The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.... it was sunny and the perfect time to hike, but it's absolutely guaranteed that every trail parking lot will be bananas. We found Black Rock Forest in New York on an NYNJTC map and researched it a bit. People said that it was a hidden gem. Hidden is good! We got up at 5 am (waking Liam up which turned out to be a bad idea) and hit the road by 7:15. We got there by 8:45 and the parking lot was nearly dead. When we returned to our car, it was hopping.
We hit the trail and ignored the sign announcing that the "TRAIL DEAD ENDS." Why? I have no idea, but it wasn't the best idea because yes - the trail ended and we had to go back. Why didn't we believe the sign? It wasn't there to trick us. There were some nice views at that point, but it added an extra 0.5 mile to our hike.
We had to walk a stretch on the road which hurts my feet, but at least it was mostly covered with dirt. There were HUNDREDS of millipedes on the road - some squished by cars, but many just crawling along doing millipede stuff. Liam picked up every single live one and moved them all to the side of the road. Eventually his fingers turned yellow from touching their undersides (thank goodness for Purell) and he gave up. But he saved MANY millipedes. We lost count about halfway through. I like to think that they silently thanked him.
And I forgot to take a single picture of a millipede.
Anyway... to the photos!
A nice view along the way going up the road
We tried to find a place to pee, but ended up at the locked science center.
Argh! The urge is strong with this one!
A cute little covered bridge taking us to the trail
This tree was plugged in...?
Never figured this one out.
Pretty little stream.
A horrible photo of a slug.
Liam was excited - he had never seen one before!
This cute little red spotted newt kept hiding from us.
He was just adorable! I must have taken 15 pictures of him.
He was a wiggler so it was hard getting him in focus!
There he is. I fell in LOVE.
No, Mary, you can't keep him!
Let wildlife be wild!
Starting up Mount Misery.
Yes, it was miserable - this picture doesn't show how steep it became!
There were times where my feet were almost vertical.
The sweat was POURING off of us!
At the top of Mount Misery.
We took turns peeing off-trail.
We took turns peeing off-trail.
This was during Daddy's turn.
There's the smile I love!
View from Mount Misery.
A lake in the distance.
Not the best view of the hike, but worth the climb.
After coming down an exceptionally steep, rocky descent,
it was time to go up the Hill of Pines.
Liam was whining at this point, but we had to continue
in order to hit the woods road.
Waking him up (as opposed to him waking up on his own)
was a really bad idea! He dragged butt and whiiiiiined.
Good thing we left so early so we had plenty of time before dusk!
At the top of the Hill of Pines -
well worth the climb! A spectacular view.
Sitting on top of a rock with a sharp descent on all sides.
It made me nervous! But I enjoyed it all the same.
Liam and Jon ate sandwiches up here while I took pics.
Using my 30x zoom, I could see a fire tower in the distance.
Mountains in the distance
Close-up of those mountains
They were in shadow, but beautiful nonetheless
A satisfying view
Enjoying the scenery
It really was the Hill of Pines!
I love evergreens at the top of mountains.
The smell is comforting to me, I don't know why.
A broken robin's egg.
Love that beautiful blue hue.
I hope the birdie survived! I worry about these things.
Someone left this by the stream. Trout food?
The weird things you find on hikes!
Looks more like cat kibble.
Oh well, whatever works!
Liam throwing "trout food" for the fishies.
We didn't see any trout, but we did see little sunfish
on the other side of the stream.
Shrooms!
If you toss it, they will come.
Big fat beetle waddling along.
Not sure what this is for, but Liam loves abandoned
(or what look like abandoned) buildings.
The reservoir. Love those cloud formations!
After this, Liam pitched forward and banged his elbow.
He limped along quietly because people were around,
but he was pretty upset.
The covered bridge again. Almost back!
Love those views.
On the way back, there was a group of about 25 people! One of the kids was stomping on millipedes (no, not the millipedes!) and she said, "I want to crush their heads!" A boy asked me if I saw any wildlife. I said we saw a newt and he said, "I want to catch one, keep it in my house, and kill it!" What is wrong with kids? Just wanton cruelty. Liam spent so much time saving all of those Miltons (the name we give millipedes) and these kids just want to DESTROY them.
I don't know! But I hope I'm raising a kid who respects wildlife. So far, so good. Each hike is a chance to explore the wilds and spot animals, reveling in the discovery. And that's what childhood is about to me.
Until next time! Keep exploring!
