Watchung Reservation, February 21, 2010

First Lady Obama had once shared during a televised interview that at dinner time, her family shares the "roses and thorns" of their day. Today's events lend themselves perfectly to adopting the "roses and thorns" in my blog.
Before our 9 a.m. hike today in Watchung Reservation, NJ I had plans to make one very important stop at ShopRite. I know this sounds odd, but I have been WAITING for the grand opening of the new Washington ShopRite since 2009. The day had finally come and I had my coupons all clipped and ready for the big event. I went in with my itemized list at 7:30 a.m., when the store opened. I immediately felt like I was at a party, as I observed people laughing, talking and smiling, and my nose enjoyed the smell of fresh baked, hot cross buns. I admired the neat, fully stacked shelves and wished I had more time to shop! I was on a time crunch, so I was in the checkout lane by 7:45 (15 minutes of speed shopping was a nice warm-up before my hike!). Just as I was about to pay the cashier, I was handed a canvas ShopRite bag, a free loaf of bread, and a dozen multi-colored roses! I was told, "Thank you for being the first female customer!" -AND THERE would be my first, of many "roses" on this beautiful Sunday!

Carra and I quickly caught up on a week's worth of "happenings" during the 1/2 hour ride to the parking lot where we were to meet out hiking buddies. We were so happy to see many new faces today, and to catch up with some people we hadn't seen since the first hike, back in December. This hike however, presented some "thorns" for me.
First of all, literally, there were a lot of thorny branches, like the one in this picture. You'd have to hold them (gingerly, as to avoid being pricked!) off of the path where you would be walking, and in the event that you didn't - they would say "hello" in quite an unfriendly way! They latched onto my pants and rubbed across my un-gloved hands on various occasions!
I also have to say, this hike did not allow for a lot of spicy conversation (or any conversation for that matter!) The crunch of the snow under your feet, and the narrow trails made it difficult to hear people in front or behind you. We were happy to spend a little time together under a pavilion, equipped with benches and tables. Many of us removed a layer or two of clothing, due to the mild temperatures today (40 degrees), but not Linda!
As the day progressed my right foot's yak trak (coiled foot gear) snapped (THORN!!!!), which required me to be even more cautious in the icy trails to come. Luckily, as the morning went on, we encountered less snow and ice, and more mud and brooks. One of the prettiest things on our hike was seeing the awakening waterfalls housed on the massive rock. While you can't see it in the pictures, the water was dancing off of the rock to the slushy, snow-covered ground.

Today's hike incorporated a little bit of history. Here is a picture of a still, which was used during Prohibition to store whiskey and other types of liquor! We also happened upon some natural bridges that we hiked underneath, and climbed to new heights where we were able to see waterfalls and the beauty of the woods from above!
One of my favorite parts of the hike was finding this tree trunk to climb upon, and hang upside down (opposum-like!). I wonder why no one else wanted to do the same?!
After our jaunt of 7 1/2 miles, a group of us headed to 22West Diner for brunch. This was definitely a rose in the day! We talked about our future trip to the Canyon, started planning out our Celebratory Dinner (that follows the hike), caught up on some of the Olympic events, and had a hard time parting ways after eating. My final rose of the day was finding a Whole Foods store out near Springfield. One of our fellow hikers mentioned the need to get bath salts from there...well let me tell you~ they had a WHOLE BAR of bath salts that you could smell and pack up for home!
After a HOT bath (with my new 'salts'), I started thinking about the week ahead's Soup Cook Off (Friday) and our hike to the Delaware Water Gap on Saturday! The weekend can't come fast enough!

The Super Bowl Hike

For real, the dog wouldn't even get up with me this morning. It could be because we had a late night celebrating my mom and dad's birthday the night before, or maybe it was because, once again, it was under 20 degrees outdoors! But regardless, I had a team that was waiting for me at the Cooper Mill in Chester, NJ this morning!
Carra and I met up at the Starbucks in Chester prior to our 8:45 arrival at the Mill. There, we sipped on our Skinny Vanilla Lattes, laced up our boots, and waved as the remaining "5" arrived for our hike (Linda, Liz, Danielle2, Alan and Roger). As we began our hike, I kept glancing across the street at the Old Mill Tavern, where we would finish off our day's trot with "lunch" in hand!
We hit various trails today, but primarily focused on the blue and red trails. As you can see in the picture, the trails are labeled with paint blocks which tell you what direction to head. For example, this picture shows that we are following the blue trail, and the top blue box tells us to carry on towards the left.

