We had Philip’s 9 years old son, Chen joined today. But the craziness of playing on a frozen lake didn’t limit by age. The other 17 adults went onto the lake and most of them had so much fun in those 45 minutes. If I ranked them in descended order, it would be Max, Rose, Esther, Harry, Raymond, Philip, Susie, Clara, Simon, Lacey, Jolly, Lovett, Moon, Shawn, Melody and Fang. Fang stepped on the ice for only 5 minutes for taking group picture.

When we started at 9:45 am, Susie’s car was still on the way. I gave them the hiking plan and expected not too much to meet them at Lake Skenonto. It was quite windy cold at the parking lot. We started along R-D Red and reached the trail in half a mile. There were a lot of upslope on the first mile. It was disappointed that the trail was basically clear of snow and ice. We were exciting to see a big piece of thin icy spot so most hiker stepped on to show off their leg power. They were liked breaking a sheet of glass. Since the wind had gone at this side and the sunshine was so rich, we enjoyed a long break at the little pond. Little Chen, Rose, and Esther had been unable to resist the temptation of going onto the frozen water. I shared them some snacks. As it was a perfect day for hiking and the last trip before the 3 weeks break, I decided to give out the bonus by upgrading the trip into 8 miles. We continued on R-D Red to capture 2 more viewpoints before turning back to Lake Skenonto. Moon realized a super big rock at the trail so took the challenge of climbing it up. Simon found the easy way so most hikers met at the top to take pictures. Some hikers were exhausted because of chains of upslope. As it was closed to noon time, Harry suggested taking lunch at the viewpoint of Yellow Trail. I gave them some snacks again but insisted to take lunch at the Lake because I knew they would like to spend more time over there.

Rose played sliding on a side trail because she didn’t want to switch back to the trail. After 20 more minutes on the Yellow Trail, we reached Lake Skenonto around 12:30 pm. Susie ran to us liked greeting friends from the airport. What a surprised to have a reunion at the Lake. Raymond, Clara and Susie were here 30 minutes ago because they were guided by an experienced hiker who could show them the easiest route to reach the Lake. We also met the AMC hiking team at the Lake which was led by Judith King. We saw someone were ice-fishing in the middle of the Lake. Before I could finish my lunch, I saw Max, Little Chen, Rose, Harry, Esther, Philip had started their party on the icy lake. Raymond, Susie and Clara joined to share the fun. It wasn’t a bad idea to take pictures on the ice, this attracted Moon, Lacey, Jolly and Simon to participate. Lovett was the last one to join under the request of his friends. Max and Susie even walked to the island to claim the colony. Raymond found the change on water level when stepped hard on the ice. Philip pulled Chen on the ice. Harry lied down as a sleeping Buddha. Rose and Esther demonstrated their technique of ice skating. I saw a lot of human stars on the ice. Max suggested to take group picture on the lake so Shawn, Melody and Fang finally stepped onto the ice. That was so much fun for 45 minutes and it was time to go back to trail.

We finished the Yellow Trail and linked to White Bar. I was told that Lovett needed to take rest because he was cramp. I was ready to give him choice of short cut but he was tough enough to keep up with the group. We reached Dutch Doctor Shelter from White Bar. As time was running out, we kept on T-MI immediately. There were up and down slopes on T-MI so I gave them a longer break at Claudia Smith Den. I found Melody, Fang, Lovett and Clara were exhausted. My automatically upgraded might have created a big challenge on someone but we had no choice but kept going. Luckily, it was mainly downhill after this point and we still had enough sunshine before 4:30 pm. We finished T-MI and switched back to R-D before 3:45 pm. I knew we could make it because the endpoint would be within 15 minutes. We finished 8 miles and reached the parking lot by 4 pm.

As this trip was scheduled in the middle of the long weekend, I had only Feng, Max, Chung Kwong, Rose, John and Moon on the field. I led the same trip last year with only 3 other hikers. That trip was beautiful because the whole area was covered with deep snow. It was also painful for Rose because we did extra mile due to my mistake. Too sad that the trail was 40% cleaned today. We had no big challenge until the last mile when the ice storm started.

