Hike #914; Liberty State Park/Manhattan/Fort Lee

 Hike #914; 911 National Memorial Trail Series: Liberty State Park to Fort Lee/Manhattan Waterfront

2/7/16 Liberty State Park-Manhattan-Fort Lee with Eric Pace, Cindy Browning, Tom Edmunds, Sharon ?, ?, ? guy who’s been out, Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Sarah Jones, Jack Lowry, Dan Asnis, Erika Lorin Daniels, Terri Allen, Sean Congdon, Kathryn Cataldo, Brandan Jermyn, Jennifer Berndt, James Quinn, Justin Gurbisz, Euin Gonzalez, Dan Lurie, Neil Washington, Edward DiSalvo, Stephen Argentina, ?, ?, and ?.

Group shot at Wolrd Trade Center

This next hike was intended to be the start of another very big series.
Since finishing the NJ Perimeter series, I needed something big to jump headlong into, something that wasn’t going to end any time soon, something that would force me to push onward for a while. Of course, I have countless series going on, for each railroad line, canal, long distance trail, etc, but I needed to do something that would be fresh, engaging and important. This seemed to be the right thing to do, at the right time.
The themes highlighted through the course of the planning are a real draw; the trail doesn’t focus on the attacks or hammering in any propaganda other than the most important: heroes, resilience, history, the things everyone should appreciate. Anyone involved in anything that even makes mention of 9-11 is subject to political disputes, talk of retribution, conspiracy theories, and more. Some of them are interesting, some are downright insane. But what matters most in this theme is that there WERE heroes on that day, firefighters, police, EMTs, who made the ultimate sacrifice while trying to help. There was resilience, from the individual dealing with personal grief to nationwide Patriotism. These thoughts resonate back into our nation’s history, of past heroes and strife for which the resilience of it’s people have shone through. That is a theme anyone can appreciate.

I first found out about the “September 11th National Memorial Trail” very shortly after I was hired by the NJ State Park Service. At the time, I was working for Steve Ellis, then Northern Region Superintendent for the parks.
The concept was intriguing from the start. A trail to connect the three 9-11 sites, Manhattan, Shanksville PA, and the Pentagon in Washington DC. There was a lot of potential, but none of us knew how far it would go at the time. Was this just a flash in the pan or something that would take off? After all, a lot of things have pushed the 911 brand over the last decade.
We had a nice meeting at Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown, with many familiar friendly faces I’d already known like Russell J. Nee, the Trails Foreman, and Tom Edmunds. John Trontis, my old friend from Hunterdon Parks was of course there, now as Assistant Director to State Parks. It was at this meeting I met David Brickley, head of the trail plan, as well as Andy Hamilton of the East Coast Greenway. Both have had a bright history in this sort of planning, and the whole concept seemed much more legitimate.

Trail map

A good amount of time seemed to go by. I got a permanent position in Spruce Run Recreation Area, and became quite separated from a lot of the trail planning aspects of things, though I still remained a member of the state trails committee.
Then, in late 2014 I was called to a couple of meetings where the trail came up again. It was time to decided the final route across New Jersey.
We had a series of meetings and mulled over pros and cons of one route over another. Fortunately, we are blessed with no really bad routes. Very little road walking and lots of historic sites are scatted along the entire route in the state. During this time, I was gearing up to complete my New Jersey Perimeter series, and make history as the first person to ever accomplish it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYRsTja6LU
 

I was enjoying a great deal of media attention; I made the cover of every Star Ledger newspaper state wide, and was interviewed on video for NJ.com, appeared on a METV interview with Larry Mendte for “Jersey Matters”, and then Fox’s Chasing News.
I realized I could help promote this new trail while still sort of in the spotlight, as well as engage an entirely new user group. The opportunity to showcase more of our historic and ecological gems was one I could not pass up.

Me speaking at the state house, by C. Salveson

I never really have a speech set up for any of the events I officially appear at. I prefer to speak from the heart and just sort of “wing it”, which goes over well enough. As we reached the Capital building of the State of New Jersey on my final perimeter hike, I thought about what I’d say. I knew I wanted to announce that we’d do the September 11th National Memorial Trail next, because it had always been the inevitable question. I had already been asked countless times “What will you do next, perimeter of Pennsylvania?”. I’d have to respond, and I’d already been responding about the 911 Trail.

