Hiking to the Shingle Gully Ice Caves - Minnewaska State Park Preserve

Last year, we did a day hike to the Shingle Gully Ice Caves in a primitive area of Minnewaska State Park, close to Sam's Point Preserve. We have done a lot hiking in New York and this is probably one of the most challenging but with multiple rewarding views. There are no trails, we had to do some bushwhacking and this is only accessible by joining a guided tour. You can sign up through this website: Sign up page for SHINGLE GULLY.

From the parking lot, it was an easy 35 minute ascent via a carriage road. We then reached a semi-dry brook where we needed to do a lot of rock scrambling. Actually, this hike required a lot of rock scrambling but this part was still easy and fun!

This is where the rock scrambling begins!

We then reached a crevasse which we followed and we did some turns, ascents and descents to get to what they call "The Grand Canyon" of the east. It felt like hiking in Jurassic park, which was pretty cool but very challenging!

Some of the people in our group had a hard time with the ascents but going down was more challenging for A.

We then have to go up again!

After a couple of hours, we reached the "Grand Canyon". If you have been to the real thing, this is just a really really miniature version but the views are still amazing after all the work that we had to do to get here. 

Our hiking group!

R checking out our "trail".

As if this hike was not arduous enough, the weather had to turn bad as you can see from the rain clouds.

We spent about 45 minutes here to eat our lunch and do some picture taking. We then have to go down and then up again to get to the ice caves.

We had to go inside that cave and then go back up again!

 

That slab looked like it was going to fall and it was the size of a car!

After another batch of rock scrambling (at this point, it felt like there was no end to the scrambling), we then made it to the ultimate ice cave. We were not able to take good pictures as it was very dark inside but we gave it a shot.

After the ice cave, it started to rain hard which made this hike more strenuous. We had to go to one last stop which they call the "The Flume". We were not able to take pictures anymore because we had to concentrate on where we were going. It was about 45 minutes more before we reached the parking lot.

All in all, this was a very grueling hike with never ending rock scrambling. But it was an exciting day hike where the views are very rewarding. 

Hiking in Mt. Pinatubo

Mt. Pinatubo is an active volcano in the Philippines' island of Luzon. Its last eruption 15 years ago formed a caldera and Lake Pinatubo has recently been a hiking destination for many locals and tourists. 

In 2014, my family and I hiked to the crater and it was one of the most enjoyable day hikes that we have done. We were able to organize it in 24 hours with each person paying 1,500 PHP (~$33) and this includes 4x4 transportation to the trailhead, a guide and sherpas who carried our lunch and snacks all the way to the lake. 

4x4's are needed to get to the trailhead

The ride was bumpy, dusty, we had to traverse some rivers and there was no air-conditioning but it was very exciting! After a 45 minute drive, we reached the trailhead and from there it was a 5 km hike with a total elevation of about 1000 feet to the crater lake. The landscape was amazing as you can see from the following pictures!

We met indigenous kids during the hike

It took us about 2 1/2 hours of hiking including tons of picture taking before we reach our destination. The lake was amazing and we stayed there for about 2 hours to have lunch, relax and take in the views.

Mt. Pinatubo Crater Lake

My family

Please click on the link for a video taken by my cousin to give you an idea of what the terrain is like:

Mt. Pinatubo Video