We started at 9:45am from Blue Trail climbing Conklin Mountain. There were hard snow on the trail but not slippery. We moved slowly uphill under very cloudy weather. The forecast said rain or snow shower at 1 pm. We switched to Yellow Trail which was basically flat. Moon and Rose took pictures with the same fallen branches and stone crack which they did last year. There were little snow on the trail and Moon pointed out those little dots on the snow was ticks. Max didn’t believe until he bent down to investigate. His eyes opened wide after knowing we were surely surrounded by trillions of ticks. He was so eager to ask on prevention of bringing home the ticks. I told him I sprayed before hiking. I usually put my hiking stuff in the garage and washed the clothes separately. Ticks could not survive under high temperature. No matter what I said, I just didn’t see him sat down for the whole day, even during our half hour lunch time.

We reached the junction of 2 Yellow Trails but one indicated with a line in black. I decided to take the striped Yellow because we could be closer to the parking lot in case bad weather kicked in earlier. We reached a ski trail which was 90% cleaned from snow. When the ski trail brought us to a junction, Rose remembered where she sat for lunch last year. We switched to another ski trail and found T-MI Red Trail in 5 minutes. We would follow Red Trail all the way to Seven Lakes Drive. There were more snow and slopes on T-MI so it made the trip more interesting. Moon recognized a rock liked a rolling chair so most people took turn to sit on the dragon seat. When we were at a spot with a lot of clean rocks and less wind, I decided to stop for lunch. Feng ran back from the hill top after experienced the coldness from strong wind. John prepared healthy food and served us his colorful pepper dessert.

We never saw the sun for the entire day so likely rain or snow would start soon. We continued on Red Trail after lunch. I was scared by hearing someone screaming at the back. Luckily, it was only 2 trail runners. There was a special human construction off the trail which attracted our curiosity. After 10 minutes investigation, we guessed it was an abandoned furnace which was built to burn garbage or branches in the mountain. We were lucky that we didn’t find any clues of crime. I led the group kept going on the unmarked until we hit the Blue Trail. I was here intended to locate the Monitor Rock which was indicated on the map. We found a Black Trail led us to a giant rock. Chung Kwong and Rose were brave enough to climb up the rock but disappointedly found nothing special. I led the group entered the Blue Trail and connected back to T-MI in 15 minutes. At the spot closed to the Red Trail, we found a big rock with an open mouth. Rose and Chung Kwong tried to enter the mouth to see what was inside. John took a lot of picture of the sceneries and other hikers because he said he was unable to hike every weekend.

The weather turned bad at 1:30 pm. Ice shower started at this moment but the ice particles were very fine. We were still about 1.5 miles from the parking lot. When we came across a stream, John and Rose were attracted by a special ice formation at a fallen trunk. Feng, Max, Chung Kwong and Moon were busy shooting to other huge ice formations at the dam. Max finally took out his camera because he recognized an ice formation that liked a tiger. We took group picture in front of the dam. After we climbed the last slope and saw the huge frozen Lake Sebago, we could not stop going in. We were interrupted by a ranger at a car so we had to leave. The wind turned stronger that made it an ice storm now. Our faces were painful because we were liked hit by needles. We passed through a picnic area which equipped with BBQ grills. It would be a perfect location for BBQ in the summer if they installed restroom facilities. We finished 6 miles by 2:30 pm.

It was the coldest winter ever that had turned all still water into ice. It used to be a very risky situation because the trails were slippery. Standard hiking equipments under such weather were hiking poles and stabilizers. I had 17 hikers in this trip that only about 10 of them were equipped with stabilizers. We all were blessed with continuation of snowing in last few days so the icy trail was covered by a layer of powdered snow. The weather was luckily so cold that the snow was not melted. All hikers included Ken, Simon, Emily, Chung Kwong, Dodo, Susie, Rose, Esther, Eric, Yat, Karen, Philip, Raymond, Clara, Moon and Sherry enjoyed a nice and safe hiking trip.

