Hike #826; Jersey City and Bayonne

Hike #826; Jersey City and Bayonne

2/1/15 Jersey City and Bayonne with Albert Walker, David Ascher, Renata Luisi, Al MacLennan, Michele Valerio, Ken Kurland, Ilene Silver, Ayat Shehab, Nakis Pericleous, Jennifer ?, Ty Clark, Ahmed Yusuf, Jack Lowry, Rise Gluck, Matt Davis, Jim "Uncle Soup" Campbell, Betty Fisher, Amy Hebard, Rachel Conrad, Kumar V, James Quinn, Debbie Fryer, Lee Myungsoon, Wilma Vargas, Justin Gurbisz, Risa Olinsky, "Serious Sean" Dougherty, Paul Kiczek, Jim McRobert, William Radkovich, Bob Sidoti, J Barone, Joann Barone, Mark Norman, Anna Decolongon, Jen Berndt, Anna Ng, Sandra Levine, Cory Storch, Angela Giunta Williamson, Doug Arb, Tom Nisonger, Laurie Wilsa, Dan Lurie Jr, Dan Lurie, Rob Anders, Tom Bergen, Nancy Neuman, Jack Sih, Patrick McGuiness, and Haobo Lai (Apologies if names are missing)

Group shot!

Our next hike would be a landmark event called "United Walking", a partnership between Metrotrails and the Freewalkers, founded and run by Paul Kiczek, and other groups including the Shore Walkers and Walk Across NJ. Paul and I had discussed coordinating events together for a bit, and I figured this might be a good one to try. Our hikes are a bit different than what many other organized groups are used to; we don't scout any hikes ahead of time, saving the element of surprise and discovery for full group experience (though most of this hike we had done before).

I found the groups to be ones of great attitude, and without a doubt the most kindred of spirit I've ever come across of any other groups with whom we've cooperated. They were people of good character and humor, and hopefully they were not too put off by the rather random nature of how we run our events.

Metrotrails met at the Liberty Science Center light rail station, and we moved on from here toward the Empty Sky memorial in Liberty State Park, down Audrey Zapp Drive from the station. The Freewalkers group had met at another station to the north to walk to where we were. We convened at the monument, about fifty three of us.

Paul and I discussing the hike. Photo by Matthew Davis

We began heading south through Liberty State Park, past the old Central Railroad of NJ terminal. The building wasn't opened yet following the floods from Sandy, but they had somewhat recently repaired the track lights in the back. The scene from "Funny Girl" where Barbara Streisand sings "No One's Gonna Rain On My Parade" was filmed in there three months after it was abandoned, when the tracks were still in place.

We continued south and chatted a bit. The group of course got segmented pretty quickly. Some couldn't stay caught up. We made it to the south end of the main walkway section and stopped by the administration office to use the restrooms, then continued west along the walkway toward the golf course area.

NYC from Liberty State Park

Some of the group went ahead immediately from here. We continued on the walkway below the regular state park area and parallel with the liberty golf course. There is an overhang for errant golf balls here, and the walkway changes character to a greater level of seclusion. When we'd walked this section in the past, it was blocked off for some reason, but we got around the gates.

We made our way from here to a more regular boardwalk section, a bit narrower.

Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, south side of Liberty SP

We followed this trail section for a bit, then there was a side path to the left I had yet to follow, one of the reasons for coming back to the area to re-do this hike. It was a dead end boardwalk section, but quite lovely through the reeds. The path zig zagged around a lot, came to a spot with a nice view over the bay, then just abruptly ended at a middle of nowhere point sort of facing the land, but with no view whatsoever. We all turned back from this anticlimactic point to the main trail.

Hudson River Waterfront Walkway spur at the south end of Liberty State Park

As we reached the main trail I noticed a giant tree to the right. I didn't realize at first, but this was a giant Tree of Heaven. Probably one that reproduces a lot. Tree of Heaven, or Ailanthus Altissima, releases a chemical into the ground which inhibits the growth of other vegetation around it. It's often known as "Chinese Sumac", or "Ghetto Palm", though it is related to neither. It's a wonder the park let this giant example survive.

We continued only a short distance on the walkway to the next side trail to the left, which I'd missed the previous time we hiked this. I probably didn't care as much...the perimeter of NJ was not the initiative to me that it is now. When we walked this last in January 2009 (I at first thought it was late 2008, slightly off), I was only trying to do the entire Hudson River Waterfront Walkway. I knew one day I might try to do the entire perimeter of NJ, but I didn't realize it would become an initiative like it has.

View of Verrazano Narrows Bridge...with a tire...on one of the only remaining Jersey City beaches.

The pathway led out to probably the only remaining natural beach in Jersey City. I had no clue this was actually out there. There were two giant tires sticking up like halves of donuts, and great views of NYC and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. I went down to walk along the beach a bit, which was nice. The rest of the group followed through the check out the view, while others waited further back and didn't bother to come out. They don't know what they missed, it was gorgeous.

