Time in rhyme: 2009

Bailouts, flu
And stimuli
Health care
Day and night
A year of vast
Bemusement
With things both
Big and trite

The first year
Of Obama
The last one
For MJ
Thirteen-figure
Deficits
Madoff
Put away

The hue and cry
Was socialist
Banks too big
To fail
GNP-size
Bonuses
Cash for Clunkers
Sailed

Town Hall
Apoplectics
Teabagging
Redefined
Death panels
For the feeble
Comity
Hard to find

A Nobel Peace
For aura
A summit
Held with beer
Public option
Mania
Employment
Disappeared

Climategate
Conspiracies
Yankees
Got the rings
Olympics
Smiled at Rio
Vampire chic
Ka-chinged

Kenyan birth
Polemic
Balloon Boy
Punk’d the land
SC’s Guv did
Argentines
Tiger razed
His brand

Serena
Had a meltdown
Letterman
Had his staff
More war for
Us and Afghans
Karzai wrapped
In graft

D-list White House
Crashers
Palin shilled
A book
Burlusconi’s
Bell rung
Polanski
Got the hook

Wise Latina
Dust-up
Susan Boyle
Could sing
Jet landings
On the Hudson
Cronkite
Got his wings

Engaging
And enraging
A lot and not
To cheer
But here’s change
To believe in:
It’s only up
From here

Hiking

September/October issue, 2009

Fall Hiking Trails and Halloween Tales in Harriman

By Paul Clark

No matter where Bob Clinton has lived and traveled he has always found a way and a trail to hike. But by far his favorite places have always been right here in Harriman. And after decades of traversing its many trails and woods roads — on foot, skis, horseback and more — it’s safe to say that he knows Harriman better than just about anyone.

So with that in mind, and especially now with fall’s cooler, crisper climate and jaw-dropping colors fast approaching, who better to point you in the right direction for some truly spectacular hiking — and the chance to soak-in some real Halloween spirit in the process? Here are a few of his suggestions for autumn hiking fun...

If you enjoy the other-worldly sensation of walking through ghost towns and wandering among the spirits, Clinton suggests a hike to Doodletown on the scenic 1777 Revolutionary Trail (a trail that follows the route of British troops on their march from Stony Point to attack American forces at Forts Montgomery and Clinton in October, 1777) in the northeastern part of Harriman and Bear Mountain. First settled in the 1760s and abandoned just over two hundred years later, here you’ll find the crumbled foundations of erstwhile houses, a mine once owned by Thomas Edison, still active and abandoned cemeteries, and more than enough stonework, stairs, silent paths and walkways to tickle and tease your imagination.

Some say that Doodletown derived from “dood tal,” Dutch for “dead valley.” Clinton, who is also a photographer and musician, prefers another, more lyrical explanation. “The song Yankee Doodle Dandy is how the town got its name,” says Clinton. “The British marched through the settlement, singing the song to taunt the residents, so the town was called Doodletown.” Clinton discovered the town himself in the late 1960s. “Back in high school, we used to drag race on the main street there. We knew there was an old cemetery there, and thought it would be a good place to spend All Hallows Eve. So I said, ‘let’s go find it.’ It was classic Halloween night .... The wind was blowing through the treetops. The moon was poking in and out of the clouds, and vines and trees were reaching up through the gravesites. We hung out there all night telling ghost stories and reading epitaphs on the headstones.”

"Behold me now as you pass by,

As you are now so once was I,

As I am now you soon must be,

Prepare for death & follow me.”

– an epitaph in Doodletown

If, however, you prefer to mix your hiking with one part climbing and two parts treachery and murder, the place to do it is up in Claudius Smith’s Den on the scenic Blue Disc Trail in the southwestern part of the park. “Claudius Smith was America’s first outlaw,” explains Clinton, He used this place (an intriguing natural shelter concealed and protected by over-hanging rock formations) as his headquarters.” From 1774 to 1779, Smith, a British sympathizer who, along with a gang that included his own three sons, stole horses, cattle and just about every other thing they could from surrounding homes and farms — sometimes killing innocent people in the process. “He went both ways,” says Clinton, “he stole from the Americans and sold to the British, and also stole from the British and sold to the Americans.