NJ Capital steps

What occurred to me while speaking was my own experience with people, with the friendships we make, and the reasons these relationships were forged.
I expressed it just as those thoughts occurred, that some people came out with us because it was something they needed, and they stayed with us because it was something they wanted. Some void brought them to the group. Some people came out because it was something they wanted, and they stayed because they realized it was something they needed, it forced them to recognize the void. Either way, we end up with an eclectic group of people who would not have associated otherwise.
The 911 themed trail is an opportunity to reach out to another similar group. A different group might want to do this entire trail because they were a first respondent, because they lost someone that day, etc. Then, in doing so, they might find something new. Through whatever need they feel to do this trail series, they might find kinship with other people of similar disposition.
I began to devise a schedule for the hikes, to span over 13 months to take us from the World Trade Center in Manhattan to Portland Pennsylvania.

Morris Canal Big Basin in Jersey City

There was a method to the entire plan. First, I would not only do the official route that was decided upon, I would showcase the alternatives, the other places that fit in but didn’t quite make the final cut, as well as other historic sites that could further showcase the amazing greenways we have.
The first two hikes would be January and February, following the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge and back. The official route uses the Water Taxi from Liberty State Park, but in order to walk the whole thing, it is necessary to go to the GW Bridge. I’d done this before, but since that time, many new sections of the walkways had been open, making much of it new to me.
March and April each would be loops with the 911 Trail and Morris Canal greenway, the latter of which would coincide with the Cherry Blossom Festival at Branch Brook Park, Newark. As we continue across the state, I plan to re-hike the entire Morris Canal Greenway as well as the 911 Trail, then when Morris Canal is done, I’ll re-do the Highlands Trail. I felt the Highlands Trail was a better route than the chosen one, but the votes were for the northern route, and the Pennsylvania route had already been chosen, so I’d do these as the alternatives.

View to Manhattan out of the Morris Canal Big Basin, from the Water Taxi in Jersey City

I announced the first two hikes for January and February, and had over sixty RSVPs for the first one. However, a major snow storm hit the night before it was scheduled. A whopping thirty inches of snow fell, NJ Transit, necessary for this trip, as well as the Water Taxi were shut down. NYC altogether was shut down. I would have to reschedule the hike and do a more local one that Sunday (yes, I hiked, no cancelling for me!).
The only Sunday I had free with my already nearly full schedule was Superbowl Sunday.
I always do a hike on Superbowl Sunday anyway; I do not have TV, and televised sports are among the last things I’d ever watch other than maybe the Kardashians, so for me it was no problem. Unfortunately for the group, we’d have only half the expected participants because of this development.

Aboard the Water Taxi to Manhattan

I planned to meet the group at 8 am at the Liberty State Park light rail station, in Jersey City. We’d then walk the official trail route, part of Liberty-Water Gap Trail, into the state park to the Water Taxi to Manhattan. We’d visit the WTC site and then head north toward George Washington Bridge.
I was happy to have as good a showing as we did, including Tom Edmunds of Morris County Park Commission and company. It wouldn’t be such a big deal to have less for this first hike since most of it was one of the “alternative” routes rather than the official one, which we’d return to as planned in March.

View from the Water Taxi in the Hudson

We waited a little longer than I’d anticipated for people running behind because my coordinates that went on the Meetup page were showing further down Communipaw Avenue than it should have. Once we had everyone together, we headed east into Liberty State Park.
Park Police were there along the road, Audrey Zapp Drive, and told us to get on the pathway, but we were looking to get on the path along the waterfront, so they directed us into the marina area to get to it.
We headed toward the Water Taxi, which I did not know where it was. I hadn’t taken the ferry from Liberty State Park since my 20th birthday when we went to the crown (unfortunately, the picture from that day I believe burnt up in the fire in 2010). We waited by the wrong pier briefly until someone else, I think it was Dan, figured out the correct one further up.

