Black Friday at The Gap

Where: Appalachian Trail to Mount Minsi
Mileage: 8.37
Type: Out and Back
Parking: Dunnefield Creek/Appalachian Trail exit off I-80

Black Friday here in America usually entails a day off work to scurry in the herds of crowds at shopping malls to begin your holiday Christmas shopping. Depending on your personality this could be your dream come true or your worst nightmare. I lean towards the latter. So this Black Friday I decided to head over to The Gap I prefer. Aside from the coincidental name, this location was primarily chosen as it is very convenient to get to the trailhead right off the highway on the way going to and from the Poconos on a visit with family.

To hike just Mount Minsi there is a better trailhead to start from within the residential neighborhood for the Lake Lenape Parking area.

http://www.nps.gov/dewa/planyourvisit/to-mt-minsi.htm

Being that I wanted to hike as much of the AT as possible, I included the extra highway walking along I-80. Not the best place to hike if you want just views and solitude in the woods. Although looking through my guidebook, I wasn't aware of how far it would be to actually include this extra mileage. I would definitely recommend skipping the highway and starting from Lake Lenape.

 

Some winter berries along the walk

 After going under the underpass of I-80 you will see Kittatinny Point Visitor Center.

Walking towards the highway

Street sign in town

Sign towards Lake Lenape Parking Area

 You will pass the lake towards the beginning of the hike and the trail will gradually ascend with some viewpoints along the way of the Delaware Water Gap.

Lush Green Tunnel

  There is an area where you walk through some very green trails and it is very peaceful and calming.

A side trail took me to this area where someone had placed the American Flag.

Keep hiking up and you will eventually get to the top of Mount Minsi marked by this sign on a tree log. There is not really a view here, but there is a makeshift campground nearby.

Here I turned around and headed back to the parking lot.

GPS maps below...

Food Recommendation:

Thai Orchid

I was surprised to see so many veg options on the menu here in PA. The pad thai was pretty good. :)

or within walking distance of the trail...

Zen Fusion

I could see this location as a tempting rest stop along the way on a thru-hike.

Paumanok Path - Long Island

Location: Paumanok Path, Manorville, LI NY
Mileage: 15.5 miles
Type: Out and Back
Difficulty: easy elevation, moderate distance
Sightings: Not much wildlife sightings this time, although bug season has died down noticeably!

The Paumanok Path of Long Island is the white-blazed "Appalachian trail" of Long Island. (In my eyes at least :)) It runs 125 miles from Rocky Point to Montauk Point, the very eastern tip of Long Island where the beautiful lighthouse is. So I guess you can consider the lighthouse the "Katahdin." I have designated this path my practice trail for the AT and have made it my goal to complete this winter....the best season to hike it when the ticks and other bugs are not so prevalent. There are no places to camp along the way, so it is best for section hikes currently.

For this post, I tackled a section of Part 3 of the link below...

Links:
http://sbmp95.ess.sunysb.edu/Maps/NewYork/LongIsland/LongIsland.html

http://www.litlc.org/fyi/paumanok.htm

A good place to start a section hike is along Halsey Road just off the LIE. You can park along side the road here. There is room for a couple of cars. Otherwise you can also start at the Manorville Hills County Park off Route 111 and take a connecting trail. The route from Halsey Road adds about an additional 2 miles one way to get to the entrance of Manorville Hills County Park. It is a nice section and worth adding on. I have hiked the loop in Manorville Hills CP many times and it is the best section of the hike, going through the pine barrens of Long Island. Taking the white path the entire way follows the orange trail for part of the way but cuts more directly through the park. A car shuttle would work best if hiking just the Paumanok and not doing the loop with the orange trail. But for this I did an out and back turning around at approx. 7.75 miles, for a total of 15.5 miles.

Mid November on Long Island has bought down most of the leaves on the trees by now and they scattered the trails. Much of the trail is also covered in soft pine needles, adding a nice cushion for your trail runs.

There are 2 glacial erratics along the trail.

 A nice clear day looking up through the trees...

The trail was pretty desolate for the majority of the hike. Midway, the first people I ran into was a middle aged couple making out in the woods. If you are a frequenter of the woods, you will find this can happen a few times. So I am sorry if I embarrassed you guys :) Other than that, only two other solo hikers passed through. One of them told me of his previous travels running the race they have up Mount Washington. Quite a feat!

