Hiking the Wilds of the Garden State

At the last minute, I was able to join up with some friends and nature-loving Redeemerites for an expedition into the wilds of New Jersey, led by our fearless leader Bruce (not to be confused with his fellow Garden Stater, Bruce Springsteen, or his perhaps distant ancestor, Robert the Bruce).

I thought I would know just one person on the hike, Patricia. Instead, I knew four people -- and one person remembered me from a retreat in July 2003. Very impressive memory, Joyce! She remembered my name AND some facts about me (e.g., I'm a mahjong buff). Here is Joyce, immortalized in a photograph so that the next time we run into each other I will hopefully remember her as well. This was our first scenic overlook on the hike, but I gave her a patriotic backdrop instead of a fall foliage backdrop:



From that first lookout point, we could just barely see NYC through the haze. Or maybe it wasn't really smog, it was just realllllly far away. From Millburn, NJ. Right. The picture came out pretty well though:



Here's the whole gang -- a good turnout of 22 people at the time this picture was taken, although I guess you can't really see everyone in the picture because it was an unposed, totally candid shot with people blocking each other and wandering out of the frame. (Of course, with a group of New Yorkers that large, it took a while for us all to get ready -- everyone was buying coffee, etc. -- and then even once we started, we moved very slowly. I believe the technical term for the sort of hiking we were doing was "moseying." We went so slowly, that Alda's friend who overslept and caught the next train an hour later was able to catch up with us, raising our number to 23.)



You may have noticed something funny about the ground in that last photo: it was paved. That's right folks, after a brief walk through the woods, we quickly found a paved road to follow to the scenic overlook. This made several of my friends very happy. They were disappointed when we returned to the forest to begin the real 5 mile hike through the woods.

It was a beautiful late fall day, perfect for hiking. About half the trees had lost their leaves already, but this one was nicely silhouetted against the sky -- note the bulbous seed pods:



As we marched on, I saw an interesting fungus growing on the side of a tree. It looked like it was made of wax -- or maybe like one of those fake plaster wall sconces you can buy for an ersatz classic look. I didn't try eating any of it:



The city folks' yen for pavement may have reached its apex at this point, when the way forward was totally blocked by two toppled trees. Yes, we had to climb over and through, and I'm happy to report that everyone made it. But not everyone was happy about it; New Yorkers don't really like obstacles. We want instant gratification! (Can't we have fresh country air and the exhilaration of a hike without spending four hours out in the country and getting a workout?).



Hopefullly even the complainers enjoyed this nice waterfall. It was not exactly a raging torrent, but it was pretty.


Here is a sample of the lovely fall foliage we saw on roughly half the trees - I love seeing the sun shine through the leaves like this:


We also passed a number of ponds with ducks
and geese

Seven of us dawdled afterward and enjoyed some tea and light supper at the local diner, then three of us peeled off to catch the 4:56 train back to civilization (not that we were ever out of earshot of the sound of traffic, but what do you expect when you are a few train stops away from NYC).

Afterward, I caught The Weatherman with Nicholas Cage. (No, I didn't see it with him; he was just starring in the movie.) There were some funny moments, and some positive developments over the course of the movie - particularly the fact that the hero actually learns a useful new skill, archery - but overall, it was a bit of a downer. Plus the story line with the son didn't really seem to go anywhere; what exactly was the point of including the son character at all?