Hiking on my Birthday

We went hiking at Delaware Water Gap to celebrate my birthday. It took us more than six hours to finish a supposedly 3 hour trip, because we picked the most adventurous trail and lost three times on the way.

 

 It was a downhill trail with green dots along the path as direction signs. We chose it because it is along a creek and covered with woods. We could be very cool walking on this trail in the hot weather.

 

Everything was easy and joyful at the beginning, although the trail was rocky and uneven. We were very happy, seeing many mushrooms in different sizes and colors on the side of the trail. But, after half an hour, we went up to a dead end and couldn’t find any green dots to follow. At that moment, we were at the bottom of the gorge between two hills. I suggested going up to the top of the hill where we could see the whole valley below. We tried, however, it was impossible to climb through the rough and thick brushes, and we were also scared of getting bitten by snakes, which may be hidden in the bushes.  So we wondered back and forth for a while before finally stumbling on the green dots on the other side of the creek. It was quite a relief after crossing the creek and being back on our trail.

 

After another 20 minutes, a dead tree blocked the pathway and we couldn’t continue. We tried to find a way around the dead tree, but there was nothing nearby.  So we had to bear down and fight through the thick brushes. After a few scratches, we were on the other side of the dead tree and back on the trail.

 

We yet got lost for the third time, but by now we were pretty adapt at looking for green dots.   We finally made it back to the starting point around 7pm.

 

We would never do it again. The most impressive thing was that Shi Wei. wore a pair of flip-flops all the way up and down the hill.  He had blisters after this exhausting workout.