We continued back to the walkway and followed it down to Port Liberte, a series of townhouses built with waterways in between, and the closest thing to Venice I think one can find in the United States. The walkway went out along the Hudson a bit more, then turned right to pass through the development.

Port Liberte section

I chatted with members of the other groups and got to know them a bit. It was really need meeting people who did their own sort of odd things, like the guy who wore flamingo shorts  year round, over pants or whatever. We followed the path to where it ended at Chapel Ave. The last time we turned right here, but I found out there was more to see going left and coming back. We walked out to the end, to Caven Point, where we had more views of the area. The Verrazano Bridge was again in view with more of the city. We made our way back the way we came along the road, and passed through the gate area of Port Liberte, then cut through ball fields to the left, and stopped to use restrooms again.

From here, we had a long section of road walk. We ended up doing some stuff differently from what we did in the past, but it got us closer to the NJ Perimeter. We turned left on Linden Avenue, then right on a busy part of Caven Point Rt which ties into 440. It wasn't too terrible at first, and no signs told us pedestrians were not allowed, but it got ugly.

I thought we'd go inland at one point, and some of us crossed, looking to get to the internal streets at the north side of Bayonne, but that didn't look like it'd work. I looked at the aerial images and found what seemed to be a good alternative. We had to cross back over the highway carefully, make our way down a slope, and skirt the west end of an industrial building, returning us to a safer part of the highway where there was an exit we could go down.

The building had a sign noting it "may have surveillance" but didn't say to stay off. It wasn't so bad once we got off of the bigger highway. A lot of the group who aren't used to the spur of the moment nature my hikes often take didn't care much for this section, and if it were in a more wooded area it wouldn't have mattered as much. The exit took us to Port Jersey Blvd, and we followed this to a right turn on Pulaski Lane West. There were some side streets that go into industrial areas we couldn't follow, but we made our way to Pulaski Street, which took us as close as we could get to the waterfront for a while.

We crossed a large unused parking lot and passed around a few ninety degree angles in this road. I'm sure many of the hikers didn't care for this route much, but I actually loved it. It was a lightly used road in such a very busy area, and closer to the waterfront than I'd ever thought we'd be able to get. When we last walked out this way, we could not walk out to the memorial at the end of the Port Terminal pier due to security. It was the main section of the waterfront we had not hiked and the main reason for re-doing this hike. Not only would we get to that point, we wouldn't have to make it an out and back for the entire way. This road was our connection.

Wandering Pulaski Street

We got near an army installation of sorts, with a tower that read "US ARMY MOTBY". I thought it sounded like a British child and so began doing a ridicules British accent about a chimney sweep. We followed the road on to another lot, where we cut across to the left past a vacant building to reach Port Terminal Blvd, where we went left. The walkway according to my older maps used to extend up along the waterfront here, but must have been destroyed in one of the storms.

Justin and I walked on the porch thing of a large abandoned structure on the left as we headed far east on the Port Terminal pier. The road curved away from the waterfront ahead toward more terminal buildings.

Teardrop Memorial

Soon, the Teardrop Memorial came into view. This was a gift to the United States from Russia in 2006, initially given to, but rejected by, Jersey City. Even I find it somewhat insulting that this very nice memorial was placed out in an area where no one ever sees it and so few know about it. Some reviews call it "one of the ugliest statues in the world". There are apparently further plans for the Port Terminal pier, and in 2010 it was said that the memorial would have to be moved to yet another location. I didn't think it was particularly ugly; it was actually a pretty cool memorial out there. Someone in the group commented "No wonder the Russians hate us...they do something nice and they hide it way out here where no one will see it".

View from former MOTBY Port Terminal pier at Teardrop Memorial

The 2006 dedication for the memorial was attended by Vladimir Putin as well as former President Bill Clinton. In September, 2011, a four foot piece of World Trade Center steel was placed beside the monument. It was probably Building 7 steel, but can't be sure.

The location offered another really great view to the north which included more of New York City, as well as more of Brooklyn. We could see up the East River and the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges were in very clear view. We could also see well back the direction we had come from, to Caven Point, Port Liberte, and Liberty State Park. We had a nice break here before we continued back the way we came, heading down Port Terminal

Teardrop memorial

We eventually got to where we could walk along the waterfront again. There was really no walkway through here, it was all torn up ground that looked as though a skid steer had just gone over it and wrecked it. We just walked along that, and atop a concrete berm wall beside South Cove. The walkway soon started back up again abruptly, and we followed it to the guard shack we had seen back in 2009, with no one present now. We turned left at the end onto 440. There was a light rail station across from there, and a lot of the group opted to cut out at that point rather than continue on.

The walkway at Port Terminal

We turned left on the other side, and the walkway continued along the other side of South Cove. We opted to take a lunch stop at a Wendy's before continuing on.