We saw an icy river where a meeting was being held among the geese. We shared some ideas of what they could be saying to one another, where they could be finding their next meal, and of course, why they remained in New Jersey instead of heading south for the season. We trailed on, enduring many snow covered, rocky paths. We had 3 falls among our members on this trip...mostly due to the uncertainty of what lies beneath the snow. You really can't look around while you are walking. You have to save your sight seeing for times when you stop for granola or a sip of water. If you try to sight see or take photos while you are hiking, there's a good chance you may end up face to face in a blanket of snow. We were lucky to "bounce" back from the falls, and continue to enjoy the trails.. We saw signs of wildlife, although other than the geese, we were pretty much the only visible living creatures among the trees on this cold Sunday morning. (Text to Real-Life Connection: Footprints in the Snow, The Mitten, Hansel and Gretel) In some instances, the only marks in the snow were footprints such as these. I felt like "Hansel and Gretel"...only we weren't laying bread crumbs to find our way home, we were following what appeared to be coyote tracks. Based on the size of the print, and the fact that there wasn't any "tail brushings" we eliminated the possibility of a fox. We also saw true deer prints. Do you think these are coyote prints, or something else?
At one point, we really needed to pull together as a team. Thank goodness for Linda, who had brought poles- we needed to use a pole, and the help of (our guide) Alan's hand and wisdom, to help us each across an icy creek. The rocks were icy, the water was semi-frozen, and today - we were crossing the creek (I just had to say that again, in case you didn't hear me the first time). I was second to go, and my ears couldn't have been working better. I was tuned in to Alan's directions, and my eyes were piercing into the icy rocks that I was depending upon to get me from one side of the creek, to the other. I stepped carefully, then sunk my pole into the mirky bottom of the running creek- establishing a point of stability. Before reaching my right foot to the large rock in the middle of the creek, I took a deep breath, grabbed Alan's hand with my left hand, and took off. The next part was a blur. Somehow, I took some swift steps across the remaining rocks and jumped onto the safety of solid ground. Luckily, we all made it across without any falls.
Considering the length of this hike and the increase in elevation, the hydration and snack breaks were very much needed. We noticed that there was more than icicles on the rocks, there was also icicles filling our water bottles today as well.
By mile 6, my mind was set on a juicy burger for lunch. I'm pretty sure that is what got me through the additional uphill climbs, snowy slippery rock trails, and snow-drifted paths.



Well, and of course the support of our newly found friends!


After 8 miles and 3 1/2 hours of hiking, I was so happy to see this sign. It meant that we were back at the parking lot, and it would be a matter of minutes before I would have a burger in hand, and iced-tea in the other! Cheers to another successful hike!

P.S. We selected Veggie Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries for lunch. There'd be enough fun foods later on in the evening! My husband Loren was home making home-made boneless hot wings to enjoy during the Super Bowl!

The Jockey Hollow Hike without Danielle :(

Because.....we all love the blog - we wanted to keep it going.
Here's my journal and pictures to add.... (Love, Carra)

I drudged myself out of bed at 7:30am on Sun, Jan 31st to bundle up for the hike in 15 degree weather. Danielle was going to pick me up. After last week's late arrival, we made a pact to start even earlier in the day. But, my poor sister was knocked out with a bad cold. After seeing me go through my horrible cold in December, she did not want to chance it. Off I headed to Jockey Hollow to hike 6 miles with the other dedicated members. Everyone was sad to see that it was just me and not the sister team!

We had a real surprise along our hike. We heard this crazy loud sound that alerted us to quickly find a pileated woodpecker. He was a male revealed by the red on the front of his crown (females are black). He had holes in all the trees around us. Clearly we were in his home. We were able to see him boring holes in the trees. It was incredibly cool. If you didn't know, the pileated woodpecker was the model for the cartoon character of Woody Woodpecker. We really pushed along, many of us because we wanted to get out of the cold. It took 2.5 hrs. Afterwards, we went for hot breakfast. For my sister, I drank a really good hot chocolate. :) Thanks to Roger for taking the photos and I'm not one to blog so, get well Danielle!
Everyone was sad to see that it was just me and not the sister team!

We had a real surprise along our hike. We heard this crazy loud sound that alerted us to quickly find a pileated woodpecker. He was a male since he had red on the front of his crown (females are black). He had holes in all the trees around us. Clearly we were in his home. We were able to see him boring holes in the trees. It was incredibly cool. If you didn't know, the pileated woodpecker was the model for the cartoon character of Woody Woodpecker.

We really pushed along, many of us because we wanted to get out of the cold. It took 2.5 hrs. Afterwards, we went for hot breakfast. For my sister, I drank a really good,hot chocolate. :) Thanks to Roger for taking the photos and I'm not one to blog so, get well Danielle!