So today I gibs you some death defying acts of hiking. Well, not rilly. It woz not as bad as wot the sign say eggsept if'n you do something stoopid but we is not doing anything stoopid. In fact, I earned my kibble today coz I showed mom some ways around some dangeruss parts wot would has made her weak in the knees coz, well, those parts made me weak in the knees, too! So we went to Glen Onoko (not Yoko Ono) in Jim Thorpe, Pencilvania.
Leading the way through the easy part.
At the waterfalls the trail starts to get more rawkier.
Careful on these slickery wet rawks, mom!
We has to go up this way...
... to get to Chameleon Falls.
Chameleon Falls is supposed to has all kinds of pritty colors in it when the sunbeams shine on it but we had no sunbeams. I do has a moovie, tho, but it be a little shaky. Sorry.
So here I be at the top of Chameleon Falls where there be DANGER! DANGER! No stepping out on the slickery rawk where the waters fall down from or you fall down and be DED! So we stayed far, far away from there.
Climb on up, mom. I lite up the way fur you with my laser eyes.
Mom, can you grab that litter and throw it in my pawket, pawlese?
This be a waterfall wot you can stand behind. I show you...
See, rite where the arrow points. But we did not do it coz there woz deep puddulls to go thru and mom did not want to get her shoes all soaked wet.
Hey Chad and Katrina, this be so not kewl to put your names on the rawks. The arrow and udder werds be to show us where to go. We dussn't want to see you on the rawks. I cannot beleef you did that just two days ago on 5/27/11. Shamie on you!
I maded it to the furry top of the waterfalls! Now that smiley face be furry cute coz that be our direkshuns. Chad and Katrina, not cute.
Standing at the top of the waterfalls.
So now I has to tell you the legend of Glen Onoko wot I copied here from this website so I can gibs them credit fur it. I think the Indian maiden jumped from where I is standing but ofur at the edge where I is not going coz it be DANGER!
"Onoko was the name an Indian chief's daughter who was a white settler's lover. The irate chief accused the white man of stealing his daughter's affection and executed the culprit by throwing him over the cliff by the falls. During this execution, Onoko hid in clump of rhododendron bushes, and upon witnessing her lover's doom, gave a shriek of despair before leaping from the cliff to share In her lover's horrible fate.
According to legend, the spirit of the Indian maiden haunts this tragic spot. At precisely 9:15 on any clear sunshiny morning, the restless ghost of Onoko, also known as the "Spirit of the Mist", makes a misty appearance as a white veiled lady gliding across the silvery surface."
We did not see any ghosts even tho we woz there at 9:15 but it woz not sunshiny, that woz the problem.
So now we woz hiking along the rim of the Broad Mountain where there be seeniks. Down below us be the Lehigh River. This be called Oxbow Bend. Can you see why?
This be anudder seenik of a different river bend but I dussn't know wot the name is.
Ugh. More litter at a seenik. But mom has to carry that one in her hand coz it duss not squish down to fit in my pawket and as you can see there be no room in her backpack:
Just the udder day I woz thinking how we always find black rat sneks. Not that I has anything against plain old black rat sneks, but would be nice to has some varieties. My wish commed true! Allow me to pawsent my furry furst efur Eastern Milk Snake!
Say CHEESE!
No worries, he not be the putting the bitey on you kind of snek. He be our furrend.
So then we commed down off of the mountain by the Lehigh River and we did see this hole in the mountain on the udder side of the river:
Must cross river to check out hole in mountain...
So we get to the udder side around the back way and OMD, KREEPY!
There woz old railroad ties on the ground wot we had to step ofur and it woz DARK in there and water woz leaking on my furs from the ceiling. Move towards the light, move towards the light... Here I is in the hole in the mountain and I can see where I woz standing afore on the udder side of the river. This used to be a tunnel fur the train when there woz a bridge but now peeples can walk in it.
A nice laydee in the hole in the mountain taked me and mom's pikshure togedder by the hole.
You know, mom mite has been able to see better in the dark tunnel if'n she did not has her sunglasses on. Just woofin. (As you can tell, we got off the mountain and the sunbeams showed up.)
So that woz it on our hike today. We only hiked 7 miles coz it woz hawt and hoomid and we needed some air condishunning in the car.
So fur Memorial Day weekend, Sarge ofur at Sarge Speaks Out is hasing this big event where we has to put our peeps on pawrade! We has to tell something on our peeps (our hooman pack) and pawrade them in front of all of Blogville, hehehehehe! I digged out all of the pikshures I taked with my Shawnee Cam fur the pawrade, but furst I tell you something on my peep, wot be my mom.
My mom werks from home fur a global telecommunicashuns company but she do not be a techie or nuttin like that (more like a techie imcompetent if you ask me, hehe) but she werks with the green papers part of the company like nummer crunching and analizashuns and stuffs. BORING. But.... she do be here all day long to let me out, let me in, let me out, let me in... That do be so wonnerful even if'n she duss get annoyed sometimes. She gets ofur herself if'n I lay low fur a bit. Anyways, I is a Joisey gurl and has always lived in NJ but mom has not. She moved here from St. Louis, MO sebenteen years ago with the job she had back then wot woz a different job from wot she has now. So you all knows my mom takes me hiking efurry weekend and we try to go to a different place each time coz we likes to see noo places and noo things. Did you know that my mom has a horribull sense of direkshun? She sure duss! She used to get us lost all the time. So now she has a gabillion maps and searches the innerwebs fur informashun about where we is going afore we go so we has a plan and that keeps us from getting lost and ending up in Alaska! She also has a GPS backtracker thingie wot tells us how to get back to our car if'n she rememmers to set it. You has to tell it where the car do be fur it to werk. (See techie incompetent above. Sigh.) We hasn't had to use it yet but it just be a matter of time. Hope she rememmers to set it when the day comes that we need it. If'n not, nice knowing you all...