Central Railroad of New Jersey terminal at Liberty SP from the Water Taxi

We boarded the boat a short distance to the east and paid the reasonable $7 each to get on. It was a nice day, and not too cold, even on the water taxi.
Despite recorded warnings to sit down, pretty much no one did, and most of us enjoyed the view from the upper deck. We could see all of the Manhattan waterfront, the Colgate Clock, the Morris Canal Basin, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the old CNJ railroad terminal. It was also a bit of a thrill for me to be boarding a boat right out of the Morris Canal, the only practically used portion of the 1842 historic waterway. I gave everyone a dissertation on the canal while we waited to move.

New World Trade Center

We got off of the boat, at a point on Vesey Street at the Irish Hunger Memorial. We only had to walk a couple of blocks inland and we could see the new World Trade Center One towering above us. This was all happening so fast, I could barely take it in. The city is certainly a place one can get overstimulated.

North Pool

I didn’t know quite what I should feel going to the Twin Towers site. I had been in them before, I watched them fall on live TV when it happened, and I visited the site every year for several years to watch the metamorphosis of construction.

I had visited the pool once when our friend Jeff Mitchell was out to visit. We had to make reservations to go in and look. It was really cool, and getting dark at that time. There were big fences around it. I expected there to be something similar when we arrived, but there was nothing. There were no fences at all, and like any other park anywhere in the city, anyone could just walk up at any time. There were, however, police everywhere. A few feet away from us, some guy had a cigarette, which a police officer forced him to extinguish within seconds. The place is very secure (and smoking is prohibited in any NYC parks).

2006 view of WTC site

It was so much different than when I had visited in the past. Soon after the towers fell, no one could get anywhere near the site, but by 2005 people could go up and through the World Financial Centers. There is a bridge that once connected into the twin towers that was not completely severed from the WFC when the towers fell, and that is amazingly still in place. Every time we visited, we would go through that bridge via a new entrance and get an outstanding view down to the site. Unfortunately, on this visit the bridge was closed, so we’d have to enter the World Financial Center from the sidewalk on the street across.

View of the WTC site a decade ago, 2006.

I walked around that site many times early on, when we could look down the construction free of any obstructions. We all walked around both pools at the memorial site, with all of the names of those who died etched into nice dark marble around the walls of the pools, then headed to the WFC so I could share with everyone those views I loved so much.

WTC site in 2007

I told everyone of all of my past visits, how I had photos documenting the progress of the site over the years, then worked in Liberty State Park when the final floors were added to the new tower. I got to see it’s completion from work every day, which was really cool.
We couldn’t get into the connecting bridge at all for those views, but we could look on the site from the main building which was fine.
We were joined by Kat and Sean at the WTC site, as well as a few others. Ted was able to catch up with us just as we were leaving the WTC site.

WTC site in 2008

We didn’t go to the museum at the site on this visit because we had so much ground to cover, and I figured it would be more appropriate to try to do that as part of the final one in the series.
I realize this will take a few years to complete, since it is over 1,300 miles, but it should all be interesting as none of the route is ever the same.
I tried to line up photos of the site from inside World Financial Center with ones I knew I had gotten in the past. It wasn’t easy to try to get it right, and it isn’t perfect, but I think I managed to catch a few pretty good ones, kind of matching up the buildings.

WTC site in 2006

Some buildings appear to be the same, but have been overhauled to a great extent, or maybe new buildings built in the old footprint.

WTC site in 2016

The World Financial Center had changed quite a bit too. It was always weird how we had to walk on through, but this time was even more different. We had to go around a secure area away from the view of the WTC site a bit, then came to the Winter Garden Room.

Inside WFC

I’m sure we looked like a bunch of nuts walking through this building. No one else was around to walk this area. There were a few employees of local businesses in there chatting, who looked far from phased by our appearance, but it was easy to tell that non many walk this route.
The Winter Garden had some of the best views down to the WTC site. The room itself is incredibly impressive, with rounded marble stairways emanating prestige. At Christmas time, there have been quartets singing at this point, and other artists performing. We took in the view here a bit before making our way around the corner to the west side of the building.

Winter Garden in WFC

There was some sort of hotel in the building I didn’t recall seeing on any other visits. We were still able to walk around where we had an indoors view back over the Hudson, with the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the CNJ terminal all clearly visible.
From there, we went down escelators to street level where we could return to Vesey Street, and follow it back to the waterfront.

