hunting first, I saw BaoGong, Joe, Liang and Susie raced to the summit. I held the group for 15 minutes to wait for more people. Magdalene and Susie tried very hard to go into the egg field by claiming they needed to go restroom at the front. I wasn’t cheated because I remembered Magdalene was one of the few hikers who couldn’t accept restroom without walls. Since we had been waiting for 15 minutes and I wasn’t sure if the photographers intended to play, I decided to bring those treasure hunters into the field where 28 eggs had been hidden. I heard the joyfulness shouting from Magdalene, Susie, Simon, Liang and Chew Bian. When the sweepers quieted for 5 minutes without any new discovery, I felt surprised because there were about 10 eggs unfound. When I told them to search again more carefully, Joe took out 2 hands of eggs from his pockets. He said he sat down didn’t mean to give up egg hunting. He stopped only because he had already found 7 eggs. The chocolates inside the eggs were first treat for the winners. The raffle for the coupons holders were the second prize for the lucky ones. The note books for those had found eggs were the third prize for those who had found a treasure. The fourth prize was the little souvenirs for everyone who had come today. My backpack was half empty after all prizes were given out.

We continued hiking after the game. Cora, Zhao and Yi Ying were surprised to see the fire tower and eager to climb up to see the entire area. Since the weather was cloudy with wind, I couldn’t let most hikers waiting too long. We kept on Yellow Trail and switched to Long Path in 1 mile. We arrived at Big Hill Shelter at 11 am. It was too early to go lunch but I gave enough time for hikers to go snacks, rest, chat and photo taking. The 9 miles team had been formed which composed of Philip, Moon and Susie. They would skip the visit to St. John’s Church and hiked towards Times Square before turning back to Lake Askoti. I would bring the main group to see the 100 years Church and took lunch at the picnic tables over there. I led the entire group for 1 mile and stopped at the trailhead of the unmarked trail. When I counted the 9 miles teammates again, I was surprised to find Esther. There ought to be an invisible power pushing her to hike more today so she changed her mind and joined the 9 miles team at last minute. We arrived at the Church soon and spread out our lunch on 2 picnic tables. We had variety of treats from many people liked cookies, sweet potatoes, fruits, chocolates and biscuits. I told Anthony everyone had prepared 2-3 meals which the quantity was good enough to stay overnight in the mountain. BaoGong joked the only thing we would gain from hiking was diabetes because most treats were so sweet.

Zhao and Yi Ying were curious to see the internal of the Church but they had no way to go in. Cora and Simon were surprised to see the entire Church was mostly built by durable granite stones. Rose found her name was carved on a plaque so took a picture of it. We continued on Long Path after lunch which was quite flat and easy. Our eyes were opened when we saw a huge area of yellow flower. All photographers found the brightest colorful target of today. Mary said this little yellow flower was called Di Di Gum which was a nightmare to her because its harvest would trigger the starting of her terrible allergy season. As I had to wait for the last hiker, my group arrived at Lake Askoti at 2 pm while the fast group had been waiting 15 more minutes. We had finished 6 miles which was a little bit too easy for most of us. The 9 miles group was back around 2:45 pm. Philip said nothing had changed within these few months when he was absence that Moon was still the best uphill hiker of Nature You. I counted now I had only got back 27 egg cells and 1 Easter egg was left in the mountain for next year’s game.

Baby Mosquitoes Attack
March 25 2012

Pine Meadow Lake likely was the most popular hiking spot in entire Harriman State Park. All three Chinese hiking clubs sent their troops today to Pine Meadow Lake. It was my first time that could meet both teams in the same day. We met Mr. Huang of Hicamp’s team at Equestrian Center because both of us started from the trailhead of Pine Meadow Trail. They would hike the 6 miles loop. I had 20 participants which included BaoGong, Simon, Dawn, Sophia, Joe, Anthony, Chung Kwong, Kaichiao, Vivian, Rose, Esther, Bik, Qing, Liang, Ary, Stanley, Vincent, Sam and Moon. It was the first hiking trip of Bik and she dared to take the 9 miles challenge. She was one of the four hikers who could run the body engines in the speed of 2 miles per hour regardless about the terrain.

