Winter Travels in Spring Lake, New Jersey

Though known as a summer destination, Spring Lake, NJ is a scenic, off-season locale as well, including in the winter when the 19th century wooden footbridges are lit up for the holidays, and the lake partially freezes, yet ducks and other water birds can still be found.

 

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Travels in Spring Lake, NJ - Part 3

Though the vast majority of visitors flock to Spring Lake in the summer, many people find the other three seasons to be quite atmospheric, especially without the crowds. This is winter in Spring Lake.

One of the 19th century wooden footbridges shining in the rays of the rising sun in winter. During the holidays, each of the pair of footbridges is strung with lights, making for an even more atmospheric experience if you walk across either of them at night.

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Adventures in Spring Lake - Part 3

The Chateau Inn and Suites in Spring Lake, New Jersey is perfectly located across the street from the lake where you can jog the loop around the periphery.

During my visit, I was struck by the delightful array of lights radiating from around the facade during the holidays.

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Not So Laid-Back Hiking in Grenada

Whenever I travel to the Caribbean, it's not the sun-drenched beaches that I long for. Sure, I love to sit on the beach in the early morning or at sunset. But, I much prefer to spend the day exploring, and that often means heading out on one or more hiking trails.

The island of Grenada has several paths that are perfect for strolling. (Such as the trail along the shores of Grand Etang Lake, an extinct volcanic crater that's perpetually bathed in fog.)
Or the lovely Morne La Baye interpretive trail where you'll get an education on the island's distinctive flora, including the ever-present boldly-colored heliconia as well as a fern endemic to this area. And then you'll be treated to a fab viewpoint at the end.

Two other favorite areas for more leisurely walks is the La Sagesse Nature Center and Levera National Park, two good places for bird watching.
But trails for thrill seekers who want a rush of adrenalin around every corner are more the rule. Here's what I found on what's often referred to as the Spice Island, because of its nutmeg production. The island is covered with a network of paths snaking through the jungle-covered terrain, some hugging the cliffs and others scaling the 2,000-some-foot peaks. Since so many of the more advanced trails, including the treks to the Seven Sisters and Camp Fedon, are not well marked, I travel with a guide, such as Henry's Safari Tours.

• It's an easy hike to the first of three falls referred to as Concord Falls in the western part of the island. This is a perfect place to cool off in the pool and either hang out or prepare yourself for the hike to the other two.

But, after that, it can be thought of as a warm up jaunt that requires criss-crossing the wide Black Bay River and jumping onto slick, loosely placed rock piles. The trail snakes through thick brush with yellow and red heliconia flowers growing in abundance.

The rock-hopping has its payoff: Au Coin Falls with its water cascading 40 feet into a clear blue pool. The third set of falls, Fontainbleu, cascades some 60+ feet.

• Another trek that's more rigorous wends to the waterfalls known as the Seven Sisters deep in Grenada's rainforest. You'll find the sweet aroma from the fields lush with bananas, cinnamon and nutmeg intoxicating. The flat track quickly gives way to a steep muddy trail along a narrow mountain ridge. Luckily the perfectly placed has roots help hikers climb this slope where you'll find several rushing waterfalls and clear cobalt blue pools -- perfect for swimming. Or, as I did, sitting on a flat rock and listening to monkeys scamper about.
• Grenada's got some heavy-duty all-day treks, including one to Camp Fedon, an outpost where Julian Fedon, a French Grenadian, led a rebellion in the late 1700s against the British. I did this hike from Concord Falls where the trail climbed steeply along the muddy slopes. Again, I made use of the well-placed vines, roots, rocks and shubs to keep my balance. But it's not all about staying upright because there's plenty of flora to appreciate, from the mahogany trees to the giant ferns and teak. All the sweating to get to the top is worth it for the panoramic views of the green rainforest and the cobalt waters in the distance.

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More Chilean Hacienda Happenings

I promised you more on my adventures at the Hacienda Tres Lagos in Chile's Aysen region. I packed a lot into a weekend:

1. My guide took me fly fishing to a point located between the teal blue Lake Bertrand (teal blue) and sea blue colored Lake General Carrera. I was hoping to catch any of four types of trout: steelhead, brown, rainbow and spotted. I'm told the biggest fish a guest pulled in was 40 pounds! But I'm suffering from bad technique. My guide told me I need more upper body and wrist action in the final cast to shoot the line out further. Oh well. No trout, 40 pounds or otherwise. But the views were outstanding: towering peaks studded with glaciers. It was oh, so peaceful, except for the sound of the currents.

