Active Shooter Training, Pioneer Trail and Hamilton Trail

Today was a pretty eventful day!

This morning, a group of us from PEEC volunteered to participate as victims and bystanders in an active shooter training with the park service. The drill took place on an unused and dilapidated summer camp (which I will not name, just in case any hoodlums decide to read this blog). The camp itself was pretty interesting because even though it was run down and abandoned, I could still feel that "camp" feeling all around.

The trainers set up three scenarios in three different buildings, and we repeated each scenario between eight to sixteen times so each officer would have a chance to respond to the situation. I should also mention for any worrywarts that the training had numerous security and safety precautions built into the program, they used air bullets, we had protective eye-wear, blah blah blah.

• The first scenario took place in the dining hall. My role, along with many others, was to run away from the "shooter" as soon as a park ranger arrived. Once got outside the building, we were able to listen to the fake standoff, as well as the moans and groans of a shooting victim who was played by one of the instructors from PEEC. 
• The second scenario took place in a bunkhouse, which had a pretty simple layout but numerous bedrooms and open doorways. Again, I was a bystander who scuttled out of the room once the officers arrived. I felt some bullet casings flying at me as I went by, but that was the extent of my excitement for this one. Although a different PEEC instructor ended up as a civilian casualty a few times. 
• The third scenario had a few different elements to it. The building, a lodge, was a bit more complex and had a few more random corners and rooms to put shooters and victims into. I was a corpse splayed out on the floor in one of the hallways. Allison got to be a wailing widow, but she wasn't crying over me - the trainer had her paired up with a male victim.

All in all, I had a great time volunteering this morning and hopefully will get to help out again next year. It was interesting to see how each ranger handles a situation - the adrenaline rush really affects everyone differently.

In the afternoon, Allison and I went out hiking on the New Jersey side of the park. Allison wanted to check out a couple of old structures before they got torn down, but we were too late, and only by a few hours! We passed a construction crew on the trail and saw the newly-demolished flat place where a house used to be. Anyway, we took Pioneer Trail, which hooked up with Hamilton Ridge Trail to make a loop back to the car.

The "beautiful" power lines. Roseland plans to make them twice as big, which means twice as much of an eye sore - ugh!

This is an ironwood tree! Allison and I were both geekily excited to see a group of these trees - neither of us have seen them in the Poconos. They look like sinewy muscles and are extremely dense. I love these trees!

This was a big-ass pine tree along the hike. Most trees in this area are relatively small - but not this one! See how tiny Allison looks in the bottom right corner of the picture. 

Near that big-ass pine tree, we saw the foundation of a large house or barn. It was buried under a great deal of grass or something, so I had trouble getting a decent picture.

 Things I loved about the Pioneer Trail:

1. You can't walk anywhere on this trail without seeing a rock wall of some sort. 
2. It meets up with the Delaware River, and could be a nice, secluded picnic spot. 
3. Ironwood trees!
4. The big-ass pine tree pictured above.

Things I didn't love about the Pioneer Trail:

1. Seven bazillion gnats swarming constantly. Although I suppose that isn't the trail's fault.

 The extent of our journey on the Hamilton Ridge Trail involved walking along an old paved road that nature is in the process of reclaiming.

Things I loved about the Hamilton Ridge Trail:

1. Walking on an abandoned road and not seeing or hearing a single person or animal is kind of cool and creepy, like being in a post-apocalyptic world. 
2. Got us to our car. 

Things I did not love about the Hamilton Ridge Trail:

1. Booooooring. 
2. Not blazed well. The only blue paint I saw on this trail was on the signpost pictured above.

After we got home, Allison did the math and apparently we hiked about four miles. No wonder I was so thirsty!