We then visited the Irish Hunger Memorial, which was started in March of 2001, prior to the September 11th attacks. It was designed to represent the Great Irish Famine of 1845-52.
We walked into the half acre site which had a path through a sort of tunnel and what appeared to be ruins of a cottage, then climbed to a point with a good overlook over the Hudson.
It thought the thing looked like authentic stone work, and it turns out it was. The memorial incorporates stones, soil, and vegetation from the west coast of Ireland. Apparently it has something to represent each of it’s counties.
The centerpiece is the ruins of a 19th century cottage from Carradoogan in the parish of Attymass in County Mayo. The cottage belonged to the Slack family but was deserted in the 1960s. The Slack family donated the cottage to the memorial in "memory of all the Slack family members of previous generations who emigrated to America and fared well there.”

View on one of the piers

Once we climbed down from this memorial, we were ready to walk the waterfront north. From this point, there is plenty of public transportation, and everyone was free to walk as far as they wanted. There are countless piers that offer out and back walks along the shore line, and I was determined to do all of them I hadn’t done on previous hikes.
A lot of the group did not succumb to the “Pier Pressure” as Dan called it, but a lot of us did. Erika bounced around and ran ahead often, accompanying us on most of the piers at the start. Dan and Brandan took the lead not hiking the piers, and Tom and company opted not to do all of them either. They all got ahead of us from the start of the walkway pretty much.

Historic view of Hoboken Terminal

I had had an historic postcard of the Hoboken Lackawanna Railroad terminal from the NY side, and I wanted to get a matching photo for my “Then and Now” series. I must have taken a dozen of just the terminal from the ends of each pier with hopes that one would match up good. I think I accomplished this.

Present day Hoboken Terminal

When I was little, my favorite columns in the Easton Express were those of James Wright, and his “Looking Back” series, which often had comparative photos of then and now. I had been taking then and now photos for years but not really sharing them until I really got the Metrotrails facebook page going.

Holland Tunnel Ventilator

We continued north on the waterfront with non stop great views. We passed a couple of historic ships, and viewed an older building with new wings added to either side. There was just too much to see to begin to describe all of it.
We walked out and back on the pier that goes to the vents for the Holland Tunnel, but couldn’t loop it because the gates at the end were shut. There were several places that piers should have been through routes around, but they were closed off and forced many of us to turn back.

Old pier site

The group still remained somewhat together heading north until we got to The Intrepid, the floating museum to sea and space. It was a Navy war ship commissioned in 1943, later re-used to retrieve space craft.
Apparently we caught up with Tom and company near the Intrepid, and they went to get a bite to eat, but we missed them flagging us down. Just after the Intrepid, everyone was hungry and we decided to head inland for some food.

Intrepid

This is the part where it gets eternally frustrating to deal with a large group of people. I figured we were only going in a few blocks to get something to eat, but after several blocks east, then several more south, we had already separated the group quite a lot. A barrage of calls and text messages came to my phone asking where we were going, and I couldn’t answer because I didn’t know myself. I just told each of them I was going back to the Intrepid and we’d re-group there. I wasn’t really hungry anyway because Dan gave me a plethera of M&Ms as well as a couple pieces of turkey wrap.

Weird architecture

I just headed to the west to get to the waterfront. I figured I’d wait on the pedestrian bridge over the highway and they’d get to me eventually. While walking down the street, I somehow recognized Stephen from behind, who was one of the barrage of text messages and calls I’d received. He’d been trying to meet up for a while and had already used lots of public transportation to try to intercept. Our detour didn’t help matters.

Weird busts

Stephen turned when I called his name, dumbfounded that I somehow turned up behind him when I just said I was on some other street when we spoke. I was glad I had found him, because I really didn’t want to wait around. Everyone knew that the route was pretty straightforward: just follow the waterfront north. Stephen and I waited by the Intrepid for a short time, then we both started walking north, along the waterfront, then along the designated pathway beside the old paver streets. When we got beyond that section, it opened up to a riverfront park again. There were some benches there with a nice view, so we chose to wait up for the others there.

