Norvin Green State Forest (Bloomingdale, NJ)

So we hiked here once last year but started at the udder end of the park. We did mostly diffrent trails this time eggsept for one overlook coz we rilly wanted to go there again, it woz so kewl. On this hike we hitted lots of mountains for lots of seenik views and bagged anudder peak, so off we wented for a 10 mile hike!


Well, rite off the bat, in the furst 1/4 mile, we founded our furst litters and we has never founded litters like this afore!

Somebody must has been reading a book and nomming a candy bar. Mom sayed we would leave it there but if'n it woz still there in the afternoon when we woz finished hiking and coming back that way to the car, we would take it wif us.

So we starting climbing this rilly steep mountain up high and the furst seenik we sawed woz the Noo York City skyline:


We climbed up some more steep mountains and bagged our peak at Buck Mountain. This is not rilly a pikshur of Buck Mountain coz peeples woz sitting there hasing a picnic for breakfast (wotevah...) so we did not stop, but this pikshur woz in the vicinity.


Then we woz over on Assiniwikam Mountain enjoying the seeniks when I founded this:

Somebody had lefted they platsic sammich box wif some tomater in it. Ewwwww. Mom squished it and put it in a poop bag so I would not stink while hauling it in my backpack. There woz not even any bugs on it, it woz so stinky.

Here is a shot of the trail wot shows wot a beeootiful spring day we woz hasing today.


And on some more mountain tops





Check out this rawk! Dussnt it look like if'n I blowed on it, it would fall over?

But is has prolly been that way for a gabillion years.

So then we woz at the Wyanokie High Point, our fave overlook where we woz once afore. It is the kewlest place coz you can stand there and see 360 degrees around you, even Noo York City! If'n you click on this pikshur to biggify it, you should be able to see the skyline:



I could see Wanaque Reservoir, too. Shore would have felted good to goes swimming there bout now. No waters for swimmings up high on the mountain top.


We then hopped on over to Yoo-Hoo Point. Now you mite ask, wot kind of silly name be that? Well, once you get atop Yoo-Hoo Point, you can look over to where you woz on Wyanokie High Point and if'n you yell "YOO HOO!!!!!" if'n anybody is over on Wyanokie High Point, they can hear you! See how close it is? But we could not see anybody up there so we did not yell "YOO HOO!!!!!!!!!"


I gotted a little squished here:


Ahhh. We finally commed down out of the mountains and I founded a kewl and refreshing creek.


So that book woz still there and mom nabbed it. It is supposed to rain rilly hard starting tonight and then the book would has been totally ruined and wasted. We is assuming somebody lefted it yesterday since it was there at 7:30 in the mornings and still at 2:00 in the afternoons. Mom putted it on paperbackswap.com to see if'n we can find it anudder home, but if'n any of you want it, just gib me a hollah and I has the postal peeples bring it to you, k? This is the book: Faith of my Fathers by John McCain. But we won't be sending you that piece of rotten tomater so no worries bout that.

Earth Day and Carbon Neutral Blog

I is supposing you knows it be Earf Day today. Akshually in our house it be Earf Day every day. Mom is rilly big on doing green stuffs. Like for the past 20 years hers has used reusable grocery bags and now also keeps a bag in hers purse, uses mesh froot and veggie bags and never brings home icky plastik bags wot we always see hanging from trees when we is out hiking. Here is why plastik bags be so noggty. But we still gets plastik bags from so many udder things like wot bred comes in, plastik envelopes and bags in the mail, wot hooman litter box paper comes in, stuff like that. We founded out on Earf Day last year that those can be recykled. Yes, they can! Rite in the bins that the noms stores has to recycle their icky plastik bags wot we never has any of to put in there!

So when mom gets reddy to go shopping for noms, she put her shopping bags on the kitchun table wif her nom list and all of the plastik bags and wrappers wadded into one of the bags. Then when she leaves, efurrything is there for her to grab so she not be furgetting nuttin and she drops the plastik bags in the recycle bin on hers way into the nom store. So just an ideer I is passing along wot you mite want to suggest to your hoomans for Earf Day. Click here for more informashuns about it and to check if'n your nom store participates.


And now, to make my bloggie carbon neutral...