We met at Silvermine Lake and started at 9:30 am after putting Raymond’s car at the Tiorati Circle. I intended to finish the trip at Tiorati Circle because there might be a chance to see Ice Cave. The trail was covered with 3 inches of snow that made the hiking really enjoyable. We followed Yellow Trail and found some questionable big footprints on the snow. Simon dared not go at the front because the size of that animal might be over 10 feet if we proportioned its feet size. We reached the white Lake Nawahunta which was so pretty under strong sunshine. It was white because it has been frozen. Most hikers wanted to find out how hard was the ice so no hesitate to walk on the Lake. Eric preferred to stay on land to take picture for Sherry and others because he didn’t want to be the last piece to break the ice. We passed the pine tree forest and climbed along Yellow Trail to hit Long Path. Before we saw the hippo, Chung Kwong realized a bear liked animal hidden behind a tree. This bear was not scary because it was just a piece of wood that looked liked a bear from a certain angle. I led the group walked closed to the bear and arrived at Hippo Rock in 5 minutes. After taking photos with the hippo, we turned back on the same trail to target at Stockbridge Mountain Shelter. Even it was a little bit too early, taking lunch at a shelter would be top priority at winter hike.

It was a very sunny day without strong wind. There were pretty ice formations on the rocks so all photographers and models were crazy about them. Ken, Esther and Rose were the last ones to reach the Shelter. We shared the Shelter with 2 Korean hikers but too bad they wouldn’t share us their Korean hotpot. There were accidents happened at this Shelter. Emily fell because she walked on the bare rock with her stabilizers and Simon hit his head against the roof because he forgot the roof was so low on that corner. This was the place you could act liked a Kung Fu master because you could jump on the roof so easily. A few hikers made the pose of sitting on the roof. Philip was very quiet as usual also because he was the only Mandarin speaker of today.

I announced we had to climb down the slope after lunch. This probably was the painful time for Karen because she didn’t like downhill. She would never join Ken’s downhill skiing trip. We hiked on gentle up and down slopes on Long Path. The trail condition was perfect because the snow condition was perfect. Yat made himself the only snow angel of today when we were taking a break. No other one would like to be the copy cat. While we were taking group picture at a hill, Rose’s camera shot at the sky because the tripod was fallen. It might be time for her to replace the weaken tripod. It was very flat at the end of Long Path which was the most dangerous spot. Since the snow layer was thinner and the water underneath had been frozen, Raymond fell at an icy spot. Karen and Esther demonstrated their stabilizers by walking back and forth on that icy spot. Esther was so proud even showed us her dancing steps. Susie and Clara were discussing about what would be the next item on their hiking equipment shopping list.

We reached the auto road at 2 pm. By looking at the snow condition of the area, I decided to bring the group to re-visit Ice Cave. We climbed to the spot and found the ice formation was grand. I graded it a Class C which still far away from the best I had ever seen. Dodo was first hesitated to go closer but finally posed happily at the Ice Cave. Most hikers were happy inside the Ice Cave so they didn’t want to leave. I brought Clara, Raymond, Susie, Rose, Esther, Simon, Chung Kwong and Karen to go closer to a fallen branch with hanging ice cones by climbing up a steep slope. The icefall was also a special feature that caught most shoots. We walked back to Tiorati Circle for the shuttle car at 3 pm. It was a typical moderate level 6 miles winter hike with enough snow or ice features to view.

Happy New Year of 2010. I had 10 hikers joined in order to have a record on this first trip of a new year even the weather was definitely not suitable for outdoors. The low temperature and strong wind further pushed the temperature at Perkins Tower into -10 degree F. All the huge trees nodded their heads and agreed that it was one of the most extreme weathers they had ever experienced. Simon, Max, Harry, Chung Kwong, Helen, Rose, Philip, Moon and Eric would probably be fearless to any weather situations after this trip.

We arrived at the parking lot at Seven Lakes Drive before 9:15 am with definitely no other cars in it. As the wind was so cold, we didn’t have too much time for briefing. Rose helped distributed the first stamp of this year which she had almost caught a cold in that 3 minutes because she had to remove her gloves. Due to the coldness and windy situation, I planned cautiously. We would first go and took lunch at Bear Mountain Recreational Area by easy trail. We then would decide to climb Perkins Tower based on the weather and trail situations. I picked the house of Merry-Go-Round to be the lunch point because we could have a good shelter away from strong wind.