As we would have 6 miles and 9 miles team, I asked Rose to take the group picture at the parking lot. Dawn brought us cake as a farewell treat because she had to leave New York temporarily. Anthony realized we used to eat Max’s treat after hiking and the situation was getting worse because we ate the big treat from Dawn even before hiking today. Qing felt she wasn’t fit enough to keep up with the fast pace so gave up of joining the 9 miles team. BaoGong joked it was a wise decision to switch to the bigger family of 6 miles team. I assigned 15 hikers to Anthony and led Sam, Bik and Moon ran forward in order to minimize the difference in time between 2 teams. Both teams had to climb up Ramapo Mountain in the first mile. Bik was quite tired but young enough to recover quick. When we reached the point of separation on Yellow Trail, I looked back and it was the last sight of the 6 miles hikers. They were also struggling on the steep uphill trail.

We turned right into Yellow Trail and continued with a section of steep uphill slope. It was the worst time for Bik because we had continuously climbed up 600 feet. Bik claimed her muscle was so tired that likely she would ask for her mom’s secret Chinese medicine oil tonight. We finished the Yellow Trail and switched into Red Trail. Red Trail was quite flat so we could speed up and hiked non stopped liked wind. We took a break at the trailhead of Breakneck Mountain Trail. Bik and Moon took a picture with a stone that B and M printed on it. What a coincidence! We kept on Red Trail for another 1.5 miles and reached Blue Trail. After 0.5 mile on Blue Trail, we then switched into Yellow Trail. We were now only 1 mile from the Pine Meadow Lake which was the designated lunch point for both teams. We met a small team ascending from the Yellow Trail and the leader was Nancy of CMC. It was a really big surprise because they used to hike on Saturdays. We chatted for about 5 minutes. Since it was almost 1 pm and quite late for lunch, we rushed to the Lake along Red Trail. I investigated both lunch spots and found only 2 other hikers sitting there. The natural power that could drive away human being was fierce attack by baby mosquitoes. We retreated from the Lake within 30 seconds because there were millions of baby mosquitoes covering this area. I guessed my wrinkle had killed 3-4 mosquitoes as they hit into my face. It was the worst situation I had ever encountered in my hiking history. We dared not open our mouths and had to breathe with a hand covering the nose.

We ran to a spot where further away from the water and took lunch there. Since I had lost contact with the other team, I decided to keep on the original hiking plan that was returned all the way along Red Trail. We might have a chance to catch them up. We turned on the turbo again on last 3 miles on Red Trail. When there wasn’t any more switch on trail, Sam could hike liked a bird. We went back to the trail of power line and saw the Equestrian Center from a distance. The only people waiting were BaoGong, Qing, Liang, Joe, Ary, Esther and Dawn. My team finished 9 miles by 2:45 pm while they finished around 2 pm. Qing told me they had a group discussion without me this afternoon that most of the new hikers had been challenged or rejected registration by me on their first or second trip. I explained to her this was what a responsible leader should do to ensure the safety of participants.

Should I Wait at the Parking Lot
March 17 2012

In order to compensate for the day off of last week, I intended to upgrade this trip from B into C. There were a few new faces in the group included Janet Chen, ZiJiang and David. Janet Chen could walk a lot but never hiked. She knew now the big difference between flat floor and sloped trail. Actually, she said she had thought about staying at the parking lot to wait for the group when she saw the equipments of all the teammates were so professional in the morning. She decided to take the challenge and it was sure an unforgettable trip in her life. Other hikers were Max, Dawn, Joe, Kok Chew, Chew Bian, Chung Kwong, Susie, Rose, Esther, Qing, Janet Tan, Karen, Cheong and Ary. Wing and Lydia returned after resting for years.

We started at 9:30 am along White Trail after a short briefing outside the Visitors Center. The weather was perfectly cool with sunshine. ZiJiang and David often hiked with other friends so they were experienced to lead at the front. When seeing ZiJiang wore a soldier’s pants, Rose guessed he had also brought his AK-47 in the backpack. The steep uphill slopes exhausted Lydia and Janet Chen. Susie and Wing could hike long but couldn’t take the lead. Max, Joe, Qing, Kok Chew, Chew Bian, Ary, Cheong, Karen and Janet Tan always stayed in the middle. I stayed at the back with Esther, Rose, Dawn and Chung Kwong to check the situation of the new hikers. After taking a break at a high point, we met a huge group of little boy scouts coming from the opposite direction. This gave us more time to rest before climbing up the wall-liked mountain. We finished the Blue Trail and I stayed at the intersection of Black Trail to wait for the back team. The endless up and down slopes on Black Trail had dried up Janet Chen. She fell on a downhill slope which showed her feet were very tired. Dawn said Chung Kwong was an important asset of the team because he was the emergency medical serviceman.