After a bit, we began making our way up the walkway. Paul and a few others had gone ahead of me to cover the section, which is actually an out and back. Justin and one of the new guys and I headed out toward the end, and Matt and Dan were not too far behind us. We passed Paul on the way back out, and he mentioned the gate was at the end. We followed the scenic path to the end with some nice views.

When we reached the gate ourselves, and no one else was with us, I asked the guys if they wanted to try to just go on through. Google maps showed that this was "Hudson River Waterfront Walkway" despite signs saying otherwise. We had already passed signs reading to beware of "errant golf balls", and so we didn't see this as being much different. We walked on through.

Bayonne golf club

I went off to the far left and continued as close as I could stay to the shore, and when the pathway forked, we kept to the left. There was a peninsula with old railroad ties laid in it, apparently for golf cart use. We saw no one there, and on Superbowl Sunday probably no one would be anywhere but in the club house. The path turned away from the water and stayed out of sight of most everywhere, then eventually came to the back side of a fire department building.

There was a closed gate, but we hurriedly laid down and climbed under it. A police car went by shortly after we got on New Hook Road and turned right. I warned Matt and Dan by phone that they were coming, and I found out later that others had seen police but no one was bothered by them or anyone at Bayonne Golf Club. The three of us turned left on Avenue J and waited at the corner of it and 22nd Street for the others to catch up. It didn't take too long and we had a group back together once again.

We turned left on 22nd Street and followed it to 440, and once again turned left for a bit. There was a better shoulder here, so we were able to continue without too much trouble. We soon turned left onto 5th Avenue Connection, and Serious Sean climbed to the top of a giant pile of dirt with trees growing on it across from the intersection.

We followed 5th Avenue Connection to the last bit of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway I'd not done on the 2009 trip, the last point I needed to hit. We had already done a whole lot more NJ Perimeter than I thought we'd get out of this hike, and this would be the final one needed here. It was called the 5th Avenue Walkway, an out and back section with another view of the Hudson where it hits the Kill Van Kull. We walked on down and took in the nice view, with some waterfront residences on a cove to the left, and a giant ship parked off the end of it.

View from the end of 5th Avenue walkway

Justin and I climbed out and around an enclosed area for a better look at the waterway. A giant ship came by while we were out there, heading north. It was a cool little spot. From here, we headed back the way we came and followed 5th Avenue to Ingham Ave, turned left, and then right on 2nd Street. We followed this to Lexington Ave which took us directly south to Mayor Dennis P. Collins Park on the waterfront. We got on the path, which started with a little pavilion thing and a dock, and views of the Bayonne Bridge, which was still in the process of being lifted. They are apparently lifting it two lanes at a time as not to interrupt traffic.

We followed the walkway along the waterfront for a while, until we got very close to the Bayonne Bridge. Matt and Dan were waiting for us there on some bleachers. We watched the bridge as a giant ship passed beneath and only just barely cleared it.

Bayonne Bridge MISS

Ships actually do hit the bottom of the bridge, and that is why it had to be lifted.

From the bleachers, we were almost done. I think we must have walked up  Humprey Ave, then turned right on 7th Street. We took 7th east to Avenue C and waited for Matt and Dan. Somehow, neither of them showed up, though they had been right behind us. Dan's phone died, and Matt said he'd be right there. We waited and he didn't show up. We headed to the station and bought tickets for the light rail, and I let him know we were there, but he still didn't show. One of the other hikers joined the couple of us that remained, and Justin jumped a train to get back. And so, only a few of us remained, and when I heard back from Matt he somehow made it to a club called "Winner's" on Rt 440 that we had walked by before. He had apparently met the Mayor of Bayonne who gave him a ride there, and so it was an easy spot for me to get back to to pick him up.

We got on the train and headed north, and at the next stop, Dan boarded! We continued on the train to the Liberty light rail stop and we all departed. Much of the Freewalkers group and more headed to a beer garden place of some sort, and we were going to all go there. It was a very easy ride south to pick up Matt, literally about six minutes driving. We headed back to the north with the intention of joining the group, but I somehow made a wrong turn and ended up on the west side of the island. At that point I figured it would be best to just head home. A storm was coming, and the roads would be bad soon. I opted to just try to continue west again. We ended up crossing the truck Rt 1 and 9 bridge through Newark.

The hike was an overall great experience; we'd met a lot of great new people and I'd covered far more of the NJ Perimeter than I had anticipated we could do. It was certainly different than the other groups were used to, but we had a nice time with them regardless. I hope that at the very least "United Walking" can become a Superbowl Sunday tradition all of our organizations can enjoy together. With the completion of my Perimeter of NJ initiative, it will be much easier to plan more quality hikes that will be more suited for such an event. Some of the other group members discussed Long Island trails with me, and I will certainly be reaching out to them for details as Metrotrails branches off that way.