We started along 1777 W and connected to 1777 E in a mile. It was Eric’s first trip with Nature You and he was exciting to lead the group at the front. When we were at the junction of Yellow Trail, Max, Rose and Simon remembered the trip that we had got lost 3 times last year. We took pictures at the icy stream and bridge. When we were passing the frozen Doodletown Reservoir, I invited Harry to go into the lake to try ice skating. There were lots of paths within Doodletown so I was mistakenly led the group off the trail. This gave us a chance to see the demolished settlements. When I found we were at the auto road, I knew we had to walk to the Recreational Area by Seven Lakes Drive. We always hiked on the trail underneath so we never saw the area from this altitude. As the sceneries of the neighboring mountains were not bad, so no one complained. In addition, Moon realized there were 7 deer moving at the front and would cross the road to go uphill. It was the first time that we could see a group of deer and luckily we had Chung Kwong and Rose to put them into their cameras. When we were a hundred feet from the Recreational Area, we were welcome by a strong wind mixed with snow. Moon felt she was slapped on the face when she didn’t turn around quick enough. We first visited the restrooms and met at the house of Merry-Go-Round.

The game site was so quiet. We saw only a few workers and no any other single visitors. The wind outside was so strong liked a fierce snowstorm. We were lucky to have an enclosed shelter to enjoy our lunch. All hikers had their thermo containers of hot or warm food except Chung Kwong. Helen brought out a very dedicated new metal container which was pretty but not a good one to keep the food warm. Photographers had time to take pictures of the colorful Merry-Go-Round and hanging origami animals. After knowing we were not too old or heavy to go into the Merry-Go-Round, we decided to merry-go-back to our childhoods. With Eric and Max decided to be our photographers outside the game, we all 8 people had beautiful 10 minutes into the time machine. Philip picked a colorful turkey while Rose picked a tamed deer to be their rides.

It was time to be back to our trip. I decided to go to Perkins Tower even it would be very windy. As all of us were equipped, we could just leave the summit right away if the situation was very bad. We passed the Hessian Lake and climbed on AT all the way to the Tower. The wind was not too strong but the snow was quite deep. It was comfortable to climb up steep slope under such cool weather. The temperature was low so photo taking had become a complicated chain of actions. We had to pull out the hand from the glove and finished the shootings before the fingers frozen. There were some ice formations on the route and Eric was energetic enough to try to break them all. We reached the summit at 2 pm but no chance to stay for more than 5 minutes. The wind was so strong and rough that I thought the trees would be pulled out. The whole area was as noisy as the sky was going to break apart. I pushed everyone to follow me to descend along AT before any accident might happen. Harry likely had got cold cut because his face was so red.

It was much colder and more windy on this side of the mountain. We took no rest until we reached the auto road. Helen questioned why we met auto road at least 5 times today. We took a group picture at the spot before going back to the trail. The trail at last half mile was turning into more icy. It was a perfect time to be back to the car because the trail might be turned into more risky when the temperature was dropped rapidly after dusk. We finished a 6 miles adventurous hike under very extreme weather.

A big blizzard hit East Coast last Sunday that made me felt there should be a lot of snow accumulation in the mountain. I changed the location to Tiorati Circle intended to see the Ice Cave. It was too bad that the 24 hours rain on Saturday had washed away most of the white stuff, both snow and ice. I had Chung Kwong, Fang, Helen, Susie, Rose, Esther, Philip, Eric, Raymond, Clara and Moon in the group. It was Eric’s first trip with Nature You but it was already the last trip of 2009. Hopefully, he wouldn’t wait too long to join again next year.

