HIKE DISTANCE: 2 miles
Hiked together with McDade Trail - 3.8 miles (about a 3 mile drive away)
THE HIKE:
There is a trail to the right of the restrooms that goes downhill to the Hidden Lake Trail.
It's Shawnee's first hike with her new wheels.
A cold front had finally arrived and it was a gorgeous drive in but
Hidden Lake was hidden in a cloud during the first part of the hike.
I had thought this was a woods road going around the lake but I was wrong. I was shooting for an easier trail for Shawnee's first time out but we made it around.
This is what I kind of had in mind but this was only a short stretch.
She is learning that the wheelchair can go just about anywhere.
Oops. What used to be an asset is now an obstacle.
But we found a way.
Yikes! Bigger obstacle.
By lifting on her harness handle I was able to get up up and down safely.
She toes under and drags her right paw sometimes so I brought a bootie along. It was just a disposable one I had but she will be needing something sturdier.
That cloud is finally starting to burn off.
This is where her wheelchair came from. It is the one her veterinary chiropractor highly recommended as it provides full range of motion where others don't.
A dog can even go into the water with a wheelchair.
The chipmunk sat there for the longest time staring at Shawnee. He had probably never seen such a thing!
When we returned to the car Shawnee clearly was not ready to quit yet so we drove on to the next hike.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: As we discovered in a most horrifying manner, discharge of firearms IS permitted according to New York DEC. There are no signs. There is no warning. Gunfire suddenly erupted behind trees along the trail we were on. We could not see who was shooting and froze expecting to be hit by bullets at any minute. Turns out there were 7-8 men behind the tree shooting at the same time in the direction were we had been about an hour earlier, .15 miles away, and bullets can travel well over a mile. As soon as we were a safer distance away, I called 911 only to eventually find out that shooting along the trail is allowed. The police did call me back to be sure we were all OK but there was nothing they could do about it since shooting is, as absurd and horrifyingly dangerous as it is, permitted. So be forewarned. (I did write the DEC Commissioner about this.)
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.28263, -74.51005
Parking near the kiosk. The dirt road on the right is the entrance coming in off of Liberty Corners Road. There is parking a little farther in but you need a high clearance vehicle to get there.
TRAIL MAP:
There is no trail map online but there is one in the kiosk.
This is not a complete map. The white sections in the middle are meadows on Pochuck mountain where the views are into NY. The trail continues through the meadows to the state line and lakes per a description someone we ran into who knows the area gave us but we did not get that far: "At the end of the fields continue up the ridge take the trail going down towards the lake.Go around the lake. The overlook into NJ is there but you may have to bushwack.Track back to the ridge trail and continue away from the fields. This will bring you back to the first field.Overlook is about 0.75 miles from the end of the fields."
HIKE DISTANCE: 5.5 miles
THE HIKE:
The dirt road to the left of the kiosk (to additional parking if you car is high enough) ...
... the barrier on the right.
At .75 miles the dirt road forks. Right goes to the meadows (it was a short distance ahead on that trail where the gunfire took place) but we went left (which would have put us in the line of fire had we been there later) to explore.
Coming up on a creek crossing ...
... where we saw a turtle to the left of the boulder.
And a frog that did not even move when the dogs went by, brave little thing.
This is a pretty section that following along the top of the creek gorge.
But nearing the top, the trail becomes harder to follow and littered with blow downs.
Where to go now?
We were hoping to meet up with the meadows going this was but that wasn't going to happen so break time!
Then retracing back.
Shortly after this picture was taken at the top of the gorge, we descended to the creek crossing when Sebastian suddenly began digging. Thinking he was after a small critter, he was pulled back only to find bees or wasps swarming out of the hole. We ran, dragging the dogs along and got away but not before house wrecker Sebastian was stung a few times. Even though they were all over Shawnee's face, they must have realized she was the innocent party because she was not stung.
Not only did he have several welts come up on his behind (better than in the mouth!)...
... this one popped up once he was home. Lesson learned - keep your nose out of holes in the ground!
Back at that fork from the beginning of the hike (our 3-mile point) we turned left (the right side of the fork from the parking lot) towards the meadows.
The first meadow - a mowed path cuts through.
I was really worried about the full exposure and Shawnee getting overheated.
A hawk overhead.
Views of the Wallkill Valley in New York.
So when we arrived at the second meadow which was another section of full exposure, we sent the others on ahead with the camera and GPS and Shawnee and I rested in the shade between the meadows,
The part we did not see, into the woods at the state line after the last meadow. There were no views through the other meadows.
A heart-shaped rock.
Returning to our break spot.
Heading back across the meadows.
See how Shawnee's back right leg is twisting in? It was just the other side of this meadow when her leg gave out completely and she could no longer walk.
This is how we got her out.
And it was during this time we had the most horrifying gunfire experience.
Back at the parking area.
This would be the point where I should say Shawnee is retiring from hiking. But I have had something in the works for this inevitable day and we are in the process of fine tuning the fitting. I am hopeful this will keep her on the trails a bit longer. She seems to like it. (This was taken just a couple of hours after she could not finish this hike on her own.)
