Smiling birthday boy!
My big 30th birthday was this past Saturday, and I decided to do something selfish and go for a day hike with Dynamic Outdoors, and NYC-based adventure tour company. I've done two day hikes with them in the past, and it's always fun and always the nature always beautiful. My buddy Zev came along for the trip, along with about 25 other brave souls.
I was excited to try out the hike in my newish Vibram Five Finger Trek Sports, which have a beefier and more rugged sole than other VFF styles. I did a hike last summer with my friend MCheezy in my old KSO's, and while I felt surefooted the whole hike, my feet were killing me afterward and I broke my right pinkie toe. I hobbled around for at least two weeks after that, so this time around I was hoping my Trek Sports would save me from the pain.
The DO van made a couple of pickup stops at 9am, and then we were on way to Wawayanda State Park in New Jersey. The foliage this time of year is in the middle of changing, so we were lucky and saw some beautiful colors once we got a bit north of the city. So the trip was part hike and part rock scramble, which I interpreted as climbing up steep yet not difficult terrain on hands and feet. The key to scrambling is to always have three points of contact on the ground (ie. two hands and one foot) so you're always supporting your bodyweight. I've had some experience with this in the past, but I never found it difficult nor too scary. Until today.
After a short walk on the start of the trail, we encountered a ridiculous uphill, consisting of fallen boulders down the side of a huge hill/mini mountain. It looked as though giants threw down ginormous boulders from the top of the hill, and they just piled up haphazardly to form an unsafe and intricate staircase. At first it looked like fun, but as I began the ascent I found that many of the boulders were unsteady, and there were deep holes in many of the spaces between two rocks. Basically you better not step in a crack, and you better make sure the rock your stepping on won't suddenly become dislodged and tumble down the mountain. As we got higher, the rocks got smaller and smaller, and even more unsteady. You had to use your hands and feet to climb, mostly for safety reasons, but also to help with balance. Every now and again a rock you were stepping on or holding onto would separate from the hill and go tumbling down onto the slower climbers. Luckily nobody was hurt all day from falling rocks, but it was mandatory to give a loud shout of "ROCKS!!!" whenever you sent one flying downward.
A bit further up the hill, once most of the scary rock climbing was beneath me, I encountered a short stretch of uphill at an extreme angle without much to hold on to. I tried reaching for the roots of a young tree, but the roots started to come up. I stuck that right hand back into the dirt, redigging in my other three points of contact , suddenly frozen. I was basically hugging the mountain for my life, knowing that if my foot slipped in the dirt I'd go tumbling down backwards, without much of anything to break my fall. It wasn't as if I was going to fall of a cliff, but more like slide down the hill with nothing by thin trees and hard rocks to break my momentum (and my legs, arms, face, etc.) Luckily there was a tour guide right above me, but when he offered help I realized there wasn't a thing he could do. It was just too steep. I dug back in and made a lunge for a tiny rock, hoping my weight wouldn't pry it loose from the dirt, and was able to keep climbing. When finally I reached a safe-ish area to rest I realized my fingernails were full of dirt, and one of them on my right hand was oozing blood and dirt. Sweet. The pain wasn't so bad, as the adrenaline was still rushing through my body.
The rest of the hike was fairly scary too, but nothing elicited as much panic as that little incident toward the beginning. Not to get into detail about the rest of the scramble, but going down a steep descent is just as hard, if not harder, than going up. If you start gaining just a bit too much momentum, you're toast, and broken bones would be the least of your worries.
The upside to all the climbing was that we got some spectacular autumnal views of the valley below, with yellows, browns and oranges dominating the landscape. Check out some of these pictures!
I was excited to try out the hike in my newish Vibram Five Finger Trek Sports, which have a beefier and more rugged sole than other VFF styles. I did a hike last summer with my friend MCheezy in my old KSO's, and while I felt surefooted the whole hike, my feet were killing me afterward and I broke my right pinkie toe. I hobbled around for at least two weeks after that, so this time around I was hoping my Trek Sports would save me from the pain.
The DO van made a couple of pickup stops at 9am, and then we were on way to Wawayanda State Park in New Jersey. The foliage this time of year is in the middle of changing, so we were lucky and saw some beautiful colors once we got a bit north of the city. So the trip was part hike and part rock scramble, which I interpreted as climbing up steep yet not difficult terrain on hands and feet. The key to scrambling is to always have three points of contact on the ground (ie. two hands and one foot) so you're always supporting your bodyweight. I've had some experience with this in the past, but I never found it difficult nor too scary. Until today.