We met at Tiorati Picnic Area at 10 am which was not new for most hikers. Actually, Clara’s group was here 2 weeks ago. In order to give them some new experience, I decided to hike on the other trails. I first announced the top three hikers of 2009 who were Rose, Moon and Esther. Once again, all positions were won by female hikers. We reached the water tank along Blue Trail and climbed up to Ice Cave from a steep slope. The loose stones on the trail had frightened some new hikers. As I had predicted, we found only some mini sized ice formations at the Cave. The water splashed down a small waterfall was even more attractive. Rose, Esther and Eric were so happy to take picture with an ice trophy. I led them turned into Long Path afterwards in order to complete a 7 miles trip. The Long Path was flat where water had no place to flow. Susie was nice to lend Eric a hiking pole because the wet trail might be slippery. There was always a rule of not getting the feet wet during hiking, we crossed the swamp by switching side to side or walked on dry edge of the trail. We took a break at the junction of AT and R-D where Esther remembered it firmly.

I picked AT and started climbing up to a viewpoint. It was quite tough even the trail was cleaned. After taking the group picture at the viewpoint under good sunshine, we descended the hill. Esther brought a camera which was so new that she wasn’t clear about the functions. We heard machine gun shoots when she pressed the shutter. When we reached a spot with less wind and more stones, we decided to take lunch there because it had been noon already. Chung Kwong was so happy to claim it was the best lunch this year because no any rain, wind, snow or coldness. The weather today was a perfect day for outdoors. The climate was so strange that we had experienced Autumn hike after Winter hike of last week.

We crossed a bridge before hitting Seven Lakes Drive. The water level was so high that the bridge was almost submerged. We continued on AT to climb the slope. Susie almost got lost by going into an unmarked trail. I saw parts of the trails were turned into streams because of snow melt. We had to pay more attention when crossing streams because the stepping stones were wet. I led the group switched into R-D at the junction and started climbing Goshen Mountain. Fang said she was sure very tired after these ups and downs. I knew now she wasn’t so strong for difficult hikes even she had come from cold province of China. We descended the mountain and hit again the Seven Lakes Drive.

Eric found a big animal in the stream and Susie shouted to us it was an otter. The frightened animal sank back into the water before everyone came closed. I led the group climbed a slope and went back to the same tree that Esther could recognize. They knew now we had made a big circle and exercised 4.5 miles after we reached this spot in the morning. We climbed the last mountain with the trail full of ice. This probably made Fang and Clara more exhausted. We experienced mixed trail conditions today which included normal, wet and icy. The difference was made due to terrain, direction and duration of sunshine. We finished 7 miles and reached the parking lot by 4:15 pm.

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.

Pine Meadow Lake was a huge and pretty lake in Harriman which could be accessed by an easy 2.5 miles Red Trail. It was the most popular trail in Harriman and it was not unusual to see family of all ages and pets on the trail. I always said this was the first trip for any new hikers. I scheduled this Level A trip in December intended to let new hikers to try a winter hike. It turned out there was no new hikers in the team. Since all of us had equipment and experience, I decided to upgrade the regular Level A into special edition of Level A for this group of super hikers. I had Guidan, Dawn, Angela, Chung Kwong, Su, Rose, Esther, Xiao Mai, Joe, Karen, Philip and Moon in the team.

It might be too boring if we hiked on the same trail back and forth. The weather forecasted rain would start at noon. It was cloudy but I hoped the rain would start late or just a drizzle that wouldn’t hurt. I still announced our course would be changed as follows: we would approach Pine Meadow Lake by climbing some hills on White Trail, Blue Trail, White Trail, Black Trail and Yellow Trail. The winter sceneries on Seven Hills and Raccoon Brook Hills Trail should be great.

We started at 9:45 am and all hikers were happy for the pretty sceneries on the hill side. We took pictures of the ice features at the stream and terrific views at the viewpoints. The snow on the trail was not soft but still safe to hike. Rain started at 10:30 am and never stopped for the rest of the day. This added up the difficulty because now the trail was more slippery and hikers might feel cold. Angela said it was her first hiking on the snow and probably also the first trip under heavy rain. It seemed Su hadn’t got what I said at the beginning and now questioning about how came so many hills for a Level A trip. I joked this was a special Level A for super hikers. We switched to Seven Hills Blue Trail in 1.5 miles. There were some rock climbing spots that scared some lady hikers. I found most of us were wet through because of the rain and decided to change the course. We hiked all the way on Blue Trail to Red Trail and discussed what to do for the rest of the day.