I gave Janet enough time to rest and decided to bring her through an easier route to reach Pine Meadow Lake. Someone needed to keep hiking on Black Trail because the front team might wait for us. I would take Janet switched to White Trail and Chung Kwong would lead others continuous on Black Trail. The White Trail was flat and wide. When we turned back to the Black Trail, Janet was so tired that she couldn’t bring up her leg over a rock and fell again. I talked to her to diversify her attention and we reached the Yellow Poached Egg Trail soon. I knew she could survive because she was only 3 flat miles from the parking lot. After seeing Esther and Dawn taking photos at the Lake, we found all teammates enjoying lunch and sunshine at the Pine Meadow Lake. David and ZiJiang had fallen into their after lunch nap time.

I saw Karen was holding the umbrella for Esther. Karen said it was a win win situation to carry the umbrella while Esther was eating lunch because she herself could also share the shade. Ary suggested staying longer to take this chance to receive more Vitamin D. I gave teammates an option of more sunbath or more exercise. The final outcome was Chung Kwong would stay longer and led Janet Chen, Rose, Janet Tan and Lydia descended back to the parking lot through Red Trail. I would lead the others to climb 1 more hill and descended along Blue, White and Red Trails. The climbing up along Yellow Trail wasn’t easy but we could have a nice view over the Lake. The fast hikers disappeared after knowing the direction on Blue Trail. I waited for the photographers at the back. When we were descending from the Blue Trail, Esther didn’t recall she had hiked on this trail so concluded I didn’t like to come to this area. Actually, we came at least 2 times per year but usually hiked from opposite direction. Susie pointed out the pretty poses of the pine trees so we took pictures at that viewpoint.

The fast hikers were nice to wait for us at the intersection of Blue and White Trail. I led the team on the White Trail where we could enjoy the natural rhythm from the little stream. It was also a test of quick decision making when we jumped on those huge stones. We had to decide which stone we should step on which was safe. A newly built wood bridge replaced the old one that was destroyed by Hurricane Irena. I took some solo photos for few hikers when they were on the bridge. We connected to Red Trail after White Trail which could bring us back to the parking lot. We finished 7 miles and reached the cars at 3:15 pm. Qing taught Esther and me how to try Buddhist mediation on the lawn outside the Visitors Center. Max brought us delicious treat as usual. It was understandable to wait for another 30 minutes until Chung Kwong’s team arrival because Janet Chen was exhausted and her feet were painful. She had learned deeply in her heart about the difference between park walking and hiking today.

Train and Train
March 4 2012

As I would like to accomplish both shopping and hiking together in 1 day, I chose to hike at Schunemunk Mountain because it was closed to Woodbury Commons. I dropped Sophia at Woodbury in the morning and promised to pick her up around 3 pm. It turned out, Sophia was so happy to have 3 more hours for shopping because the hike was more difficult than expected. We had BaoGong, Simon, Dawn, Joe, Chung Kwong, Rose, Esther, Mary, Robert, Raymond, Clara, Sam and James. It was Kwok’s first return after a few years and he brought his nephew and niece, Eric and Amy to experience what a tough hiking was.

Raymond’s car was late so we couldn’t start until 10 am. I planned to ascend to Megalith through Black Trail and descended along White Trail after a section on Long Path. I realized there might be big difference in hiking abilities among the hikers but hopefully the fast hikers could hike on their own and I could stay behind for the slower ones. We started from White Trail crossing the wide opened grassland. Those single huge trees turned into small ones when they were the only dominant spots in a big picture. I was surprised to see James carrying a huge backpack. In order to train himself to be an independent hiker, James said he had carried 3 cantaloupes to treat all hikers at lunch. Even I couldn’t relate physical training with maturity training, I would be happy to take the treat. We climbed up a slope and saw the Metro North Railroad. There was no train at this moment so likely someone had lost his alertness on the power of a running train. That set up the horrified story of Simon later in the afternoon.