I have a great recommendation for all hikers out there. I've finally tested out a gps app I've had on my phone for quite awhile, but never put to use before.

http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/products/backpackergpstrails/

I used it on my past 2 hikes in this area and it worked really well. It gives you the mileage, avg speed and a map showing your travels. Here are the details for this trip...

Here are the details for my previous trip as well...

It is easy to miss the turns on the white trails so be careful! You can easily find yourself on a blue blazed bike trail.

I should take this time to officially announce my tentative plan to thru-hike the Appalachian trail in 2015. Why 2015 and not 2014? As much as I yearn to be out there next year, I gave it much thought and think it wise to save up a bit more funds for the trek first and plan. There will be many practice hikes and backpack trips posted next year so stay tuned! I plan on carrying a feather I found in this very park with me for the entirety of the way from Georgia to Maine. It's a beautiful wild turkey feather and carries many meanings.

Some info on the turkey from the following website: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080320042649AAannxI

Symbolic meanings of the turkey:
Pride
Abundance
Generosity
Awareness
Virility
Fertility
Sacrifice

Turkeys are at their peak of power in the autumn months. As fall season animals, turkeys are also symbolic of:
Harvest
New beginnings
Cycles
Preparation

http://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/native-american-culture/meaning-of-feathers.htm

Abundance, Pride, Fertility

That said I have thought of some possible trail names for my pilgrimage/trek .....
Paumanok - indicative of the place I was born and raised, being from Long Island
Freebird - indicative of my feather
Dolly - in memory of my passed grandmother on my father's side
Or rely on what is bestowed upon me...

Happy to be Hiking :)

A very good link for planning a hike in the area:

http://www.davidwaring.net/hiking/ManorvilleHills.html

Lastly, if you are one for poetry and photography, this a book compilation of poets of Long Island one may be interested in....Enjoy!

Continental Divide - CO

One of the most incredible experiences that I wish that everyone could experience are the moments of standing on top of a mountain peak and taking in the incredible scenery around you after a hard trek up.

Beauty comes in many forms. The rays from a sun at just the right angle as they cross your lover's face. The bright colors and pleasing symmetry of flowers in bloom. A view of the sunset from the second floor of your apartment. The 360 degree view from the summit of a mountain. The first hours after a snowfall when the snow is still fresh on the tree branches and has not melted yet. Those one to two weeks in autumn when the leaves reach their peak bright red and yellow colors and you take a drive down that long winding road to see them in full color. The and pure glee coming from the innocence of a child. If you're one of the lucky ones you'll experience one of the greatest inner beauties that exist in this world. The state of being in love.

Today I speak of the beauty from the summit of a mountain.

Mount Elbert is the highest summit in Colorado. It is on my life goals list. I thought I may be able to tackle this one on this trip, but I underestimated the amount of snow CO gets! And so I made the wise choice to stick to a lower elevation that still had snow but not quite as much. There are some things that are not worth the risk and worth the wait for the right time. The previous days before, we had been doing a section on the trail that goes up to the infamous Long's Peak in CO. This trail's traffic had a very different set of hikers than the family crowds you'd find at the lakes in RMNP. There were quite a few serious solo mountaineers coming down and one of them we stopped and asked if they made it to the summit. The man, with a foreign accent and thus seemed to have possibly traveled quite far to make the summit, said no, it was not worth the risk. He turned around. The serious mountaineers with their ice axes...if they were forfeiting a summit attempt, maybe the highest peak in CO wasn't such a great idea and I was possibly getting  in over my head. So thus I am here at a different section on the Continental Divide trail. The beautiful Berthoud Pass. :)

You can pretty much pick any pass along the Continental Divide and hike in either direction along it. You're bound to enjoy any section you pick. I was delighted to get to hike in a different type of environment than usual. I haven't hiked in the snow much before. Heck, I haven't hiked above 7,0000 feet before! the snow does add another element of beauty to a hike and the surrounding views. It looked as if I was the first one there for the day. The map was covered in snow in the parking lot so I swiped it off to snap a picture.

The Continental Divide trail is one of the 3 great long distance trails in America. The other two being the Appalachian trail and Pacific Crest trail.

The snow was quite steep in some sections reaching knee level and sinking in. But all in all, it was not too bad. Gaitors were a definite necessity. There were no fresh tracks in the snow except what looked to be a few snowshoe hare tracks.

Breaking trail!

