Shelkirk Shores and a BIG BOOBOO!!!

Shelkirk Shores
Pulaski, NY
October 12th 2015



It was a beautiful day for a hike along the shore line, but boy my body and my camera took a beating and the beach won.
Tammy and two of her children (Adler and Allie) and I took a trip to Shelkirk Shores on this amazing fall day with a plan of enjoying one of the few last nice days before upstate NY is hit with what has become the NORM for us....WINTER,,,As noted, I was with good intention that we would be strolling along the shore with NO real danger of any harm coming our way, Little did I know just what injury could be sustained with a walk along the beach,,,,or should I say the ROCKS!

Shelkirk has a nice little beach, where I am sure when the weather is warmer has several beach goers and lots of summer fun...but this nice sandy beach area does not span the length of the park.

even to the right of this obviously man made beach you begin to see small rocks line the coast.

We decided to hike up to the camp ground area which was a lovely walk under tall mature trees, a nice path presented us with older cabins and eventually a play ground which was very much enjoyable.

WE each took a turn on this silly sitting ride before we headed back into the woods.

We were only in the wooded area for a short time when we saw a path that took us to the water. It was beautiful and the water was washing on the shore much like the ocean.

A beautiful clear sky, the sun on our face, All was good with the world.

Tammy was smart and wore her sandals...

After skipping some stones, and enjoying the water we soon made decided it was time to move on, Do we head back up the cliff trail or walk along the shore and eventually meet up with the beach and back to the car? The answer to that question changed everything. Yeah!!! Lets walk along the rocky shoreline,

This was just ONE of many obstacles we faced along the shoreline. Tree's blocked most of the passage and if it wasn't trees it was BOLDER like rocks that forced us to climb, duck, slide and shimmy our way down the trail....okay so there was no trail...none at all. I don't think anyone every intended to walk along this shoreline EVER...well we were and so we did,

Tammy and her children figure a way through the brush, At first it was fun...adventurous....LIVEN on the EDGE!!! BUT the water was rising and my feet were getting wet in my sneakers. Before long not only were we forced to climb and bend over dead trees and rocks, but  I was now doing such while timing my climb and jumps with the tide coming in.....ONE, TWO...THREE now go QUICK!!!

Where there was once dry rocks now became slippery wet rocks and my sneakers had ZERO tread!!! KABAM!!!! I was down, stepped to quick on a rock and fell pretty hard on my knee. No worries...pick yourself up dust yourself off and start all over again....just a little bit more cautious this time.

Of course the terrain ONLY became more difficult. No longer was this hike a FUN liven on the edge ADVENTURE...it was beginning to be a desperate search for an END....Where the *&(% is the BEACH??????

Keep on pushen through..the beach has to be coming up here soon....it was just about that thought when I fell again...and I fell HARD!!!! So hard I actually laid there on the rocks water rushing in for a few moments in utter shock....CURSE word streaming from my mouth. (Good thing Tammy and her family were back a bit and couldn't hear over the waves.) Okay....your okay, just get yourself up...you can do this I said to myself....And yes I could get up...PAIN in my Knee shooting through my body...and if that wasn't the worst of it....MY CAMERA WAS CRUSHED!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO more CURSE word spewed from my throat!!!!!!! My lovely beautiful Amazing camera...the lens was smashed my lens cap gone...perhaps with the rushing waves caught forever in those abusive rocks...OH OH please let there be hope....my Lens is removable....maybe just maybe its a dent and it will be fine. I quickly turn the machine on and watch as the robotic insides creak with a turning noise new to my once smooth moving camera. CLICK CLICK CLICK...RUUUUUUUUUUUUU.....I quickly glance at the screen and point my camera to take a picture.....Nothing but blackness and a small thin line of the coast appears blurry on the top of my viewing screen,,,,,I curse again.....by now I am on my feet...water in my shoes bumps and scrapes on my knees and hands and Tammy and her children upon me...I gingerly explain what had happened view my throbbing knee...think about cursing again...and PUSH ON....what else can one do. I hobble onward, my fall had taken a bit more of me then I had originally noticed, and I was now forced to walk with a small hop.