So now it be time to pawrade my peep around. Ready...... set....... MARCH! (WARNING: SKEERY WHITE LEG ALERT!)
Grrrrr on Blogger! I knows lots of us has been hasing problems with getting into our bloggies and posting commenties. Efur since yesterday Blogger has locked the door on my bloggie dashboard and WILL NOT LET ME IN! I scratched and whined and nuttin. Blogger kept saying on me that me top sekrit code werd be rong. They LIE!
So coz I use Firefox, I tried using Internet Eggsplorer today and wahla! I got on my dashboard and I can read bloggies! (Still not werking on Firefox.)
But I still could not leave commenties coz it would tell me to sign in then wham, Blogger would slam the door on me and lock me out and nom my commenty. Sooooooo - I used those Road Dogs as Ginnie Piggies and put a commenty on their bloggie as "anonymoose" and it werked! So fur all of you wot is hasing prawblems with Blogger booting you out of the commenties, gib this a try and see if'n it werks fur you. Pick "anonymoose" where it say "Comment As" and just rite your names in the commenty so we knows you is not anonymoose. Udderwise we all be incognito.
And Blogger, I has one thing to say fur you fur locking all of us out...
Bet you wonner wot I woz up to today with a title like that? We woz at Bear Mountain State Park fur hiking but not fur the museums, zoo, merry-goes-around and all that udder stuffs. Well, fur one, I is not allowed there being a dog and all. Nope, we went hiking up to the Popolopen Torne, then down to Hell Hole wot also be knowed as Popolopen Gorge where Popolopen Creek runs through (see there be too many Popolopens so we go with Hell Hole) then over Bear Mountain Bridge then up Anthony's Nose.... OK, I think I lost you all. You will has to follow along.
So furst off we climbed up Popolopen Torne. Thank dogness mom's new hiking shoes commed the udder day coz she needed them fur this hike. She got Vasque Scree shoes with STEALTH rubber soles! They be speshull fur slickery rawk climbing.
Common Spideywoman, show us how those new shoes werk.
Holy smokes, mom climbed rite up that skeery steep rawk like she had sucshun cups on her feets, even better then my paws if'n you can beleef that!
So we get to the top and OMD, there be that cloud hanging ofur the mountain again just like in Furginia.
We could see nuttin where the seeniks be in the East. No worries, we climbed this mountain again at the end of the hike when the cloud woz gone and I gonna show you those seeniks now cuz you has to see were we be going soon. In a bit we is going to be walking across the Hudson River on that Bear Mountain Bridge and climbing up Anthony's Nose. (But in this pikshure we had alreddy been there.)
So now, you mite be wonnering why that mountain be called Anthony's Nose. Well, it is supposed to look like this Cyranac dude's snooter, ya think?
This be wot Wikipedia say about it:
"Pierre Van Cortlandt, who owned this mountain, said it was named for a pre-Revolutionary War sea captain, Anthony Hogan. This captain was reputed to have a Cyrano de Bergerac type nose. One of his mates, looking at this mount, as they sailed by it, compared it to that of the captain's nose. He said that they looked similar in size. This good-natured joke soon spread, and the name Anthony's Nose stuck to this peak."
I just didn't want you all to think I woz really climbing up a nose.
The udder side, to the West, there we woz above the clouds so we could see stuffs. Sorta.
We is above the cloud.
Oh my dog, wot be this?
It do be a memorial fur soldiers. I biggify the signs fur you so you can read about it.
Now, onward and downward to.....Hell Hole!
You has to hear the water to fully appreciate why this be called Hell Hole - it be CRAZEE LOWD and that water be CRASHING and I woz not allowed in it coz mom say I get smashed to pieces.
So after walking along the gorge to where the Popolopen Creek comes out in the Hudson River, we headed fur the Bear Mountain Bridge. Did you efur wonner how that Appalachian Trail gets across the rivers and stuffs? Well I found out how! It goes rite ofur the Hudson River on the Bear Mountain Bridge that we be crossing ofur on and the Appalachian Trail goes part of the way up Anthony's Nose, too! This sign be rite at the toll booths coz cars has to stop and pay green papers to cross the bridge but us pawdestrians duss not has to pay.
When the bridge woz opened in 1924
Peeps wot builded the bridge in the olden days.
Seenik from on the bridge.
So we gotted ofur to the udder side and climbed up Anthony's Nose. Up at the top we could see where we commed from!
Hasing some noms on Anthony's Nose
Then we headed back down to cross back ofur the Bear Mountain Bridge.
Going back the udder way...
Checking out the seeniks again.
Then after we got ofur the bridge, OMD, I runned into some kin and we had a little fambly reunion. Hey sistahs!
They woz both adopted, the one on the left from a rescue group and the one in the middull next to me the peeples just adopted a week ago. Her doodyhed dad, wot did not even send any luggages with her, did not want her any mores and woz going to put her in the shelter. Her new fambly taked her afore he could do that. We had a blast visiting while our peeples did yak, yak, yak, yak...
Then we hiked around this lake on our way back to the car:
Duss you see all those geesers? They woz not happy with me being there and I biggify to show you why:
Little baby geesers! AWWWWWW! We had to hurry up and take the pikshure and move it along coz mom and dad was hasing a conipshun. No worries, I not hurt the babies!
So when we got back to the car, mom snarfed down her Starbucks Frappuccino and I had some cold water from the kewler and once we woz reenergized, we climbed that Popolopen Torne again fur the seeniks wot I alreddy showed you. I needs a big nap now.