After a short walk on the start of the trail, we encountered a ridiculous uphill, consisting of fallen boulders down the side of a huge hill/mini mountain. It looked as though giants threw down ginormous boulders from the top of the hill, and they just piled up haphazardly to form an unsafe and intricate staircase. At first it looked like fun, but as I began the ascent I found that many of the boulders were unsteady, and there were deep holes in many of the spaces between two rocks. Basically you better not step in a crack, and you better make sure the rock your stepping on won't suddenly become dislodged and tumble down the mountain. As we got higher, the rocks got smaller and smaller, and even more unsteady. You had to use your hands and feet to climb, mostly for safety reasons, but also to help with balance. Every now and again a rock you were stepping on or holding onto would separate from the hill and go tumbling down onto the slower climbers. Luckily nobody was hurt all day from falling rocks, but it was mandatory to give a loud shout of "ROCKS!!!" whenever you sent one flying downward.
A bit further up the hill, once most of the scary rock climbing was beneath me, I encountered a short stretch of uphill at an extreme angle without much to hold on to. I tried reaching for the roots of a young tree, but the roots started to come up. I stuck that right hand back into the dirt, redigging in my other three points of contact , suddenly frozen. I was basically hugging the mountain for my life, knowing that if my foot slipped in the dirt I'd go tumbling down backwards, without much of anything to break my fall. It wasn't as if I was going to fall of a cliff, but more like slide down the hill with nothing by thin trees and hard rocks to break my momentum (and my legs, arms, face, etc.) Luckily there was a tour guide right above me, but when he offered help I realized there wasn't a thing he could do. It was just too steep. I dug back in and made a lunge for a tiny rock, hoping my weight wouldn't pry it loose from the dirt, and was able to keep climbing. When finally I reached a safe-ish area to rest I realized my fingernails were full of dirt, and one of them on my right hand was oozing blood and dirt. Sweet. The pain wasn't so bad, as the adrenaline was still rushing through my body.
The rest of the hike was fairly scary too, but nothing elicited as much panic as that little incident toward the beginning. Not to get into detail about the rest of the scramble, but going down a steep descent is just as hard, if not harder, than going up. If you start gaining just a bit too much momentum, you're toast, and broken bones would be the least of your worries.
The upside to all the climbing was that we got some spectacular autumnal views of the valley below, with yellows, browns and oranges dominating the landscape. Check out some of these pictures!
My VFF Trek Sports did amazingly well during all the scrambling, and my feet were always well protected. My foot did not flex nearly as much as when I wore my VFF KSOs on last year's hike, but I was still more agile than with rigid hiking boots. After hours of scrambling and brief breaks watching the real brave people in our group try to rock climb sheer faces, we finally got a chance to do some good old fashioned hiking. At first we started off at a good clip, and then slowed down a bit to admire the yellow forest. After a while, however, a few of us broke away from the rest of the pack, and began running through the rocky trail. This was by no means safe, but it sure was fun. I stubbed my toes a number of times, but luckily the firm rubber toe covering of my VFFs saved me from any broken toes. Last year I broke my right pinky toe at least once on that hike (is it possible to rebrake an already broken digit?) but this year the same hit into the side of a rock was no more than a 10-second nuisance before the pain went away. I still took many small steps when I ran, and used my Laskially-enhanced eyeballs to avoid any major disasters, but my feet still would have been toast without the Trek Sports.
I definitely did not feel as "one" with nature on this hike as with last year's due to my different VFF's, but it was worth not being in constant pain. There's no way I would have ever run on a leaf-covered trail last year, but I felt very secure with my beefy toe-shoes. They do give you more freedom and flexibility than hiking boots, but nowhere near the same closeness to the ground as with KSO's. The lugged tread definitely saved me from slipping and sliding down the mountain, which leads to this recommendation:
The Vibram Five Finger Trek Sports are amazing for hiking, and all the extra protection on top of the toes is an excellent feature. The tread on the bottom is perfect for digging into the ground, and the ability to use your toes for extra traction is something hiking boots just can't do. I'd highly recommend these shoes for any hike, but would stick to other thin-soled versions, like the KSO, Bikila, or Sprint for everyday walking and running.
My final recommendation is to check out a guided trip with Dynamic Outdoors! Igor Bass always picks fun yet challenging hikes, and provides trapped New Yorkers with an escape from the city.
I definitely did not feel as "one" with nature on this hike as with last year's due to my different VFF's, but it was worth not being in constant pain. There's no way I would have ever run on a leaf-covered trail last year, but I felt very secure with my beefy toe-shoes. They do give you more freedom and flexibility than hiking boots, but nowhere near the same closeness to the ground as with KSO's. The lugged tread definitely saved me from slipping and sliding down the mountain, which leads to this recommendation:
The Vibram Five Finger Trek Sports are amazing for hiking, and all the extra protection on top of the toes is an excellent feature. The tread on the bottom is perfect for digging into the ground, and the ability to use your toes for extra traction is something hiking boots just can't do. I'd highly recommend these shoes for any hike, but would stick to other thin-soled versions, like the KSO, Bikila, or Sprint for everyday walking and running.
My final recommendation is to check out a guided trip with Dynamic Outdoors! Igor Bass always picks fun yet challenging hikes, and provides trapped New Yorkers with an escape from the city.
I was born a scramblin' man...
I love the fall
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