“My blog is carbon neutral” is an initiative, originally started in Germany by the “Make it Green” programme, that has the goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We plant a tree for your blog and thereby neutralise your blog’s carbon footprint for the next 50 years! Everyone can make a small contribution to the environment. Every tree counts!

Here is how to participate:

1. Write a blog post about the initiative + insert your favourite button
2. E-mail the link to your post to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de
3. We plant a tree for your blog in Plumas’!

Here is the button I has chosen to put on my bloggie. You has to copy the code from the web site.

Delaware Water Gap (Copper Mines, Appalachian Trail, Rattlesnake Swamp, Catfish Pond)

We wozn't akshually going hiking today. The wevver peeples sayed the wevver woz not going to be so good when mom checked wif them last night. So we sleeped in this morning. When I went outside for my morning toilette I noticed the skies woz all bloo - no clowds! Mom noticed, too. She sayed, "Shawnee, grab your backpack. We are going hiking!" YAY!

So we started out on the Copper Mines Trail where they had copper mines in the olden days. The road we drived in on wot you see here, Old Mine Road, is the road they used to take copper to Noo York. But I donnot think it had pavements back then.

The copper mines didn't make enuff monies for the peeples so they closed them down long ago. Thank goodess or this would not be such a beeootiful place now. Here is one of the old mines. They has it locked up so peeples cannot go in it. Bats live in there but that be OK. It be their home now. We woz rilly kwiet so we would not wakes them up coz they sleeps in the day times.

And there is some old wall left too.


But past all of that, things rilly start getting pritty. There is kewl waterfalls and the trail goes along ledges where you can see and hear the waterfalls.





And check it out. I has been praktising my bridge walking...

so we maded a movie on the big bridge wot we had to cross:

Ta da!

Then we woz on the Appalachian Trail again and there woz some pawsome seenik views.



See how little the houses is down there? We is up rilly high!


Hold efurrything, wot is that in my seenik pikshur mucking up the views?

Grrrrr. Those litter bugs woz here again. I packed it out in my backpack.

So then we got to bag anudder peak today! Yes, the fire tower atop Catfish Mountain marks the summit at 1,560 feets!


So mom thought she would tie me to the fire tower and go up. Well, joke woz on her becoz she only got up to the second landing when she gotted dizzy and had to hurry back down. I was sitting down there crying trying to tell her that would happen but would she lissen to me?


So then we taked the trail through Rattlesnake Swamp. We did not see rattlesnakes but it woz crazee loud with all the noises in the swamp from frogs and stuff. It sounded like we woz in the rain forest. Then we camed to Catfish Pond and I did not sees any catfish either.


But we did see this torned up tree and I think that is wot they call "signs of bear activity" meaning a bear woz ripping it apart to nom the bugs in the log. We did not see the bear either.


When we gotted back to the car we walked a little way over to the Delaware River wot is in front of me. The water on the rite is water from those waterfalls wot is going into the Delaware River. That is Pencilvania on the udder side of the river.

So today's hike woz 11.6 miles This is the most wot we has done two days in a row!

And thank you all for your comments about my hiking! I is happy to be able to take you all along with my bloggie and that makes hiking even more fun for me.

Mahlon Dickerson Reservation (Jefferson Township, NJ)

We woz at this park afore on February 14 when there woz lots of snow on the ground. We commed back to this park today and hiked 11 miles. The wevvers woz icky and the wevver peeples could not agree on the forecast so we wanted a park with lots of trails so we could short cut back to the car if'n it started to rain rilly hard. Also, at this park we woz able to bag two peaks. Wot is peakbagging, you ask? That is when you collect being atop of the highest mountains. Mom signed up on NJ1K.org for us to keep track of our Noo Joisey mountain summits. We has 10 summits now. So when you get to a summit, you has bagged a peak. I show you today's in a minit. Furst I want to show you how much diffrent this park looks since we woz there last.

The creek on February 14, 2010:

The creek today:


Headley's Overlook on February 14, 2010:

Headley's Overlook today:


Saffin Pond on February 14, 2010:

Saffin Pond today:


Iz like a whole udder werld, no? I wanted to point this out to you also coz we did not notice it the last time coz of the deep snows. The sign on this bench at Headley's Overlook say a boy scout builded it (and a fine job he did) but they has to bolt the bench down to the ground wif chains so peeples not swipe it. That is so very sad. Bad peeples!


So that woz a part of the park we alreddy hiked. Now on to the udder side wot we has not hiked yet.

