We were out the door at 6 am for our big adventure, the Great Saunter, a 32 mile walk around the perimeter of Manhattan. It is cool this morning so I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt, under a short sleeve t-shirt, under my lightweight down jacket. We've got fruit, nuts, protein bars and extra shoes and socks in our packs. BTW - the background photo is a shot of the sunrise from our apartment.
The route
This beautiful tile work is in the subway station at 57th and 8th (about 1/2 mile from our apartment) where we took the 1 train down to South Ferry station (it's the only thing beautiful in the subway).
Fraunces Tavern (start of The Great Saunter) is a national historic landmark, museum and restaurant. It once served as a headquarters for George Washington, a venue for peace negotiations with the British, and housed federal offices in the Early Republic.
Inside the Tavern we picked up caps, pins and a map of the walk.
My cap and number
The Official Map!!!
On the way to Battery Park we passed the Staten Island Ferry, a passenger ferry service operated by the New York City Dept of Transportation that runs between the boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island. It's one of the few things in New York City that is still free.
Battery Park is where the history of New York City began. Doesn't Kim look ready to go???
The Park contains many monuments honoring soldiers, explorers, inventors, and immigrants. This is the American Merchant Mariners' Memorial.
City Pier A is a municipal pier in the Hudson River at Battery Park near the southern end of Manhattan in New York City. It is the last surviving historic pier in the city.
A nice view of One World Trade Center through the buildings in the Financial District
Leaving North Battery Park and heading through South Riverside Park
Pier 83 was the location for late registration for the walk. I guess some people just don't like to get up early. It is home to Circle Line, which offers sight-seeing cruises and charters.
We've walked by this building so many times and I always wondered what it was. Turns out it is Space New York, a mega club, covered with a huge mural by Spanish graffiti-artist Belin.
The USS Intrepid - also known as The Fighting "I", was built during World War II for the United States Navy. Intrepid has one of the most distinguished service records of any Navy ship, seeing active service in the Pacific including the Marshall Islands, Truk, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa. In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. Decommissioned in 1974, in 1982 Intrepid became the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in NYC. Since she's parked just a few blocks from our apartment, we always take guests down to see this amazing warship.
Heading north along the Hudson River, the crab apple trees lining the Riverwalk path were blooming, and you can see the George Washington bridge in the far, far distance.
The Boat Basin at West 79th Street (above and below).
The Hudson River Park, a four mile stretch from 72nd to 158th streets along the Hudson River, is seen by many as Manhattan's most spectacular waterfront park. Kim and I walk along here often and will miss the river views when we head back to Texas. The cherry blossoms are just amazing!
The Cherry Walk extends along the river from 100th to 125th Streets. In 1909, the Committee of Japanese Residents of New York presented 2,000 cherry trees as a gift to the City. Some surviving trees of the original planting of 700 (part of the same batch of trees planted in Washington, D.C.'s Tidal Basin) can be found along this stretch of Riverside Park.
Uh oh...the start of a blister, so a stop to change socks. You can see New Jersey across the river.
I would never have guessed but the stainless steel mosaic sculpture in this picture is a representation of the eyelet guide found on fishing poles. You can sort of see it if you know what you're looking for.
Riverbank State Park is a 298-acre park built on the top of a sewage treatment facility on the Hudson River. The park is 69 feet above the Hudson and is located on the West Side Highway from 137th Street to 145th Street.
North of the Riverbank State Park is Fort Washington Park, which has a newly renovated playground. The park has one of the best views of the George Washington Bridge.
Getting closer to the GW Bridge. Remember how far away it was in that earlier picture???
This is the Little Red Lighthouse beneath the GW bridge. When I was snapping this picture, we picked up a talkative walker. Kim and I really enjoy the solitude of walking, so he became annoying after a while. When he stopped to adjust his shoe, we kept going.