We switched into Black Trail after a short distance on Red Trail. I led Clara, Rose, Esther, Dawn, Chung Kwong, Mary, Robert and Simon bypassed the trail that was flooded by running water. The Black Trail was steep and endless. I saw Esther, Clara, Rose, BaoGong, Dawn, Simon, Joe, Mary and Robert had to break it up into few sections. Joe explained he felt he had flown to the summit from Black Trail because he was under side effect of flu medication. The young hikers, Eric and Amy were exhausted but refreshed quick so they could take longer break at the viewpoint. Mary and Robert were among the last group as usual. Raymond hiked back a short distance to help Clara. Rose disappeared soon after the break without saying anything. We all curious about what had made her gave up photo taking. When we caught her around Megalith, we found out the reason. It was because she didn’t know the team had already passed the Red Trail at the rail track, she kept hiking in the front in order to be the first one to locate that Red Trail. What a beautiful misunderstanding!

I told the young hikers the meaning of Schunemunk in Indian language was fireplace which symbolized the red colored rock in this region. Instead of being a hiking leader, Kwok added me another honorable title of being a tour guide. Because it was too windy cold and other hiking group was taking lunch at Megalith, I decided to take lunch under the dwarf pine trees before going in. We tried to find spots with natural shelter against strong wind. BaoGong found the best spot with a wall that could be leaned. James cut the cantaloupes and shared with us. It was too windy at the Megalith so we stayed only 5 minutes and returned back to Yellow Trail. The Blue Trail was difficult because there were snow and ice on it. Inexperienced hikers had to move slowly so the team was segmented. James, Kwok, Eric and Amy disappeared and never been seen any more after this point. Sam, Joe and BaoGong entered the Red Trail instead of Long Path so they hiked extra 1 mile before we saw them again at White Trail. I led the other teammates moved slowly along Long Path and then switched into White Trail as planned. After 2 teams merged, we were at the section of the entire way downhill slope. It wasn’t easy though because of extensive impact on the knees. As I would like to make sure the missing team was safe, I hiked at the front with Sam, Joe and BaoGong. After crossing the railroad, I gave them a new route by switching into an unmarked trail and linked back to the Yellow Trail afterwards.

When I slowed down and waited for the hikers at the back, I got the message that Kwok’s team had finished the trip safely and drove home. Once again, Rose had unconsciously entered an unmarked trail and confused Esther and Dawn who were hiking after her. I was lucky to have Chung Kwong stayed at the back to take care of Simon, Mary and Robert. He reported to me Simon was almost hit by a train when he was thinking while crossing the railroad. Simon swore he wouldn’t play again at the railroad because the running train was so scary closed to him. My team finished 8 miles at 4:30 pm which was delayed so much that I had to call Sophia 3 times to postpone the time of picking her up.

My Unexpected First Hike on Snow
February 26 2012

We had brand new hikers Wenhui and Liang in this trip. It was also the first trip of 2012 for Ken, Pinphia, Emily, Magdalene and Kaichiao. There wasn’t much snow this year so likely none of today’s 27 hikers would expect to see snow and ice in the mountain. Other participants were: BaoGong, Simon, Harry, Max, Dawn, Joe, Anthony, Leon, Kok Chew, Chew Bian, Eunice, Chung Kwong, Susie, Rose, Esther, Mary, Robert, Raymond, Clara and 2 doggies from Louie’s family. We missed the turn but finally arrived at Fort Montgomery after 9 am which was early enough to find parking spaces. It was quite a cold windy day and luckily Max had prepared extra gloves for those who came out without warm stuff. I planned to ascend to Perkins Tower along Red Trail and spent time at Bear Mountain Recreation Area on the way back. We started from Blue Trail at 9:30 am.

The metal bridge near the Visitors Center was so pretty to attract photographers and models to stay. I gave them enough time to play because the route wasn’t too tough. The gate before Fort Clinton was locked so we had to bypass the Museum visit of Fort Clinton. We climbed up the slope and walked along the booth of Bear Mountain Bridge. The trail later brought us away from traffic and reached the swimming pool and zoo of Bear Mountain Recreation Area. It was my first visit to these facilities but they were closed in winter. After a short break, I brought the whole team to the BBQ area next to the pretty Hessian Lake. The water was deep blue which was reflecting the light blue sky. Unquestionably, Esther, Dawn, Rose, Chung Kwong and Simon were busy making shoots. They also found ice crystals along the shore. After spending enough time for them to take pictures, I decided to take the anti-clockwise route along the Lake to hit the Red Trail. There was a huge chair by the Lake which was the perfect spot to take a group picture of 27 people. Simon, Kaichiao, Dawn and I were put into the center of this family photo.