2. One day we drove to Lake Bertrand where I found out that the fly fishing is alright if you hop aboard a raft and paddle to the middle of Rio Baker. (This river is also great for rafting the class III rapids). The lake, however, has too many people vying for too few fish. Instead we continued on to the confluence of the Rio Baker and the Rio Neff. There was a beautiful viewpoint of the raging Baker cascading over boulders.

3. Later we trolled on Lake Bertrand hoping to catch something. It didn't matter, however, because the views of the Fuentes Glacier were phenomenal. Finally, another try at fly fishing Lago General Carrera, this time it's evening so I'm hoping for better luck. But, no. Not a bite. Yet the purplish-colored peaks and wisps of clouds over the glaciers made it all worth it.

4. The next day was my fab excursion to the Marble Caves where we hopped aboard a small motor boat to cruise parallel to the shore. Here, there were soaring sea cliffs of marble. And thanks to wind and sea erosions their features are cast into curious formations that look like tree trunks and arches and caves, some wide enough just for the boat to pass through. Looking into the water I found colorful marble formations below as well. The Cathedral and the Chapel are the most famous.

5. Another amazing excursion was to the Explorer Valley on the gravel road that's only three years old. Before it was built, the only way into this area was on horseback. Glacier and ice studded peaks are all about and water running down from the high country to the roadside, with the occasional cascading waterfall. This is a road that's hard to drive because you want to look everywhere but at the road. Finally, we arrived at a short interpretive trail: Sendero Interpretivo Glacier Exploradores. The plants in this lush terrain are all labeled, including a fern with a name that means ribs of the cow and the holy tree. We climbed steeply among boulders that are part of a glacial moraine. And there in front of us was the bluish-tinged Explorer Glacier.
6. My last trek was on the day we had to drive to the airport. I managed a short hike to a lovely viewpoint where you can peer at both Lago Negro and Lago Carrera. We also passed the point where you could do a canopy tour but, alas, time didn't allow it. Hopefully, next time I'll spend a week.

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Finally Finding Kornati National Park

On my recent trip to Croatia, I had my heart set on visiting Kornati National Park, a unique archipelago with more than 150 islands that present a barren, almost lunar landscape. I was told that it was a land of limestone mounds -- some resembling snow, vertical cliffs and isolated patches of olive, fig and juniper. It's a lovely day trip from the city of Zadar. But I found out the hard way that few of the tour boats hawking their trips from the harbor actually cross into the national park boundaries. And, it turned out, the boat I was on was of these. Hard to believe, because the trip was booked through someone associated with the Croatian Tourist Board in the U.S. I confirmed everything with Fortuna Travel, the agency in Zadar they recommended, and yes, they said, the boat was going to Karnati. So you can imagine my surprise when I'm about to set foot on the m/b Fazanka and I look at the map on the brochure I'm given and it didn't look like the Kornati Islands were on the itinerary. When I spoke to one of the crew they told me that the boat is going to the islands that should be part of the national park and that it was all a political thing. It's just a matter of where the lines were drawn, I was told. Now I knew I was in trouble. After quite a bit of back and forth with him saying I'd still have a good time and me saying it's like going to the building adjacent to the Empire State Building and saying it's still a good view, the boat took off. Instead of stopping in the archipelago, we visited a couple of green islands, including Dugi Otok, aka Long Island, which is quite lush and noted for Telascica Nature Park. I walked to the cliffs on one side of the island and then through the forest to a lovely but crowded salt-water lake. This was all well and good but it wasn't the national park. The other people on the boat didn't seem to mind. As long as they were fed and had time to swim and sun. The bottom line is that few boats go to the national park. One that does go is the Plava Laguna. If you are in Zadar and you want to go to this archipelago, check out the brochures and if you see a nature park or a salt-water lake on the brochure, turn around and find another vendor. Because you won't be going to Kornati.

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