Smith was finally caught and hanged in Goshen in 1779.” As you stand among these remote and rocky recesses it isn’t difficult to appreciate the isolation that this hideout commanded back then. And if you close your eyes and listen, you can almost feel the presence of Smith and his gang, and hear them bragging about their pillaging while plotting their next ones. While you’re in the area, the remains of an old mine, the Black Ash, are nearby and worth seeing.

Or course, there are several more recent — and peaceful — examples of the past to hike to and through, including several marked and unmarked trails and roads that reveal lasting reminders of the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a Great Depression-era program created in the 1930s. The CCC and the hundreds of workers it employed were instrumental in the building of roads, camps, water and other projects throughout Harriman, including the infrastructure that created Pine Meadow, Welch, Silvermine and other present-day lakes. And to this day, Clinton and thousands of other overnight hikers have appreciated the presence of several unique CCC-built shelters, like Big Hill on the intersection of the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail (SBM) and Long Path, and Stone Memorial shelter on the SBM near Pine Meadow Lake. “These are beautiful shelters,” says Clinton, “and obviously built to last. Many have still-working fireplaces built into them.”

Which other trails does Clinton recommend for fall hikers? Pine Meadow Road, sensational in fall and easily accessible from the boat launch parking lot at Sebago Lake. “That’s one of my favorites. It’s wide, not difficult and it leads to some nice lakeside spots along the way.”

Also, the 1779 Revolutionary Trail in northern Harriman, which traces the route that Anthony Wayne’s American troops took in their drive to retake Stony Point from the British. There are other longer, more difficult trails in Harriman, too, including Suffern-Bear Mountain. The SBM is “a truly great trail, but,” Clinton cautions, “a difficult one that only experienced hikers should attempt because it’s all up and down. There’s next to no flat terrain on its entire 22-or-so mile length.”

But whichever trail you take, however many times — once, twice or like Bob Clinton, every chance you get — you should follow his advice to always take the right map, take your time and have fun. And while you’re there, you’ll heartily agree: You can’t top Harriman on Halloween or any other time in fall for an afternoon, day or weekend of fresh autumn air, great exercise, a little bit of history and a lot of fantastic foliage everywhere you look.

For more information on Harriman State Park, visit nysparks.state.ny.us/parks. For trail information, use the maps of Harriman Bear Mountain trails published by the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference (available at Ramsey Outdoor Stores, EMS, Campmor and other stores, and visit nynjtc.org/view/hike.

A belated thanks to Lance Armstrong

During the week, I pretty much ride a desk chair and word processor. I've never met Lance Armstrong. I've only seen him on TV and read about him in magazines and newspapers. And I certainly wouldn’t put myself anywhere near him when it comes to achievements on a bike. But I do want to thank him for making biking more visible and acceptable, and a whole lot safer for everyone who rides. Especially a quasi-consistent rider like me who puts in a few hours in on weekends, and any decent-weather weekdays I can manage.

Somewhere around Armstrong’s second or third Tour win, I began to feel a change in the air. And on the road. That was the time he began turning a thin-looking, athletically and culturally challenged European sport into a tolerable endeavor.

Up until then, most motoring folks didn’t seem to care that much about a cyclist's safety or well-being. And many of them -- some obliviously, others by design -- let me know how little I mattered by turning fast rights and last-possible-second lefts in front of me, or dusting past my 160-pound frame and 30-pound bike a little too closely. A guy in a plumbing supply truck once let me know my place on the road's food chain by slowing down long enough to dump fast-food leftovers on me, while others found time to voice their moral objection to men wearing lycra bike shorts in public. My favorite was a particularly vibrant barrage of expletives delivered unwittingly (at least I think) by the father of one of the boys in my Scout troop.

But Armstrong — tight lycra and all — made it highly cool and very OK to ride skinny bikes while wearing loud shirts. And today, after seven highly visible Tour wins and a very respectable return-to-Tour third place last summer, Armstrong helped put biking clearly on the collective radar and, in doing so, made every biker everywhere more acceptable. Now even the worst of the cell-phone addled, SUV-emboldened tank girls and oblivious boys in six-blocks-to-the-gallon Hummers seem to recognize my right to exist.

Of course there's still the occasional close call. Which makes those loud shirts worth every cent. But it has and always will take two parts tenacity, and two parts Manhattan-bicycle-messenger mentality to ride around the New York environs. At least I feel more top of mind in the sense and sensibilities of drivers nowadays. And a tad or two more confident that I'm going to live a little longer, and enjoy biking a whole lot more. Thanks Lance.