I directed all hikers entering the Red Trail and stayed at the back to assist new hikers. The difficulty of this uphill trail was raised because there were unexpected amount of snow and ice. Mary said her 10+ years old doggie was so smart that it would reject their commands and went downhill by itself if it found the trail was too difficult. Therefore, both Robert and Mary had to leash both dogs and pulled them up. Kok Chew helped Wenhui much on this section because Wenhui’s leg wasn’t strong enough. Wenhui thanked Kok Chew to lend him his hiking pole and helped him tackling the snowy uphill trail. I knew now his last hiking trip was in 199x, so he didn’t prepare enough for this kind of trail condition. Kaichiao was helped by Chung Kwong at the back. She never hiked on snowy trail even she had hiked more than 20 trips with us. She joined today because she presumed there was no more snow in the mountain. She learnt now, the Nature was impossible to predict.

The trail was icy so we used extra hour to climb up to a nice viewpoint. The break at that viewpoint refreshed all hikers because the view was terrific. The Red Trail brought us to the Perkins Tower. It was very windy at the summit so the Tower was the best shelter. Eunice treated us homemade cookies and Esther shared us peanuts in coconut favors. Those were the best treats of today. As it was so freezing cold at the lunch time and most of us had to eat cold food, Ken thought of a business model. If he could prepare, carry and sell hot lunch boxes to the teammates in the mountain at such a winter hike, he definitely would make big profit. I thought it would be easier to bring a cold watermelon to sell in the mountain at a summer hike. As only 1 or 2 hikers preferred to take the bonus mile, I announced the team wouldn’t split and I would lead the whole team descended along AT Trail.

After the last sight of the nice view from the summit, I brought the team into the White Trail. It was such a big difference as we found no trace of snow on this side of the mountain. Mary understood now why I insisted to hike up from Red Trail instead of AT. It could be very dangerous if we descended along the icy trail. Chung Kwong gave me two thumbs as my hiking experience had granted the safety to all hikers. Max, Anthony, Magdalene, Leon, Susie, Harry, BaoGong and Joe had disappeared very soon. Since I had requested all hikers met me at the merry-go-round, I stayed at the back to ensure no one was left behind. Raymond said the downhill trail from Perkins Tower was so boring that he needed to put on the music to wake him up. I felt surprised when I didn’t find the front hikers at the game house. After knowing they had been back at the parking lot, I led the other hikers into the trail of this morning. Esther tried to hold the doggie for Mary and felt four legs actually was much powerful than two legs. We crossed the metal bridge again and saw the other teammates at the parking lot. They told us we had just missed a live show which acting out the history at the time of revolutionary war. We finished 6 miles by 2:30 pm.

The Revolution is Failed
February 11 2012

It was so happy to finally see snow in this winter as I had scheduled this Valentine’s trip at Ice Cave. There ought to be some ice in the mountain. I told all hikers at the parking lot that after I kept sending the request to the Nature, we finally received the first snow on Wednesday and second delivery this morning. But the snow came quickly and left quickly. We had 17 hikers today to witness how the world changed in 6 hours. They were BaoGong, Harry, Max, Dawn, Sophia, Joe, Kok Chew, Chew Bian, Chung Kwong, Susie, Rose, Esther, Karen, Jin Qiao, Raymond and Clara. It was the first trip of Joe, Sophia, Jin Qiao, Raymond and Clara in 2012.

Susie’s car was very late but just on time to catch us up at Tiorati Picnic Area before we started the trip at 10 am. It was a white world and Mother Nature kept adding the white color to the mountain. The trail has already filled with an inch of snow. We had to be more careful because we never knew if any ice underneath. I decided to first go Ice Cave rather than put it to the end. If there was any ice formation overnight, we could be the first group of hikers to see that. We went up by Blue Trail and descended along Arden Valley Road to the spot of Ice Cave. Esther, Dawn, Sophia and Clara were busy taking pictures at the back. Rose led us climbing up through a steep slope. We saw the cave and it was just a cave with some snow. We should rename it snow cave today. Dawn told me she had forgot her hiking pole at the Blue Trail so I ran back to get it back. When I came back to the trailhead of Long Path, all hikers had already completed the Ice Cave visit and we could start our hiking trip. I planned to upgrade it into 7 miles but there was an option of only 6 miles if someone felt the snowy trail was too difficult.

