I was rather excited to wake up for my final training hike on this spring Saturday morning. The day before’s summer-like weather had me day dreaming about blueberry picking and summer time picnics and I knew from past experience that hikes in NY were filled with blossoming blueberry bushes. I was at Carra’s by 5:30 in the morning and from the time she hopped into the car until the time we arrived at the Northern Shawangunks, she continued to talk. Now, I like good conversation but I was caught up in the fact that the sky continued to turn darker and darker and I distinctly saw 2 bolts of lightning lighting up the morning heavens. We took multiple different routes to arrive at our destination; from different parkway exits to turns down neighborhood streets – and I blame all of this on Carra and her gift of gab!
By the time we pulled into Sam’s Point, it was drizzling. The weather forecast called for spotty showers and it was certainly going to clear up by mid day. No one doubted Alan and Roger who determine if a hike will be canceled or not due to unsafe weather conditions, but the weather put a damper on my mood regardless.
In an effort to not ruin my final blog before the canyon, I will just say that if you are going to hike in the rain- be sure you are equipped with the right equipment. The first hour of our hike was a bit um, shall we say tense. Our spotty showers turned into teaming downpours of rain and the cooler NY conditions made it less than enjoyable (for me… others seemed quite content). I was wishing that I had invested in a pair of rain pants (I did have a rain coat!) and a backpack cover.
I was very happy when we reached the Ice Caves. Regardless of the fact that they were freezing cold, I was excited to get some coverage from the rain. At the first site of cover, we took off our packs and Roger gave me a pair of extra rain pants that he had carried along. (He might have been tired of listening to me whine). My sister rang my pants out, I changed, and we all shared 2 chocolate donut sticks from Dunkin Donuts. They were a bit soggy because my back pack was soaked (inside and out), but somehow, each bite was a bit comforting on this dreary wet and cold day.
I was totally psyched to put on my new headlamp for our adventure into the cave. Lizzie had the largest and brightest, but mine was certainly the cutest with its pink band and pink edging.
The Ice Caves are entered by ladders and stone steps that descend into a cleft between huge conglomerate walls. The trail proceeds through a maze of overhanging and fallen slabs of conglomerate, along the base of the cliff and through tunnel-like passageways. Remnants of winter were evidenced along the pathways, some still snow/ice covered. (Roger, thanks for loaning me the Scenes and Walks in the Northern Shawangunks by Jack Fagan… that’s where I got the details for this paragraph!)
When we ascended from the ice caves, the fog was lifting and the rain had stopped. Alan looked at me with an “I told ya so” look that I tried very hard not to smile about. Our walk to Stony Kill Falls was pretty uneventful. Outside of Lizzie taking a (very graceful!) tumble into the blueberry bushes, we all arrived at the 87 foot-high falls in one piece.
Some of us decided to hang our clothes out to dry, while others of us started up the traveling stove for some miso soup and coffee.
It was a time for drying out, filling up with a hearty lunch, and a time to converse with another Team in Training!
Lizzie ran into a group from NY who was planning to do the one-day trip to the Canyon. We loved being able to say that we were doing the 3- day trip!
After lunch, Roger pointed across the valley to this tiny tower (well, it was tiny from where we were) and told us that was where we were headed. Okay, honestly, this tower looked like it was on another continent. To get to it, it would mean that we would need to go down the mountain and back up to arrive at our destination. The next few hours (7 ½ total) were enjoyed due to the sunshine and breeze, the beautiful and rare flowers, and some unfortunate tumbles (but funny!) .
Alan took a flop and I had to whip out my band-aid and first aid kit. Lizzie was not impressed that I was not following Universal Precautions as I disinfected his cut up arm and palm with a wipe and some water from Roger’s canteen. His skin was sprinkled with dirt that looked like coffee grinds, so when he least expected it- I ripped off the piece of flapping skin and quickly applied pressure to stop the bleeding. I would have used my band aids from my kit, but, they too were soaked from the morning’s teaming down pours. Good thing for Alan, he had “waterproofed” his first aid kit and we were able to apply antibiotic ointment and a clean (and dry!) band aid to his skin before continuing on the hike.
As I mentioned the sun improved our moods all the way around, but one of the last smiles was when I saw the berry pickin sign. I mean, didn’t I say I wanted to berry pick? I will definitely have to come back and hit the berry trail in July!
Once we hit the carriage road, Roger told us we were on the last 2 miles of the hike. Carra and I blazed ahead of the crew, eager to get to this towering structure that supposedly was at the end of our hike. Before we knew it, there was the tower. In all of its “non-natural” glory. And there was the final smile of the day!
Our hike ended with a hello from Angus, the really pretty cinnamon colored dog and his owner that we spoke to as we neared the parking lot. Angus’ owner told us of a great Mexican place for dinner which was excellent for fresh guacamole and Mexican dishes. As if we didn’t have enough of one another, we decided to stop at a shop that featured homemade ice-cream and cheesecake on a stick. I got the latter. Chocolate dipped.
So now, there is one more training hike at the end of May. It is a day that I am unable to attend. I can’t believe that the next time I will put on my hiking shoes; I will be heading into the canyon with my team of 11.
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