Hiking on Staten Island

Wow, it's been a while since I've had time to write. busy busy busy..

Yesterday I woke up and had a hankering to see nature. Central Park is great and all, but you're always aware that you're still in the city. My initial plan was to rent bikes and go to Long Island to bike through wine country, but tis-the-season for renting bikes, and the bike stores in the area didn't have any left when we got there. We picked up a guidebook - Urban Adventure New York City by David Howard - and found the hiking trail on Staten Island. It was surprising to me that Staten Island has so much green area, because it doesn't look that way from the outside. But there's this 2,800 acre greenbelt tucked away in the middle. (In case you're wondering how to get to the greenbelt, because the website has no meaningful directions, take bus S74 from the ferry terminal to Rockland Avenue, then walk north-ish on Rockland to the park headquarters, where there are trail maps.) We hiked the blue trail, and were soon out of sight of civilization. Except for the shards of beer bottles lining the trail and the occasional sound of a distant police siren, there were no signs of other people. (The trail does occasionally detour through suburbia to cross roads, though.) The park is really nice; there were all sorts of little critters in the woods, and some ponds with stuff growing in them. This includes mosquitoes - Andrew is now covered in mosquito bites.

Mosquito bites notwithstanding, it was fun trip. I'd never been on the ferry before, and that was fun. We spent a leisurely three hours on the hiking trail, and it looks like there's a lot more area around there to explore later.