Tag Archives: peace

R/G->R->RT->Y->Connector->R

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“One of the riches the wilderness has to offer is a prolonged immersion in absolute silence.”

-Colin Fletcher 

When my alarm went off this morning I knew that time was against me. The forecast was for rain, and after ever so slowly crawling out of bed, I looked at the radar on my phone and just as I thought, things didn’t look good. So the battle in my brain began. Do I just forget about hiking for the day? Do I take the risk and get out before the rain starts? Do I listen to that pesky little voice that was telling me to go back to bed? Or do I ignore it and just head out the door.

Since I hadn’t hiked since Thursday, I grabbed my water bottles, shouldered my pack and made my way to the jeep. Yes, even though the odds were against me, I made my way to Ward Pound Ridge.

When I got to the reservation, it was still creepy dark. Knowing that I was going to have to wait about 20 minutes before I could get onto the trail, I looked at the weather again and saw that I had 105 minutes until the rain would start. Five minutes later, it said 115 minutes. Five minutes later it was down to 108 minutes. What was happening? At that point, I made the command decision to start hiking.

If you take a look at the title of this blog entry, it details the route I took today. When I got to the end, it was in the realm of possibility that I could do a few more miles if the rain wasn’t to close. I took out my phone and checked the forecast. Sure enough, I had ten minutes until the rain would start. But would it? Was it telling me the truth? Did I want to chance it? I decided to head back to my car.

Sure enough, ten minutes later it started rain, no, pour….

Happy Hiking!!!

2017 Mileage:

10/8/17-4.5-269.62

R/G->RT->Y

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“Mostly, two miles an hour is good going.”

-Colin Fletcher

As I was leaving the parking on Michigan Road the other day I saw the familiar markings of a connector trail. This is the first time that I have seen this particular trail despite the fact that I have been by the start of the trail about thirty times. So instead of making the customary left turn from my jeep to get to the trail, I went right and headed down Michigan Road. Turning right, I headed into the woods and after a short time I found myself at the site of an old mill.

After looking around for a few minutes I headed back up to the road. On the map it is shown as a loop, but for the life of me I couldn’t find any blazes on the return route. When I got back to the road, I made the left and made my way to the Red and Green Trail. I took this trail until the green trail left the red and intersected with the RT. Shortly after that the yellow trail comes in until you go back to the parking lot.

Happy Hiking!!!

2017 Mileage:

10/5/17-4.5-265.12

Reverse Green

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“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”

-Lauren DeStefano

“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.”

-Nathaniel Hawthorne

Another beautiful autumn day means another day to get out and hike. Since it’s the end of a work day and daylight is dwindling, that means a shorter hike than usual. That’s no problem however, because it’s just good to get out into the  woods, no matter what time of day!

Today I did the Green Trail again and instead of going in the direction where I would end my journey on a steep downhill, I reversed directions and went up the steepest portion first. Even when I do the Red and Green Trails (they are together for the first 2.4 miles), I usually go in one specific direction. The opposite way proved to be much challenging than I am used to. That’s ok though, sometimes you need to get the old ticker moving!!!

Happy Hiking!!!

2017 Mileage:

10/3/17-3.6-260.62

How Lucky We Are

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Close to the end of my hike today, I crossed paths with two older gentleman. The first man, probably around my age, tipped his hat and greeted me with a hearty “good morning!” The second man, quite a bit older than his hiking partner and moving very slowly, also greeted me warmly. It was what he said next that has stuck with me all day. As we passed each other, he looked me in the eye and said, “aren’t we lucky to be out here?” Indeed we are…

Is It Really Fall?

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“The silence was an intense roar.”

-Jack Kerouac

“Rocks are space, and space is illusion,”

-Jack Kerouac

You would think that on September 26th I would be reporting to you that I was hiking in nice cool temperatures in the 60’s. No such luck. At 4:20 pm today it was 86 degrees with a “real feel” of 91. Wow! Where did fall go? Even with the high temps and incredibly oppressive humidity, it was still worth getting out.

I will say that because it was so hot, I cut down the mileage of my hike to 3.6 miles, went considerably slower than I usually do and took several water breaks. To keep things simple, I just did the Green Trail at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.

The picture below is the same camera shot from the other day when I posted the sunrise. What a difference!

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A beautiful but hot day at Ward Pound Ridge.

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I stopped by this huge rock to drink some water!

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The trail after a water break.

Happy Hiking!!!

2017 Mileage:

9/26/17-3.6-244.82

Sunday At The Reservation

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“I slow down when hiking. The rhythm of nature is more leisurely. The sun comes up, it moves across the sky, and you begin to synchronize to that rhythm.”
-John Mackey

It was another beautiful morning in the Hudson Valley. I would really love it if it were about 15 degrees cooler, but that’s ok, it’s just good to get outside. As you can see below, the sunrise was spectacular and an outstanding way to start today’s hike.

The most important thing that I have come to love about Ward Pound Ridge Reservation is the flexibility that you have in determining the length of hikes. With the marked trails and the plethora of connector trails, you never have to do the same hike two times in a row. Going in the opposite direction of what you are used to also adds to the diversity of what the reservation offers.