It was understandable that someone was suffering under such bad weather. I should also consider those who still wanted to complete the event. As the Red Trail was easy and linked back to the parking in less than 2 miles, I decided to split the group. I had Chung Kwong, Rose, Philip, Moon, Esther, Karen and Joe wanted to follow me to take lunch at the Pine Meadow Lake. The trail was very slippery because the rain had polished it for hours. We reached Ga-Nus-Quah Rock in 15 minutes. This was a spot with 2 giant rocks leaning each other to create a gap in between. Moon had a good idea to take lunch here because there was no shelter at the Lake. It was better to have coverage so temporarily away from wet and cold. There was not enough space for 8 but perfectly fit 6 hikers. Rose could even find a spot on the rock for her coffee cup. I gave someone warm pads to save their frozen hands.

We continued to approach the Lake after lunch. We saw a quiet Pine Meadow Lake under extreme bad weather. After taking a few group pictures and I shared them some snacks, we took the trip back on Red Trail. The Red Trail was full of icy spots so we had to walk very carefully. We took a few pictures with a tiny pine tree to celebrate Christmas ahead of others. When we were back to the parking at 3:30 pm, I saw the quietest Visitors Center ever. There were only 2 cars other than ours. We finished 6 miles under such a cold and wet hiking day.

There was no any snowfall in the city so surprising enough to see a lot of snow at Tiorati Circle. Everyone including me was not prepared with today’s trail condition. I didn’t wear waterproofed hiking pants, Clara and Susie didn’t have waterproofed hiking boots, Lisa, Raymond, Susie and Clara had no hiking pole and Chung Kwong hadn’t put on his winter hiking pants. The other hikers included Guidan, Harry Chen, Dawn, William, Johnny, Fang, Rose, Esther, Xiao Mai, Joe, Harry Tse, Wei and Philip were not expecting to see such pretty winter scenery in the mountain.

We reached Tiorati Circle at 9 am while Rose had already loaded 75 photos on Route 106 and Seven Lakes Drive. The winter and snow scenery caught the shoots. I planned to bring the group in a 6 miles trip to Lemon Squeezer. Lemon Squeezer was famous for the narrow trail which might squeeze a large sized hiker. Moon couldn’t make it today but designed us a special stamp. It was a stamp of 3 worrying fat penguins that had to face the challenge of Lemon Squeezer. What a special stamp and looked like she could predict or command the weather.

We started from a short Blue Trail and reached the R-D Red where we could see the huge water tank. As the civilized restrooms were closed in winter, here we divided the group to give chance for each one to go private. We climbed the R-D to see the pretty winter scenery. Photographers and models were busy shooting and posing. The entire area was covered with 6 inches of snow. The snow on the branches created a strong contrast of color. The snow that covered the bare rocks created hidden danger. For those didn’t get waterproofed footwear, they had to take extra effort to avoid from puddles. Guidan had fallen 2 times on slippery rocks that made Xiao Mai worried a lot. I gave Clara 2 warm pads to warm her feet. We stopped by the Fingerboard Shelter and found a Korean hiking group was cooking their lunch inside. As time was too early, we kept on R-D and targeted to take lunch at Times Square. There were steep slopes on R-D so Susie was hesitated to follow my lead. Since the team was moving slow, I intended to cut short the trip and went along Bottle Cap Trail. It was too bad that I couldn’t locate the trail under snow condition. We reached Times Square after 12:30 pm and took lunch over there.

Esther found a very good spot for her backpack to rest and Philip showed us his no-good warm pot because his noodles were cold. I consulted the new hikers if they would like to go by short cut trail. No one wanted to quit before seeing Lemon Squeezer. Lisa was so happy to come back to nature after buried herself a few years into her career. Snow on the leaves was liked cotton and we were liked entered into the world of cotton trees. We continued on Long Path and A-SB Red Trail and reached the Lemon Squeezer in a mile. None of us were fat penguins but Harry Tse had problem because he was carrying a big backpack. The only problem on Philip was his round shaped cowboy hat. After we passed the test, Chung Kwong, Harry Chen, Esther, Rose, Lisa and Philip took another challenge of climbing a big rock. They all succeed except Esther.

