Another Saturday Hike

(You can always blow off the writeup and go straight to the slideshow!)

Another gorgeous Saturday, another hike! My just-about-lifelong buddy Jon-Eric and I were supposed to meet for lunch on Saturday, but on Friday Amy pointed out how absolutely fantastic the weather was going to be (75, clear and dry), so she proposed a hike instead. Since Jon-Eric’s the guy who turned me on to the great hiking in NJ/NY, I knew he’d be all for it. As it turned out, she couldn’t accompany us, but Jon-Eric came up with a great one near Cold Spring, NY, off our Eastern Hudson Trails map.

When we got to the small Loebell parking area, there was one car and three bicycles there. A man and a woman were sitting in the car, and we checked with them to make sure we were at the right trail point, since we didn’t see any blue trail blazes. They confirmed that we were in the right place, and so we got our backpacks on and prepared to hike.

Then the woman said, “If you see three disoriented-looking people while you’re up there, can you point them toward this trail to get them back down here?” We laughed and said we would. “They’re supposed to be trail-running, but I doubt they’ll be running at this point.”

The man added, “And, uh, if they need water or first aid or anything. . .”

We laughed a little more nervously and headed out.

We encountered the “missing three” soon after. They were on the right trail, so we just let them know that the other guys were waiting with their car. They all had numbers on their shirts, as if they were in a race. They weren’t running.

As we trekked along, Jon-Eric asked, “What was on the t-shirts those people down at the car were wearing?”

I said the shirts had “NYARA” on them. I told him I’d never seen that acronym and I’d look it up when we were home. We kept on the trail. I misread one turn, but Jon-Eric corrected me, and we began to climb up Bull Hill. The trail ascended 500 feet in pretty short order, but it wasn’t a scrambling climb. It was just a steep trail that showed no signs of leveling off. It was early in the hike, and a cool day, so we weren’t too taxed by it. Which isn’t to say I wasn’t sweating like Patrick Ewing, but I do that when I’m driving, so hey.

Eventually, we reached the crest of Bull Hill and stopped off at the first of many scenic points. A hyper-friendly dog named Nebbie greeted us, accompanied by her (?) owners. We shot the breeze with them for a few moments while taking in the scenery. Then another group joined us at the point: the man and woman from the car.

“Did they take a helicopter?” I asked Jon-Eric. “How’d they catch up with us?”

He pointed out that we’d taken the longer route up, and that they must’ve gone on the Split Rock trail, which we’d be taking at the end of our route. Still, they were awfully quick.

They greeted us and said that they hadn’t gotten a chance to go on the trail, so they wanted to see some of the points on the hill before leaving. Jon-Eric asked them what NYARA is. We discovered that it’s the New York Adventure Racing Association and that the couple from the car were helping run the association’s adventure race, a.k.a. The Longest Day.

What does The Longest Day entail, you ask? Kayaking, mountain biking, trail-running and orienteering, over 12-15 hours. “That’s one long-ass day,” I muttered.

Our friends on the scenic point were volunteers up from Philadelphia. The top three teams in the NYARA event qualify for the USARA’s national event in November, which appears to be sponsored by a brand of whiskey. The trio we encountered on the trail were, unfortunately, coming in last.

As we meandered on up the ridge, we laughed over the idea of entering an adventure-race, but I think Jon-Eric would’ve been all over this idea, if we were 10-12 years younger.

From there, we continued along the ridge, stopping for all the great views. We discovered that we could see NYC from one of the points. The horizon was really hazy, but I just barely captured the sight with my camera (you’ll need to hit the “all sizes” button and check out the largest version).

As we sat down for some water at one of the points, we were greeted by a hiker who was coming from the other direction. He told us about some of the amazing views just off the trail, which were tough to find now that the leaves we so thick.

Back on the trail, Jon-Eric commented about the etiquette of hiking: “It’s funny that someone will just talk to you on the trail, and tell you about a great scenic point, or just say hello and start a conversation, when you’re up here. Because if a stranger tried talking to you in the city, you’d just run away or ignore him.” I thought about Borat.

On the way down from the ridge, we got lost a bunch of times due to crappy trail blaze placement, but that became a point of fun as we goofed on our inability to see the color yellow. The bad blazes reached the peak of absurdity when, we found this one. “I don’t think that one should count,” I said.

I’m sure I’ve written before about the friendship Jon-Eric and I share, and this hike was another episode in the loose, easy conversation we have on our hikes (previous installment: Sterling Forest on New Year’s Eve day). It’s awfully good to have friends you know well enough to talk with in shorthand.

And when we don’t talk, it’s usually either because we’re enjoying the silence, or totally out of breath and trying not to show it.

(Yeah, yeah. You wanna go see the slideshow.)