by Raziel Siegman ('17) On Friday, December 9, the MTA Outdoors Club officially began its new role as a trail maintainer for the New York New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC), scouting the Indian Rock Trail in Ramapo State Forest. The trail, which begins in Back Beach Park in Wanaque, NJ, runs for about one mile until it connects with the Cannonball Trail. From this point forward, the MTA Mountain Lions are the official NYNJTC maintainer of the Indian Rock Trail. In this capacity the Mountain Lions are obligated to submit semi-annual reports on the health of the trail, as well as to perform various maintenance tasks such as improving signage, removing garbage, and clearing the trail after storms. In addition to hiking their own trail, the Mountain Lions also enjoyed the Cannonball Trail and Wanaque Ridge Trails for a very nice four hour loop. Those trails include scenic lookouts over Ramapo Lake and over the Wanaque Reservoir, among other interesting sights. The temperature was quite cold, but the skies were clear and the views were spectacular. Of course, all hikes cannot be complete without some roasted food, so in an appropriate spot the group cleared a space, started a small campfire, and then roasted marshmallows. While hiking along the trail, the Mountain Lions learned various interesting bits of history, science, and technology. For example, the Indian Rock trail passes the stone remnants of a manufacturing plant that closed in 1920. The plant was owned by du Pont, one of the largest chemical companies in the world. The company got its start manufacturing gun powder, and was a major supplier to the US Army as far back as the Civil War. The arms industry also played a significant role in the history of the Cannonball Trail. It follows the route laid out during the Revolutionary War that protected the Pompton Iron Works, allowing Continental soldiers stationed anywhere in the area to quickly muster and respond in case the British attempted to capture it. In addition, the Cannonball Trail provided a route from New England to Pennsylvania that could circumvent New York City, which was occupied by the British, and provide cannonballs from Pompton anywhere along that line. This historical significance was recognized in 1993, when the northeast portion of I-287 was built. This road, which allows truckers to circumvent New York City just as the Cannonball Trail did, threatened to destroy the trail by bisecting it. The State of New Jersey, however, built a footbridge over I-287 to save the trail, in recognition of its history and importance to hikers. An interesting natural phenomenon that the hikers noticed in many places along the hike is called Needle Ice, where thin shoots of ice about two inches high seem to grow directly out of the dirt along the trail. This happens when the air is below freezing, but the ground is warmer. Water below the surface of the earth is drawn upward into the air, where it freezes. The ice becomes slightly muddy because of the wet ground that it emerges from, but it is nonetheless beautiful. By far the most useful knowledge that the hikers gained from the hike was a great app for the iPhone called Avenza. Avenza is a free app that allows the user to download trail maps (many are free, but the best ones, which include topography, carry a small cost) and then combine them with a GPS function. This allows Avenza to show a hiker exactly where he is located on the map he is looking at. The software is so precise that a hiker can know immediately if he has left the trail. This is critically important for less well marked trails, as well as for people who like to go off on their own but don’t want to get lost. All in all, the hike was an amazing combination of great exercise, camaraderie, education, and communal responsibility. The Mountain Lions looks forward to hiking again soon!