On our way we seened this:

Ooooo. I gess the bears gotted caught nomming in the dumpster. Oops.

Our first peak: Bowling Green Mountain at 1,381 ft (that boulder ahind me wot has a cairn atop of it marks the spot)


While we woz on Bowling Green Mountain, we heared "GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE..." Wot could that be? OMD, a turkey! He woz crazee loud wif the gobbling. He must has been courting hims gurlfurrend.


So then we camed down off of that mountain and headed on over to the next summit:


So that woz the two peaks wot we bagged today and mom dooly noted it on the member web site. You think we is reddy for Mount Everest now?

The wevver woz crazee today. One minit it woz like this:

The next minit like this:

Then it would spritz rains on our furs. Mom was hasing a skeery bad hair day!

We did not find a whole lot of litter. All of wot we found woz on trails wot had not been adopted. You see famblees adopt a trail and that means they go and keep after the litter bugs and they all does a very fine job coz we woz not seeing any litters.


We helped out by picking up wot woz on trails wot had not been adopted.


Oh, and woofing bout adopshun, I has to tell you this story. We seened a man wif a dog on the trails. He sayed he had just adopted his dog wot is 4 1/2 years old. The dog woz in the shelter for, are you reddy for this, 18 months! OMD, that is way too long to be in a shelter! He woz there coz his fambly lost their home and put him in the shelter. (Now keep in mind, we know lots of peeples has used this as an eggkuse coz it sounds better than "I is lazy and don't want to take care of my dog no more" so that mite not be the troof.) The man lubs this dog and takes him hiking all the time now. The dog looked so happy. He is now hasing the time of hims life and we tolded the man wot a good man he is to give the dog a good home. The man smiled rilly big and looked very happy too.

Bath Time Contest

My good furrend Boris the Kitty is hasing a fun contesty where you has to post pikshurs of you hasing a baf or why you be needing a baf. I has both so I is entering these pikshurs in hims contesty.

Click here to read 'bout Boris' contesty and how you can enter! Hurry, go find you a pikshur so you can enter.

My pawthetic baf pikshur:


Why I woz needing a baf:

The Best of the Worst

Ummm, that would be me. Yes, I wonned a contesty wot Baby Patches over at Nip and Bones woz hasing in honor of hers second birfday. You had to write about somefing terribul wot you had did to enter, so I, ummmm sang like a burd and tolded all, but little did I knows I woz going to win for being the most terribullest!

I mean I did my share of noggty things when I was a yungun. I eated 3 pair of mom's $300 eyeballglasses in two months, I eated about 12 remote controls, I nommed a hole in the loveseat, the usual stuffs. But I suppose this was the noggtiest of noggty. Is you reddy?

Here woz my entry:

This mite gross you out so I has to gib you that disklamer up front. Several years ago we had a cockatiel named Lola. Lola woz very, very old, 25 years old. Cockatiels only live around 15 years and she woz the oldest the avian vet had ever seened when mom had taken her in a few days afore when Lola woz not doing well. The vet could find nuttin rong, just sayed Lola be very old. For 25 years mom always lefted her cage door open and even the kittehs learned Lola woz fambly and woz not for nomming and nobody bothered Lola. Well, wif being old and going downhill fast that week, Lola falled out of hers cage on to the floor and woz either ded or in a coma. I could not just let her lay there so I picked her up in my mouf and taked her up on mom’s bed wif me. Then I got to thinking Lola alreddy be ded (or close enuff), why let a good burd go to waste? I tried to cover up the evidence wif a blankie but when Mom commed home from the store and moved the blankie she founded fevvers all over her bed. It woz all that woz left of Lola. There woz no way she could has knowed it woz me. After all it could has been one of my sisses, rite? Cept for I woz sitting in the corner of the room wif a fevver stucked on my nose.

So you can imagine I woz in all kinds of trubbuls wif mom over this. She woz very upset wif me and did not talk to me for two whole weeks. I mean, she knowed Lola woz dying but she apparently did not approve of her leaving, um, my way. But like BusyButtons sayed, I woz afraid mom would has been even more upset to come home and find Lola ded so I hided her body from mom. Yeah, that's it.

So on that note, hop on over to Baby Patches' bloggie to read the terribull stories of all of the winners. BOL, they is rilly, rilly bad, BOL!