We were now entered the turned back course along AT. I caught the front team up and led everyone turned into Long Path. I could free them to go on their own pace now because 2 miles on Long Path would bring them to the main road. There were still up and down slopes that slowed down Xiao Mai. Fang said thankful for my professional advice so she had bought a waterproofed hiking boots, prepared hiking pole and wore 2 pair of socks. She also felt painful because she never expected this hike would be so tough. She asked for a break and Wei was always with her. We took our group picture at a spot where we could have snow at the background. There were lots of puddles at the last part that we had to test our decision making to find the best spot to step on. The rocks on the trail made Guidan really mad and intended to go off trail to hit the main road. I stopped him otherwise he would be stopped by a stream and had to spend extra effort to turn back. Everyone was happy to step on the main road and had leisure walk to go back to Tiorati Circle. Hiking on snow really took double the time on regular trail. We finished 6 miles and reached the parking lot at 4 pm.

It was a 10 miles trip with a lot of up and downhill in the morning. The climb to Ramapo Torne was not easy and the viewpoints might attract hikers to stay long. I announced we should start as early as 9 am and hopefully we could finish before 4 pm. I had 17 serious hikers who all prepared to hike long hours or fast pace. They were: Guidun, Xiao Mai, Max, Harry, Feng, Jing, Dawn, Chung Kwong, Helen, Qiang, Rose, Esther, Joe, Philip, John and Moon.

The meeting time at the city was 7 am so Rose and Chung Kwong had to leave home before 5 am. This was the time before sunrise. All cars were at Visitors Center of Seven Lakes Drive around 8:45 am but we couldn’t start before 9:15 am. We started from Red Trail and connected to Blue Trail with a few slopes. The fast team arrived at the junction of Blue and Orange Trail quick. Rose had found a problem on her foot because she wore new shopping boots yesterday. I felt bad and worried about her possibility of completion of 8 more miles. Feet care was so important for a hiker not only during but before the hiking event. I led the group on Orange Trail and climbed to the Torne after a section of rock climbing. They were interesting to see the natural shelter. We took 2 group pictures at the Torne based on genders. It turned out this was the only chance we could be together before lunch. We spent time for taking photos at the Torne because we had to compensate for the foggy condition of our last visit. They all knew now what scenery was under this hill.

I planned to take lunch at the Russian Bear which was another viewpoint and matched with the time frame even we were quite behind the schedule. We had finished only 3.5 miles by lunch time. Moon took a very relax picture with her lunch box by leaning on a tree. I consulted Rose and Xiao Mai if they could continue with the rest of the trip. Both ladies had troubles on their feet and legs but both were so determined to continue. Luckily, I had Feng in the team so I prepared to split. We connected to Black Trail for a mile and then White Kakiat Trail. After 1 mile on White Trail, Feng announced we were close to Yellow Trail. Everyone was so happy except me because I remembered we were still far from Grandma and Grandpa Rocks.

I caught the front team at Grandma and Grandpa Rocks and brought them to Yellow Trail. Here was the last spot that I could see the whole team because there was at least 30 minutes difference. After clear explanation about the order of coming trails which were Yellow, White and Red Trail, I let Feng brought the fast team proceed. Moon and I would wait for Bai’s couples. There were still a lot of ups and downs on Yellow Trail. This probably the most difficult trip of Xiao Mai because her knees were not strong enough for so many slopes. Since Feng called me from time to time to tell me their location, while we were waiting at the White Trail for Bai’s, I knew Feng had finished the Red Trail that next to Pine Meadow Lake. They were taking pictures and waiting for Rose. We were 45 minutes apart.

The section on White and Red Trail was mostly flat but it was still a torture for a tired hiker. We saw pretty sunset scenery when we reached Pine Meadow Lake. That matched perfectly with Moon’s stamp. Feng reported to me that the super fast team had reached parking lot at 3:30 pm but Chung Kwong and Rose were out of his sight. I didn’t worry about it because they must be in between the team and Rose was not by herself. I called Philip to wait at the parking lot for me so in case I could get help. The last 2.5 miles on Red Trail was boring until I got the phone call from Chung Kwong. The story was: Chung Kwong ran back to search for Rose while Rose was confused about the direction and turned around between the trails of Pine Meadow Lake. Pine Meadow Lake was renamed as Rose Missing Lake after this trip.