Big bottle

We just sat and talked for a while about different things, stress about my job, etc.
It didn’t take too long before the others started catching up, but some didn’t. Jack and Sarah had gotten me a slice of pizza, but they went to check out one of the piers while the rest of us continued onward. Dan and Brandan continued ahead pretty quickly, and after a short while I didn’t see them again. Some others also cut out a bit early. I’m sure some wanted to go because of Superbowl party commitments or something, which is fine. Despite the holdups for the lunch stop, we were actually still making pretty good time.

The character of the walkway was always different as we went on. Different sections were developed at different times, and so it was always interesting. There were a lot of people around, jogging, cycling. A lot of guys were even going shirtless, which seemed crazy with the brisk wind of the waterfront.
Some of the waterfront we were walking used to be industrial rail lines, and we came upon an old NY Central diesel engine on display below an elevated highway section. I didn’t recall ever seeing this before, and much of the walkway beyond was not yet developed the last time I walked it.

Old engine on display

I believe this entire section we were walking was a section where we had to walk under the elevated highway. Now, we could remain on the waterfront for much longer, which was really cool. The Riverside Park actually has several different levels at times, with pathways further up the slope and on the other side of the highway as well. Eventually I’ll have to get to following them all.

More old railroad industry infrastructure

We came to yet another old railroad structure, some sort of pier with a truss bridge, all messed up and collapsed into the tidal Hudson waters. Justin had apparently climbed this one time in the past.

Happy dock view

We re-grouped again in this area, and went out and back on a pier with some more views, because we figured it was probably the last one we would find where that was an option. We then headed north along more waterfront, with the elevated highway towering above us. The George Washington Bridge was now in plain view, and it seemed like we would get there in no time.
Kat and Sean cut out some time before this too, not sure how far they made it. We remained below the highway with a wall to the right of us, and we came upon a doorway that I couldn’t resist having a look into. It looked as though we should be in there, but there were no signs saying otherwise.

Superman booths

I was rather surprised to find several old phone booths lined up just inside on the right, some of them with working phones in them! This was still obviously not someplace that people generally walked. There was not a bit of graffiti or litter, let alone any other people. It appeared to be some sort of garage, so I walked ahead to see for sure what it was. Some lady came out and began hollering as soon as I was in an open and visible area, so I just turned right back around and walked out like I didn’t hear anything.
The walkway ahead hugged the Hudson River like no other section before it. This part was definitely not open the previous time I was there. The road work all looked pretty new, as did the pavement on the trail.

Riverside Park

There were less people in this section of the pathway, probably because it’s such a long distance with no access points. It was nice to pass through. I’d never seen that side of the Hudson so directly.
We walked on and reached an older section that was open before, with a wide grassy edge to it. There was a foot path along that part which made walking much more pleasant. The pavement after so many miles can be killer. We had to head inland one time somewhere around West Harlem piers, where there was a closed off building. We went directly under the elevated highway at that point, but were able to return to a nice section of waterfront on the other side. We also found a colony of feral cats living in boxes and apparently fed by locals. A pretty black one was close by, but would not let me get close.

Because we were getting so much closer to the George Washington Bridge, and because we’d get there before dark, I began thinking about extending the hike. Why not walk over the bridge and continue into Fort Lee NJ? It wouldn’t be that hard. Many in the group seemed totally for it, so I started seriously considering it.
I realized that if we were to walk across the bridge, we could take a bus out of Fort Lee, then take the light rail south directly to Jersey City. This eliminated one transfer that we’d have to do if we went from the city.

Nice foot path parallel with the paved stuff

If we went from the city, we’d have to walk to the subway, take that south to NY Penn Station, then switch trails to get on the PATH train back to New Jersey, then go to Exchange Place to get on the Hudson/Bergen Light Rail to get back to Liberty State Park. One less transfer alone seemed like it would be more worth it, plus I wasn’t tired and wanted to continue on for a bit more.
The George Washington Bridge kept looking closer, and we got to where we were only about four miles from the bridge. The walkway continued on along the waterfront for a while, but then had to go right for a bit to get past some sort of closed place beyond a ball court.

