Paulist Fathers

Paulist Fathers Retreat (9/28/2014)

It's been a very tough week for us. Laura's mom got very ill on Friday the 19th, was rushed to the emergency room of the hospital, entered the ICU late on the 21st and got progressively worse until she passed away the evening of Tuesday the 23th. Her funeral was Saturday the 27th, a mere 8 days after it all began. So after a very stressful, very busy, very sad 8 days, we decided we needed to de-stress and so we headed into the woods without delay. And wow how healing those woods are!

This area has been on my To-Do list since my friend David B. emailed me in June 2012 to let me know about the state's purchase of this land, used for many decades as a retreat for the Paulist Fathers. But it wasn't until my friends Daniela and Shawnee visited in late August that I was convinced it was worth a visit. (Up to then, I only had the NYNJTC trail map #126 which includes only the Highlands Trail and a few disconnected woods roads. It's very incomplete.) Amateur cartographer Daniela made this terrific map and with it we were able to do a nice strenuous 5 miles following her hike but without the ascent of Mount Paul. We're saving that mountain for another day, along with the several other miles of trails in the area.

Total distance hiked was just shy of 5 miles in 3 hours and 15 minutes.

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