Thus I was breaking trail in the snow for the majority of the time and unable to see any trail markers. But I kept walking assuming I was on the trail. Eventually I got to a point where the trail direction was hard to decipher and I contemplated turning around and giving up. The wind was picking up in some spots and the snow getting deeper. It is always at these times that someone will come along just in time to offer help. Similar to my first night out on the Appalachian trail when I also contemplated turning around when 2 thru-hikers came around the corner and helped me out. Things always have a way of working out. I was standing near the top deciding what to do when a young man and his 3 dogs come in. "Am I on the Continental Divide trail?" I inquired. He replied that I was and that he's hiked this many times and I could follow his tracks. Awesome!

I kept at it until I hit the first peak, Russell Peak. Normally at this point I might have forfeited here due to inexperience. But I saw the young man summit and I thought well if he could do it, I certainly can too. It was pretty steep and slippery at some parts so it took a bit of time to get to the top of this peak. But it was well worth it. At an elevation of 12,280 feet, I could start to feel the effects of the change in elevation and thinner air here for the first time. I was grateful that another hiker came along and that I did not give up.

For a few minutes I stood at the top of the mountain and thought to myself I can't believe such beauty exists and I was so happy and grateful to be there.

Goodbye mountaintop...

The mountains are the disneyland of my heart.

Movie Recommendation:

Movie - Continental Divide


Music Recommendation:

Bob Dylan kick

http://youtu.be/xCipKmyngLY

http://youtu.be/n42umTaVbjU 

Dream Lake - Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

Location: Rocky Mountain National Park
Trail Destination: Dream Lake
Distance: 2.2 miles
Elevation gain: 430 ft
Difficulty: Family Friendly

Many people have dreams of varying degrees. I have always yearned to see the Rocky Mountains since the time I learned they existed. Things and timing fell into place where I got the opportunity to do so this fall. Unexpected happenings always occur though. This year we had the government shutdown that occurred just about the time I had planned my trip and all parks were closed! Can you believe such a thing could happen and possibly derail a person's dream? Some people believe in signs. If things fall into place that blockade you from doing something, or seem to be a sign that it is not the right route to take, it may persuade you to think twice about your course of actions or to give up entirely on whatever you were about to do. Does the world propel us to our determined destinies in ways that we will never know? I had planned to visit a friend out in CO and the shutdown made me have doubts about the visit, as well as various other happenings out there such as the major flooding that took place just weeks prior. Was the world telling me not to go? But I believe, if you truly want something in your heart, it is something that you yourself will make happen and not let outside controls determine.

So I ventured on with the intentions of making the best of the trip despite the shutdown and the floods. As luck would have it, the parks reopened during my trip and we were able to make a visit to my dream, the Rockies. Is that a sign, that things worked out? What ordinarily is only a 45 minute drive, was still a 3 hour drive due to floods, but we made it work.
Rocky Mountain National Park was every bit as beautiful as I imagined it to be. It was even more so, with the added bonus of the bountiful snow all around. When we looked at the map and I saw that there was a lake called Dream Lake, I knew that's where I wanted to see. Dream Lake encompassed all that I had hoped for.

The guy that made my dream come true!

The hike itself is also very beautiful with nice open views along the way. I was in awe. As my first mid-western visit, everything awed me. :)

If you're looking for a nice easy hike with great views with your family or loved ones, definitely add this one on to your list when visiting rmnp.

Link:
http://rockymountainnationalpark.com/things-do/hiking/dream-lake

Music recommendation: Peggy Seeger

 "The dream that all could live as lovers do. A dream coming nearer, though it always seems so far. But to die before we see that dream come true. Only that could break my heart."

Soapstone Prairie

Colorado has many beautiful places. Traveling to various parts, you'll encounter knee deep snow or no snow at all. The windy chill of an open space at the top of a mountain, the desolated open space of a prairie road, the familiar smog of a city. Each season will offer a different beauty. Flowers or snow or colorful leaves.

We did some hikes closer to town this time. I really liked the one at a place called Soapstone Prairie because there were few other hikers and offered solitude. One of the biggest contrasts between the east and west are the dense forests versus the wide open spaces. I wouldn't say one is better than the other. Each has their pluses.

This one is a hike close to Fort Collins, though not at the prairie.

Link: http://www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/finder/soapstone

Music Recommendation - Townes Van Zandt

                                                                    Blackbird