Figure Skating at Lost Pond
December 19, 2009
It was my second lead to Manitoga Nature Preserve. I remembered I got lost in 2006 because the map wasn’t reflecting the trail. I led a group of hikers circled among some trails for a few hours. I knew I was wrong until we came back to the same spot after an hour. It hadn’t hurt anyone because the trails were short and not steep at all. This was just a shame on the leader’s heart. I intended to solve the mystery so scheduled this trip again. Even a blizzard was on the way to the East Coast, I had Dawn, Anthony, Chung Kwong, Fang, Susie, Rose, Esther, Joe, Raymond, Clara, Moon and Patric on the team. It was a trip of only 3 miles. I planned to have the additional 2 miles hike on Manitou Point Preserve which was 1 mile away if the time permitted.
I led all cars reached the parking lot around 9 am. There was a visitor’s center at the trailhead but it was closed in winter. Patric got a trail guide map from the box which turned out was very useful in the afternoon. We found a clear described trail system notice board at trailhead. They even included the warning sign of wrong trail by putting a black dot in the center of the trail mark. I decided to follow the longest 2.5 miles route by following White Trail to reach Lost Pond. According to my hiking map, I might be able to locate the trail to link to Osborn Blue Trail and AT to make the trip longer.
It was a cold day. We all wore warm jacket but the face and hands were freezing cold. Esther and Fang used their masks immediately. Moon felt we had 2 dangerous strangers in the team who were serial killer and terrorist. It could be a guessing game by looking at the photos if Esther put the mask on during the whole trip. I gave out warm pads to Esther, Dawn and Moon to warm up their hands. We visited some viewpoints where rangers would give out lecture to the visitors. We should come again at summer time and took the guided tour. We climbed 450 feet to reach Lost Pond. The size of Lost Pond was small but it was a skating range now. Joe was the first one went onto the Pond fearlessly. He even slept on it to test the ice. Dawn and Esther were so excited to pose liked figure skating stars. Joe later added to make it a triple performance. Rose and Anthony also made this chance to pose a picture on the ice. While they were performing their figure skating, I was looking for the trail to link to Blue Trail. As the trail mark was not clear, I decided to give up and just brought the group completed the White Trail.
When we were descending from Lost Pond, we saw a big Ling Zi on the way. Rose and Anthony were interested to go closed to take picture. I saw a Yellow Trail later which linked to another double Ling Zi on the tree. I led the group to explore into the Yellow Trail found an excellent viewpoint over Hudson River. I decided to take lunch at this spot. After matched the scenery with the map from Patric, I knew we were not far from Four Corners. Four Corners was a point where White, Blue and Red Trails met. I led the group descended again on White Trail and reached the endpoint in 10 minutes.
It was too early to call it a day so I brought the group to hike on Manitou Point. We spent 30 minutes to locate the parking lot. We hiked along White Trail and crossed the Metro North Track by a bridge. The scenery of Hudson River from Outward Bound Headquarter was terrific. We hiked along Hudson River along Blue Trail and turned round along Red Trail. We knew how busy Metro North Train was. When we were taking a break at the lawn of Outward Bound House, Anthony suggested taking a picture of everyone in a pattern. We lay down and formed a letter “Y” in that group picture. It was fun.
When we were crossing the bridge over Metro North again, there was a train just passing. I ran quickly to take a picture of a running train. Rose said she never saw me reacting so rapidly. Was I so old? A few hikers went into a side trail to take picture for a small frozen waterfall. Until now I saw an eagle flying on the sky which perfectly matched with Moon’s stamp. We reached the parking lot by 2 pm and finished totally 5 miles. Some hikers intended to see snowfall in the mountain so they were not willing to leave. As it was more risky to drive while snowing, it was better to see the blizzard indoors.