Winter Camping

January/February issue, 2009

Cold Weather Cool

Some whys and hows for winter camping in Harriman State Park

By Paul Clark

Without a doubt, some of the coolest, closest and most encompassing outdoor gems of the Lower Hudson Valley are the sights, trails, and everything else in Harriman State Park. I’m a big, forever fan of Harriman. And for good reason.

Because where I grew up in the endless geographic evenness of Illinois, it took a drive well into Wisconsin or Michigan to find enough varied terrain to make hiking and camping more exciting. But even after years of hiking and backpacking amongst the ageless, glacially engraved formations of Harriman’s rock, forest and scenery, I’m still endlessly enthralled and grateful that all this geologic goodness is within a few miles’ drive from home.

Compared with the kind of backcountry trekking you might see depicted in high-adventure magazines, Harriman is not the Rockies. Or anything near requiring oxygen bottles and Sherpas. But with over 46,000 acres in Rockland and Orange counties, it’s the second largest in the New York State parks system.

There are more than 200 miles of diverse, well-marked trails, including stretches of the Long Path and Appalachian Trail. Add in several well-placed shelters and campsites, and more than enough conquerable altitude and adventure and you have everything you need for exceptionally good dayhiking, overnight camping or backpacking for two, three or more days at a stretch.

Not surprisingly, most people prefer Harriman during the warmer, lusher, longer days of spring, summer and early fall. And I’m not averse to that kind of Harriman time either. But on some of those nice long days and three-day weekends, it can feel like each and every one of those folks is right there with you. But I’ve also found that in the colder, starker, far-less-peopled months of winter, Harriman is an entirely different world. Which makes it the perfect season — and reason — to take on a quality of camping you can’t experience any other time of year.

Cold-weather camping in a tent or shelter — even if for just one night — takes a bit more resolve than camping in July. It also requires careful planning and preparation. But it does have its upsides. Hiking in the cold is far more exhilarating than hiking in the heat. There are no mosquitoes or other bugs crawling and flying around your face and food. The absence of leaves on trees puts more sunlight on trails to reveal added dimension and sharper detail in everything you see.

After sunset, that same lack of leaves opens the nighttime sky to expose more stars and constellations, and brighter floods of moonlight. A campfire never felt more warm or welcome. And with a few inches of snow on the ground, the entire environment seems sealed in a kind of calm and quiet you don’t get a chance to listen to very often. But one of the biggest advantages is this: with all that tranquility going on around you, you can also enjoy a better night’s sleep than you’ve probably had in a while.

Upsides aside, however, cold can be cold. And if you’re not properly prepared for, or predisposed to it, hiking on harder, frozen or icy trails can be more challenging, and a night spent outdoors can be less than comfortable. But if you’ve hiked and camped in Harriman during the warmer months and thought about extending your ventures into the colder ones, the best way to make for maximum fun is to plan well, and keep it simple. Here’s a few suggestions:

Know where you’re going and don’t go it alone. Always camp with one or more other people. Be mindful. Many of Harriman’s trails aren’t as safely accessible in winter. Plan on camping within a reasonable hiking distance — 90 minutes or less — from where you park your car. Stay in, or pitch your tent near, a shelter. (A shelter is a good “Plan B” in case tenting doesn’t work out.) If a shelter is “Plan A,” some of them have fireplaces built into them. Those that don’t have an established fire ring nearby. Bring a lightweight tarp along to cover the open front of the shelter to block the wind and retain heat.

Keep an eye on the forecast to avoid surprises, pack the right clothing (nothing made of cotton) and wear it in layers. Equally important, be sure to have a sleeping bag far warmer than the kind you took to summer camp. Come 3 a m, a nice and warm zero-degree or colder-rated bag is worth twice your total body weight in gold.

To a lot of people, though, spending a night or two out in the winter cold is something only Huskies and crazy people do. For me, winter camping is one of the best experiences you can have, and being called crazy for enjoying it makes it feel even better. But like all the other great things you can do in Harriman, it will always instill a greater respect for nature than you ever had before. And a much deeper appreciation for having an incredible place like Harriman so close by.

For more information about Harriman State Park and the New York State park system, visit nysparks.state.ny.us. For more on winter camping, visit backpacking.net/wintertips.html