High Point State Park, 6/22-24/2007

After an indecisive Friday night, Deborah and I woke up on Saturday, saw the sun, departed from Brooklyn around 11 AM and arrived at High Point Park in the early afternoon to find the site quite deserted. We carefully checked for bears, but there were none present, just some brochures warning about them. As we would find out later, everybody was either on a hike or at the lakefront beach. We put up our tents and then went to the park office to get some trail maps. We set out on a short hike (lots of ticks, wear pants!) which turned out to be really short because we missed a turn and after about a mile ended up where we started, which was OK with us because we were pretty tired and just decided to kick back and relax. It was sunny, but cool.

The others arrived in a bit - Janice, Suzanne, David L, Joan, Walter, and Harry - and Athmane announced the return of the Berber crew by zipping across the campsite on his mountain bike. He and his friends Kareem, Wabby, Yacine, and Chafik then set about creating the most elaborate dinner I’ve witnessed being prepared on a camp stove, including, no kidding, fresh bread. Found out (jealously) that Janice had been treated to a therapeutic massage by the former-emergency-room-nurse-turned-tennis-instructor Chafik, who also turned out to be chief cook. Meanwhile, Harry and Joan led a fearless expedition to Walmart and returned bearing such treasures as batteries, an air mattress pump, and fresh fruit. It appeared that an unscheduled stop at Dunkin Donuts had been added.

We later discovered that Yacine is an accomplished guitar player, who led the group around the campfire in the heartfelt singing of a wonderful array of -- I don’t know -- French/Arabic/Algerian folk songs. This also involved a drum. What talent! To include the rest of us, they also played traditional campfire favorites such as "We Shall Overcome" and "Hotel California" but nobody could remember many of the words. The fire itself was roaring and quite spectacular if I say so myself (I helped).

Ken and Jason arrived Saturday evening and joined David, Joan, Deborah, and me for a night hike, which we kicked off by attempting to dispose of the group’s garbage. After wandering around for a while carting aromatic plastic bags, crashing the Iron John convention across the way, and concluding that we did not know where the dumpster was, we returned to the site and pressed into service the trunk of Harry’s car. Thank you, Harry! The hike improved after that. Star-gazing from the clearing was lovely and the dark roads, while a bit spooky, were quite beautiful.

Sunday started with leisurely breakfasts after which, as usual, we all packed up and headed out. A few of us hiked a bit before hitting the road, including some time on the AT, and, according to legend, Ken and Jason actually made to the high point. Either that, or they photoshopped the pictures.

Theresa