Urban Hiking - Part 1

My first-ever urban hike, billed as a "14+ mile saunter," was organized by a group called Shorewalkers. (I'm calling it an urban hike because we spent a lot of time on or near streets and highways, and NYC was -- by design -- in view most of the way.) I got up rather early to get to the bus terminal on the NYC side of the George Washington Bridge. I'd been told to be there at 9 a.m. SHARP, and I got to the area about 15 minutes early. It turns out that the "official" meeting time was 9:15 a.m. (Shorewalker members knew this, but the co-sponsoring organization gave me a false earlier start time. Grrr.) The hike leader said he "hoped" to get started around 9:30 a.m., but people were still showing up and signing in at that time, so we actually started moseying at 9:45. Not that I'm bitter or anything. But I could have slept another hour!!!

Thirty-eight of us started off across the George Washington Bridge. The bicyclists we encountered on the bridge were very territorial, and not at all understanding of our desire to walk side by side, stop and take pictures, or pass slower pedestrians. No, they somehow felt entitled to the half of the lane that was designated as theirs. (Compare this with the Hudson River Bike Path, where pedestrians and runners walk on the bike/rollerblade path and nobody complains. Of course, it's a little wider there, so easier to manoeuver. But still, there's a tremendous difference in attitude.)

Here's one of our first wistful glances back to civilization as we headed off to the Palisades:


I really love the architecture of the GW. It has a beauty of its own, an almost crystalline structure:

Maritime traffic went to and fro:


On the NJ side, we stopped first at a riverside park just north of the GW. This was, among other things, an opportunity to purchase bottles of water or take one's chances in refilling one's water bottle from the sink in the restroom -- they no longer give you the false sense of filtration by providing water fountains. While the rest of us snacked and chatted, one of the 38 took a cigarette break. (Only 37 of us completed the hike.)

From the park, I really liked the way it looked like the GW ran right into a primeval forest:

If you look carefully, you can see a hawk circling over the cliff. I tried to get a picture where the hawk's shadow showed up on the cliff face, but alas I wasn't quick enough.

Raptors were not the only airborne creatures that morning. Presumably in honor of Fleet Week, we were treated to a mini air show:

No, they weren't mosquitos! Here's a closeup of one of the helicopters:

A more mysterious closeup:

At our next rest stop, the guide let slip that the 14+ mile hike was actually going to be 17 miles. Destination: Jersey City.