We leave Fort Washington Park after walking under the GW Bridge and walk by The Arches of Fort Tryon Park, which was the creation of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who bought up several estates beginning in 1917 in order to create the park (sorry, that was quite the run-on sentence). He also bought sculptor George Gray Barnard's collection of medieval art and gave it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which built The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park (from 1934-1939) to house it.
Inwood Hill Park contains the last natural forest and salt marsh in Manhattan. After a very strenuous climb through Inwood Hill park (elevation gain 1,038'), we head through the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan in search of FOOD!!! If we had followed the map, we wouldn't have had to make the climb but would have stayed along the river (I'm just saying...).
We've been going for about 5 hours now and are ready for a break and some lunch. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the restaurant where we ate lunch, nor can I remember the name of it to warn you away. We found ourselves in an area of Manhattan that speaks little English and the menus in the restaurants were not very helpful. Inwood has a predominantly Dominican population, giving it the nickname "Little Santo Domingo". The first place we went into was a Vietnamese restaurant that smelled really good. Only thing is, we couldn't read the menu so were a bit leery of not knowing what we were ordering. We decided to move on down the street to what we thought was a Mexican food place. The waitress didn't speak any English so I ordered a hamburger thinking it would be safe, but I'm not sure it was a beef hamburger. Kim had roasted pork with rice and beans. The total for our lunch came to a whopping $10.00! I didn't know there was still a place in Manhattan where two could eat for $10.00. When I got home, I did some research on the restaurants and it turns out we should have taken our chances at the Vietnamese place. It was highly regarded for pork on corn cakes. :(
We made the turn around the tip of the island and are now heading South down Harlem River Drive.
As we begin our trek down the East side of the Island, we pass by the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, where Harlem River Drive curves into the edge of the Harlem River.
The University Heights Bridge crosses the Harlem River connecting West 207th Street in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan to West Fordham Road in the University Heights section of the Bronx.
Cherry blossoms and the Harlem River. You can see I've shed my down jacket and long sleeve shirt. It's turned out to be a gorgeous, sunshiny day!
From the Boathouse, the three big bridges over the Harlem River are clearly seen - the Washington Bridge, the Alexander Hamilton Bridge, and the oldest surviving bridge in New York City, the High Bridge, which was designed for a pedestrian walkway and was not used for vehicular traffic. It has been closed to pedestrian traffic since the 1960's, but the Parks Department is currently restoring it.
Soon, we could see the High Bridge Water Tower which was built in 1872 to provide fresh water to northern Manhattan residents who were at a higher elevation than the aqueduct. After water crossed the High Bridge, it was pumped into a reservoir next to the tower and then into a water tank in the tower.
After reaching the end of Edgecombe Avenue at 145th Street, we walked further east and crossed one of the pedestrian overpasses along Harlem River Drive. Looking back, you can see the 145th Street Bridge and the end of the overpass, which will take us back to the Harlem River Greenway.
A great view of the Harlem River span of the RFK Triborough Bridge
Walking further, we can see the Randall's Island Pedestrian Bridge. It straddles the part where the Harlem River meets the East River.
We are walking along the Bobby Wagner Walk, which was built in 1939 as part of the construction of the FDR Drive and is the oldest portion of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.
The northern part of the East River Greenway has great views of Roosevelt Island and the Queensboro Bridge. This isn't a great view of the bridge but was taken from one of the many public restrooms we visited throughout the day (an important note!).
As we reach midtown, we catch a glimpse of the Chrysler building, an art deco style skyscraper.
After the bridge, we had to get off the Greenway again as there is still no access to the waterfront because of the United Nations complex, a very recognizable building along the East River.
Looking back toward the Queensboro bridge and Roosevelt Island
After walking under the Williamsburg bridge, we walked under the Manhattan bridge and the Brooklyn bridge before finally turning the corner on the South end of the island and arriving back at Fraunces Tavern.
32 miles, sore muscles, several blisters and 11 hours after leaving the Tavern, we finished the loop. I can now check one more thing off my bucket list.