Once they knew my team was behind them, they spent more time on photo taking of the evening scenery of the mountain. The trail was still full of rolling stones and getting dark. Xiao Mai took out her headlight but fell so bad on a slippery spot that she could hardly stand up again. Luckily, Guidan was right there to help. Chung Kwong and Rose reached the parking around 4:15 pm and Bai’s couples reached at 4:45 pm. The mountain was so dark and we were happy to see the big clear full Moon rising behind trees. Moon watching was finally delivered which I had owed them in an October trip. We had set a record of spending 7 hours to finish 10 miles.

This was the second visit of Fishkill and so I picked another trailhead and route. The route was 9 miles with a lot of viewpoints. I had Max, Harry, Jennifer, Dawn, Anthony, Scott, Juliet, Magdalene, Chung Kwong, Rose, Esther, Joe, Karen, Philip, Stanley and Moon. There were no new faces in the group likely because it was claimed as a level D trip.

Few cars met at the gas station of Route 52 at 8 am. I got a call from Magdalene telling me the parking area was not opened yet. After we reached there, I found luckily we could still park outside the gate without blocking any traffic. As we were going to climb 1,000 feet to Fishkill Ridge along Outlook Trail, we finished the warming up exercise seriously. The uphill was not too steep and rewarded with good viewpoints. We finished this Red Trail in 2 miles and connected to White Trail after a break. We had a few hikers wearing yellow jackets so it made the team very eye catching. The view over Beacon Town and Beacon Bridge was terrific. We climbed to Lambs Hill so quick that we didn’t really know we were there. We reached the junction of Blue and White Trail at 3rd mile. Magdalene fell on a slippery rock and blamed it to Harry. For the rest of the trip, Magdalene would like to see a fall on Harry for the revenge.

As the trail was not so difficult and all serious hikers were prepared to hike in quick pace and long distance, we kept hiking fast on White Trail. Juliet and Scott used to hike big miles on their own. Jennifer was known to have a motor on her feet. All hikers reached the greatest viewpoint at Bald Hill where we could see the entire area. Stanley liked to climb trees so he made a challenging effort to get into the good pose on a tree. Since I found it was too early, I decided to take lunch at the next viewpoint. We descended from the hill but impossible to locate both viewpoints afterwards. Finally, we took lunch at a spot where we could find more stones to sit. Philip was leading at the front so I had to catch him back to the lunch spot or his friends would have nothing to eat. The sunshine was rich and warm that we could relax enjoy our lunch. Anthony and Rose brought and shared us their food.

We kept on White Trail after lunch. I let them go at the front but surprising they were waiting for me at the junction of White and Yellow Trail. They were puzzled about the direction because the map they got from the information kiosk at the trailhead was outdated. I checked with my hiking map and located our position before leading the team to connect to Blue Trail. Blue Trail was a short trail but it was filled with some abandon vehicles. I just wondered how the drivers could move the vehicles to the mountain by this kind of rough trail. We took the group picture with the biggest one that at the junction. Since it took time for everyone to climb up to the vehicle, Esther had to hide her face away from the sun for a while.

We went back to the section that we climbed this morning but the direction reversed. We were now hiking with great views in front of us. The afternoon sunshine created good shadows for our photographers. Joe knew how steep the slope was this morning when he could see now from the top. The trail was full of fallen leaves that made the downhill very slippery. Karen fell at a spot and there were laughing from the front. Eventually, the laugh came from the group that they were betting if Harry would take the difficult short cut to climb the slope. We finished 9 miles at 2:30 pm. It turned out all 17 hikers probably felt this trip not as difficult as expected. Luckily, not many of them had tried the first route so they would be happy to try the other route next time. If there were 2 fishes in this area, I would say one had been killed because I would never lead hiking on this trail again. The other fish was much more challenging and spectacular.