The Long Path was flat and easy under normal weather but it turned into mine field today. We never knew what was covered under the snow. It might be ice, water or pothole. We crossed over 3 water pipes and went through a bush area before seeing an open area. I said we were in the new world of Peach Blossom. Raymond remembered there was 1 foot snow in their first trip with Nature You last year and their feet were wet and cold. They were now 100% waterproofed from head to toes but there was almost no snow this year. After 1.5 miles on Long Path, I decided to take lunch at the Shelter. Our photographers were stopped by the icy running water as usual. We got treats from Sophia, Joe, Rose and Max. We felt strange to see Esther and Dawn sat under the sun because they used to carry umbrellas to the mountain in sunny day. After taking group picture outside the Shelter, I asked hikers to pick their choices. Harry would lead the 6 miles route and I would stay with 7 miles. Only 1 or 2 people showed they would go with Harry. We hiked 1 more miles on Long Path and reached the point of separation. To my surprised, 8 people now chose to take the shorter route. Harry joked that he had influential power to move half team from my hand. Susie was the last vote which was so important to conclude which party was the mainstream. I still led the majority so the revolution was failed. Susie told her boss that she had to go hiking no matter how bad the weather today would be because she had been stayed home and worked for 6 weeks straight. Therefore, she preferred to take more exercise once she was in the mountain. I would led Max, Joe, Kok Chew, Chew Bian, Chung Kwong, Susie, Rose and Karen further down on Long Path and then Bottle Cap Trail while Harry’s team would return now along AT. Chung Kwong said he always missed the trailhead of Bottle Cap so I let him be the leader to locate the trail. He was so happy to accomplish the assignment.

There were up and down slopes on Bottle Cap. We hiked fast until we reached a little stream. I told the teammates it was the spot that I took the photo of snow needles last week. The reflection on the water was pretty but there was no more snow or ice on the stream. After 1 mile on Bottle Cap, we turned into R-D Red Trail heading the direction of the other team. As they would spend more time on taking pictures, I predicted we could catch them up. There were some steep upslope on R-D but it was a good chance of doing exercise. I got a call from Harry knowing they were in front of us but wasn’t too far. 2 teams merged soon because they were taking a break. I asked Sophia did she feel insufficient to go for just 6 miles today. She said her decision of joining the 6 miles team was corrected because she always followed the rule of ‘the shorter, the better’.

No one seemed interesting to visit the second Shelter so we passed it. Susie called back Max from the front because she was confused by a sign which showed a Blue Trail would bring us back to Lake Tiorati within 0.5 mile. She didn’t know there was another 1.5 miles journey on Seven Lakes Drive before getting back to the parking lot. This Blue Trail was hiked only under emergency. We kept on AT for another mile and switched back to the Blue Trail to descend to the parking lot. We finished 7 miles at 3:30 pm. All the snow that we saw in the parking lot this morning was melted within 6 hours. BaoGong was exhausted because he sat quietly in the car liked refugee boy to enjoy the treats from Max and Susie.

My Age was Pulled Back
February 5 2012

Due to shortage of drivers, I could only accept 12 people in this trip. The early birds who signed up were BaoGong, Jennifer, Max, Jing, Dawn, Chung Kwong, Rose, Esther, Mary, Robert and Janet. It was first trip of Janet, Max and Jing in 2012. We had fun time in the mountain which included stream crossing, rock climbing, photo taking, body balancing and serious hiking. Those elements together made us longer hours to cover the shorter distance compared with the trip of last week. We arrived at Elk Pen exactly at 9 am and started our play day at 9:30 am.