So to mix things up today I traveled the initial mile on the Red Trail and then made a right turn on a connector trail. This trail took me to the Leatherman’s Loop Trail which I stayed on until it returned to the Red Trail. Almost immediately after getting back on the Red Trail, another connector trail veered off to the left and traveled through the woods until it came back again to the Red Trail. You then stay on the Red Trail until the finish.

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Happy Hiking!!!

2017 Mileage:

9/24/17-7.1-241.22

 

It’s Officially Fall!

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“Our minds, as well as our bodies, have need of the out-of-doors. Our spirits, too, need simple things, elemental things, the sun and the wind and the rain, moonlight and starlight, sunrise and mist and mossy forest trails, the perfumes of dawn and the smell of fresh-turned earth and the ancient music of wind among the trees.”

-Edwin Way Teale

“Although the vast majority of walkers never even think of using a walking staff, I unhesitatingly include it among the foundations of the house that travels on my back.”

-Colin Fletcher

If you have read this blog of mine, you know that fall is my favorite time of year. Apple picking, college football, cool days, cooler nights and of course awesome hiking make every day truly magnificent. Today I was back hiking the Labyrinth at Ward Pound Ridge. As I was in sight of the finish, I felt good and decided to make the left turn onto the Yellow Trail to add some mileage.

Making my way up the trail. I pulled out the map and saw that the RT Trail would soon take me off of the Yellow trail and then put me on the Red Trail for literally a couple of hundred feet. Heading up a small hill, it then finished on the Green Trail.

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On the Red/Green trail.

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My trusty pack and poles leaning on my favorite resting rock at 2.5 miles. 

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The view directly behind the rock where I take a break just before the Green trail veers off to the left.

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The trail about one mile from the finish.

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Some of the more interesting rock formations along the trail.

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More of the Red Trail.

 

From this point on I will be listing my mileage as an accumulation for the entire calendar year. Taking the information from my blog as well as my GPS, I have calculated that prior to the first hike of the summer I had hiked 45.2 miles. I am adding that to the 181.22 that I did for the summer, giving me a total of 226.42 miles. With the addition of the 7.7 miles that I hiked today, that brings my total for the year to 234.12 miles.

2017 Mileage:

Hikes from 1/1/17-6/26/17-45.2-226.42

9/23/17-7.7-234.12

Escape With Me…

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“We travel not to escape life…but for life not to escape us.”

-Anonymous

No matter how long the hike, be it a short day hike, a weekend backpacking trip or a week long venture into the woods, part of the reason for getting out there is to escape. The first result after utilizing Google says that escape means to “break free from confinement or control.” Let’s face it, we are all subject to some form of “confinement or control” in our lives. At work or at home, the pressures of just being a member of society dictate that we have some time to get away, if only for a couple of hours.

In my humble opinion, the most important part of escaping involves disconnecting yourself from everything, mostly technology. Having a cell phone is good in case you have an emergency or you want to take pictures while you are on the trail. Otherwise, turn it off. No answering calls and no texting. And as much as I love music, I won’t bring my ipod with me on any day hike. If I am doing an overnight or multi night trip I’ll probably keep it in my pack for when I make camp after a long day of hiking.

Part of the “escape” for me is being enveloped by the woods around me. The changing terrain, the breeze making its way through the trees and the awesome views. You can’t fully embrace the disconnect unless you are truly disconnected! With all of the sounds in the woods acting as your own soundtrack, why would you make a conscious choice to disturb that?

So make the choice on your next hike to disconnect and then reconnect with your surroundings. You can thank me later!

Happy hiking!!!

 

Shed That Skin

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“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”

“Anything that costs you your peace is too expensive.”

-Buddha

As an educator I get to mark the end of summer two different ways. First, I see the return to school. Second, the date finally arrives when it is really, truly over. Today, September 22nd is that day. As I noted in an earlier post, my goal this summer was to get out as many times as I could. Looking at things statistically, from 6/27-9/21 I went on 31 hikes that covered 181.22 miles averaging 5.85 miles per hike.

Overall I think that this summer was an excellent one. I was able to clear my mind and get some weight off of my shoulders. The hikes this summer only reinforced one thing-that getting out in the woods can truly be therapeutic. Each mile that I spent walking the trails, carefully meditating on every step that I took, helped me shed anger that had been building up since the end of June.

Feeling the cool breeze in the morning, watching the sunrise and looking over the Hudson Valley on my many different hikes allowed me to shed that proverbial snake skin.  According to the web site Wonderopolis, “snakes shed their skin to allow for further growth and to remove parasites that may have attached to their old skin.” I couldn’t have said it any better!

So what is the goal now? The goal is to keep moving forward…

Happy Hiking!!!

A Celebration Of Hiking

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Hike to feel the wonder

Hike to hear the crushing of leaves under your feet

Hike to feel the curve of the trail and the soft dirt kicked up from your boots

Hike to feel the cool morning breeze rushing over you

Hike to see the sunrise

Hike to witness a sunset

Hike for the views

Hike because you can