 We simply had to get back to the damn car and END this torturous hike....isn't the beach just around the corner????? There was nothing ahead but more tree's rocks and several dead fish ahead of us, Finally we see the dock jetting out from the shore and a small but short lived sigh of relief overcomes me. I needed to take a long look at my damaged camera and my knee needed ICE!!!! So we push on...this time I was NOT in the lead and I watch as Adler heads up the pack of us four and notice that although we can see the dock outstretched into the once beautiful waters (I am bitter now), there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY WE ARE PASSING THE CLIFF/TREE/ROCK mess that stands in our way...(Should have taken a picture...Yeah that's right camera is dead!). You would think things could not get worse. SOOOOOO...here we were!!!! Dead trees rocks and cliff ahead of us.....already passed and fell twice dead trees and rocks behind us......what does a women with a mission to get the hell out of there do???? I survey the surrounding area....we could swim...yep yep that makes much more sense then taking our lives by moving forwards onto the cliff rock trees...I would rather take that risk then head back from where we came....NOPE I AM NOT GOING THERE AGAIN!!!! I look upward towards the once smooth tree  and rock free hiking trail and think damn it why didn't we take the trail back?????

Of course we couldn't see the trail or the top of the cliff from where we stood,,,,but there was just enough of a clearing between the trees to see that maybe...just maybe we could pull ourselves up and eventually be back on the trail towards the car and SAFETY!!! at least there were no ROCKS or dead trees in the way.....just a VERY VERY VERY Steep incline up. I didn't think much more about it...I might have reconsidered the swimming if I had... I took a deep breath and simply started climbing. I started up sideways thrusting my feet deep into the soft earth, grabbed at a tree branch that easily pulled out of the ground and scanned around for my next step. At my count of three I climbed as fast as I could to the closest tree and braced myself against its truck. This tree was holding me from crashing down to the shore below...any misstep here would surly make my rock slip look like childs play. A fall from here would be BIG time injury.Another three count.....and a chance that the next branch I took hold off would be solid in the ground and be able to hold my weight...low to the ground and feet digging deep into the dirt, using smaller tree trunks as handles to assist in pulling me up. I somehow some way made it to the top.....and Allie did too right behind me. Oh thank you God we made it.....
 Once on top it took a few moments to catch my breath and wipe my sweaty brow before the fact that there was a FENCE in front of me to really SINK IN!!!!! A FENCE......(Proof that this cliff is way to dangerous for people to be walking next to.)...I FREAKEN FENCE!!!!! As if things couldn't get worse. I haven't climbed over a fence since I was about 16 years old...I am in my 40's now and weigh about 2xs what I did then.
 Allie handed me her sneakers.....and I watched her shimmy up over the chain link fence with ease...I stood there looking at her on the other side in a daze....there had to be an end to the fence somewhere....I looked down both sides and only saw trees,,,by now Tammy and Adler had made it to the top, Thank goodness we all made it up. I wanted to break down and CRY....now what???? I hoisted my leg up...NOPE that was not happening,.I tried to stick my own fat feet in the chains....NOPE they only slipped out....okay again....I did my 1,2,3 and tried to throw my leg up...maybe I could simply throw myself up and over....NOPE not even with my 3 count was I gonna get over this....Eventually Tammy had an idea, I would push off her back up and over and she would do the same with Adler, who at this point had simply jumped over the fence and jumped back to help. Once on the other side safe....we did it...the reality of this walk from hell came flooding over me,....my knee hurt...my camera was destroyed....and we still had a bit of a hike to get back to the car.
BUT we did make it back to the car...I did make it home and with some ice, x-rays and rest my knee is slowly repairing. My beautiful camera however is done it will no longer take pictures and I have plans of burying it soon...I can now laugh about that hike from hell and jokingly blame Tammy for her NEED to walk on the beach that day...and I will forever have an adventure to tell and a memory in my head (as I did not have the pictures....).

The very last picture my AMAZING very expensive camera ever took!!! RIP!!!