Esther, Janet, Chung Kwong, Rose and Dawn disappeared soon because they were very serious on taking winter pictures at the back. Max, Jing, BaoGong Jennifer and I were leading the front team and stopped by a broken bridge after 1 mile on Red Trail. I knew from the news that the heavy bridge was removed by the Hurricane Irena but didn’t know it hadn’t been rebuilt. Luckily, even the stream was wide but the water wasn’t deep so we could find a possible route to cross over. Robert was the only one who raised our worries when he stuck in the middle and hesitated which next stone he should step on. We finished Red Trail and switched to White Trail. Another bridge was damaged so we had a chance to test our body balancing by walking on a fallen tree trunk. Esther and Dawn showed their superpowers while Jennifer had to move from inch to inch. Rose preferred to find a safer route from the upstream. The huge rocks in Valley of Boulders were really special. We had a lot of half-group pictures over there. We then switched into Yellow Trail to visit Green Pond. Here came out a short period of sunshine which made the photographers moved liked snails. Janet had fun breaking the thin layers of ice at the Pond. As our pace was too slow so I had to push people to focus more on hiking. All of us turned into serious hikers and hit R-D Red Trail in 20 minutes. Although there was a shelter very closed, the smell of burning woods informed me the shelter had been occupied by other hikers. I targeted to take lunch at Ship Rock which was still half mile away.

The front team rested at an iced puddle in a valley. We saw Dawn descended from the huge rock and fell. There was no ice on the rock but only a root stood out on the trail. Dawn said she was too exciting to see the front hiking friends again so she didn’t realize the root was there above the soil. Fortunately, the injury on her knees weren’t serious. When we were taking lunch at Ship Rock, I dug out some ice from the mud to make her an ice pad. One of the good things of hiking in winter was we could easily get the ice from the mountain for first aid. Mary, Rose, Max and I served everyone treats during lunch. We returned along R-D and waited at the trailhead of Lichen Blue Trail. We asked Chung Kwong and Jennifer to take a picture together to capture this trail and we took our group picture on the huge rock. Jing borrowed my hiking pole from now because she found my purple color pole matched with her purple outfit and backpack.

We were attracted by the pretty scenery on Lichen Trail so moving slowly on the summit. I thought of something really interesting today so I stopped everyone at the trail end of Lichen Trail. According to the last names of all 12 people, we took 3 sub-group pictures. Janet and I were Ts; Esther, Rose, Mary, Robert and Chung Kwong were Ls and Max, Jing, Jennifer, BaoGong and Dawn were Cs. We were 12 TLC engines and BaoGong might be smile when he realized. Jing, Jennifer and Janet had their 3Js photo on the side. We arrived at Lemon Squeezer in half mile and here was the most exciting part of today. There was no question asked for those experienced hikers to climb up that rock after passing Lemon Squeezer. Even I climbed up the spot that I usually refused to do. Under the encouragement of the teammates, Mary attempted and smiled at the top of the rock. She felt so much achievement because it was considered a miracle of her that she could climb up the cliff liked all the others. She said her age was pulled back when hiking with this group of energetic hikers. We saw a piece of sword liked ice formation hanging on the rock so we transformed our hiking poles into swords to have a picture of Round Table Knights.

As the weather was perfect for photo taking, I decided to bring the group to a pretty spot at Island Pond. Even we had to descend from the trail, all of us enjoyed the 30 minutes photo taking activity at the Pond. Max, Chung Kwong and Esther climbed to the isolated stone in order to be shot into pretty pictures. Even Jennifer and Robert adjusted their roles from hikers into models. I announced we had last 5 minutes because the weather was getting cold. When I treated them cherries, Esther didn’t take the treat because she said it would use up about 15 seconds of which she might be able to shoot 5 more photos. BaoGong led hikers into the wrong direction when we ascended back into the trail from the Pond. I called back the team and let them hiked with their own paces because AT could bring them back to the parking lot. There were still some up and downs on this section so the team was segmented. Max, Jing, Jennifer, Janet and BaoGong were the first group completed. We finished 7 miles at 4 pm while we completed 8 miles at 3:30 pm last week. No doubt that every one of us was fully loaded with pictures, memories and fun in this trip.

Like Father Like Son
January 29 2012

It was the day 7 of Chinese New Year which was called birthday of human being. I distributed a special stamp which was designed by Moon. 2 families celebrated their family birthdays with us who were Hews: Kok Chew, Chew Bian, Eunice and Chous: Anthony, Leon, Ray Ray. Other single elements were BaoGong, Simon, Harry, Jennifer, Dawn, Chung Kwong, Rose, Esther, Qing and Karen. We arrived at Elk Pen around 9 am and started at 9:30am. I showed them my targeted 8 miles route but Anthony had decided to cut a portion to hike only 5 miles because of his little son. I suggested him to take a more challenging 6 miles route so he didn’t need to wait too long at the parking lot.

We started from AT climbing up steep slopes. It was the most challenging part of today because there wasn’t a flat trail for warming up. Very likely, I needed to implement back the warm up exercise before starting the trip. BaoGong disappeared after his restroom break and took the shortcut route to catch us up. Simon enjoyed the perfect weather for hiking so he was at the front. I had to run to stop him because I decided to add a visit to the Island Pond. Everyone went to the Pond except Rose, Chung Kwong and Karen so I waited at the turning point. It was unbelievably long that I had to call Chung Kwong. I had to catch them back because they entered an unmarked trail and went ahead of us. The Pond was half frozen since we saw water at the shore. We all remembered last time that we could walk into the frozen lake and made those incredible poses. We felt a little bit of disappointed. We had free time at the pond. Esther, Dawn and Simon were taking pictures, Kok Chew’s family and Harry were taking snacks and Leon, BaoGong and Ray Ray were throwing stones into the pond. Since there was shortage of stones, the young men tried to catch the ice from the lakeshore. The accident happened in a glance.

Leon fell into the water as he had lost balance when he leaned out to pick the ice. I witnessed the incident but I was too far from the lakeshore. Luckily, Anthony was closed to him and reacted so quick to grab him from submerging into the water. Leon was liked stepping into the water and his legs were wet. Jennifer said she never saw such a worried face on Anthony until this moment he was rescuing Leon. When everyone were around Leon in order to contribute their spare dry and warm stuff, Leon admitted the fall into a lake due to ice broke was really a scary experience. Anthony knew the index of fear factor of falling into ice water because he had experienced that last year. They were kind of “liked father liked son”.

We continued our trip to the target of Lemon Squeezer. The gap was quite clear of ice so we all passed the challenge. Most hikers tried the rock climbing spot and had fun with it. I announced we had to turn back because our route had to switch into A-SB Red Trail. We reached the point of separation and decided to split into 3 teams. I would lead Jennifer, Simon and Qing for the scheduled 8 miles route. Anthony would bring Leon, Ray Ray and Harry for the shortest 5 miles trail and Chung Kwong would be in charged of the 6 miles team. My team would hike 2 more miles and took lunch at Times Square while the others would take lunch right now. We entered into the Bottle Cap Trail and met another huge hiking group. We were stopped by a pretty ice formation on the trail. The ice was frozen but in the form of millions of white needles. We had no idea of how the nature could make this splendid scenery. I hoped our photographers were here to put this scene into their cameras. Qing wasn’t a frequent hiker and asked me about the hazardous of outdoor activity. She concluded the encounter of a bear in the mountain was safer and luckier than a wolf because she supposed bears were vegetarians that ate only honey. I joked she saw too much of Winnie the Pooh.

My power bar was stolen by a naughty doggie when we were taking lunch at Times Square but the owner compensated me with hers. We turned into Lichen Trail after a short distance on Long Path. I said it was too bad that we had Chen but missing Li to have a signature picture together on this trail. The scenery on Lichen Trail was terrific because it was a short trail along the summit. We then connected to R-D and Yellow Trail. I expected to catch up the 6 miles team at Yellow Trail because we wouldn’t take as many photos as them. BaoGong’s voice was heard from the front. We followed their route so saved me time to find the unmarked trail between Yellow Trail and A-SB Red Trail. 2 teams merged and now all led by me. The trail was quite boring until we saw a huge sheet of ice on the trail. Most people which including the photographers and models were exciting. It was the biggest ice we could see for last few weeks. I found there was another icefall formation at the side so Qing and I explored and showed everyone. When they were busy taking pictures with the icefall, I led Kok Chew, Chew Bian, Eunice, Karen, Qing and Jennifer descended because I would like to make sure the 5 miles team was in the parking lot. As the A-SB Trail could reach the cars, I knew Chung Kwong could bring the others back. I saw Anthony’s 5 miles group when we completed 8 miles at 3:30 pm. The photographers group arrived at 4 pm. Rose said the huge ice formation on the cliff was so pretty that they didn’t want to leave and discussed about how to carry it home.