GW Bridge

After a little bit, the walkway returned to the side of the Hudson again. An occasional train sped by on the nearby Metro North tracks.
The sun was getting lower in the sky, but we still had plenty of daylight to continue to the bridge.

Hudson view

We got to the underside of the bridge where the Little Red Lighthouse was just to the left of us. From here, the pathway ascends away from the river’s edge and up beneath the bridge. The official walkway continues parallel with Henry Hudson Parkway above.

Little Red Lighthouse at GW Bridge

Tom E. contacted me later and let me know that he and his cohorts made it all the way to the Little Red Lighthouse and continued back to the subway, having completed about fifteen miles.
The rest of us continued up to the highway, and some of the others went to the Subway south. Justin, James, Jen, Euin, Eric, Dan A., and I continued on toward the bridge. There was a really nice overlook at a rock outcropping just off the trail on the way up.

Overlook off the trail

Eric handled the mileage really great this time and even powered up the hill pretty fast. We all stopped at a store when we got up and across Henry Hudson Drive on the pedestrian bridge. We then walked onward to the pedestrian walkway on George Washington Bridge.

GW Bridge view

I had walked over this bridge many times. I’d never done it since 9-11. Prior to that time, the cables used to go through the deck of the walkway. After 9-11 they were encased in metal tamper proof conduits.
The bridge is a strange place for me, because it’s where my best friend Kyle Zalinsky took his life in 2010. I was leading a hike, and the group and I had just walked across the bridge as we were about to do. We finished the hike early, and Kyle arrived there an hour later. I was on the phone with him just minutes before he jumped.

GW Bridge

It was just the beginning of a very rough time for me; the loss of Kyle, then I lost my home to fire, nearly my life, followed by my job at Hunterdon Parks. But everything turned back around, to better than it had been before. Like the theme of the trail, resilience is something I’ve been forced to count among my virtues.

I try not to think to hard about Kyle every time I walk the bridge. It’s hard to consider what he was going through, and the mind tends to wander to all the things I could have done differently.
We got across the bridge, and continued along the street past Fort Lee Historic Park. The Long Path, the long distance hiking trail that was intended to connect New York City to the Adirondacks, starts there. It’s just another of the alternate routes I would consider following if I had all the time I needed (The 911 Trail could easily have followed this trail to the Catskills, then Finger Lakes Trail to North Country Trail and come out to Shanksville, and the northern leg would be just about complete, but it’s a little bit more out of the way.

View down the Hudson from George Washington Bridge

Euin used a phone app to find where the nearest bus station was, and we all followed him on streets to get to that point.
We didn’t have long to wait at all before the bus showed up. It carried us south to the North Bergen Light Rail Station, where we switched to get back to Liberty State Park Station. The entire trip cost each of us only $3.30! Not bad!

Bus Stop

The entire ride we were having ridicules conversations, and watching the patrons around us trying not to look befuddled at us. Euin laughed hysterically much of the time while we were riding back to the station.

Euin laughing!

As we rode the train, someone asked if anyone had heard from Jack and Sarah, because they cut out earlier on. Just then, the two of them boarded the train from a random stop! They must have taken the train over from the city, then hopped the light rail at exactly the time we did, and on the same car!
We all continued a short while more back to the Liberty State Park station, and found most of the cars were gone. Erika left a note for Jen and James about something or other, and she left one on my car that said simply “Mashed potatoes”. Dan Lurie’s car was still there, which seemed strange because he opted not to cross the bridge and continue as the rest of us did.

The remainder of us went to the Brownstone Diner down the street in Jersey City for some dinner.
It was a nice time, and overall a pretty relaxing day. The latter portion of it was to me the best, like a sort of build up to the bonus miles we added on, for about twenty miles in total.
It was still a little disappointing that more people couldn’t come, but over thirty is very respectable and the most I’d ever pulled out on a Superbowl Sunday. No one got too terribly lost with the straightforward route, and I have similar to look forward to for the next one in the series.

There is still the underlying stress of what I am going to do about my job schedule for the Summer if I don’t get a position change.
I already turned down another job offer that would work with my schedule in anticipation of a better title where I currently am, but nothing more has happened. That uncertainty has kept me from posting any hikes after March, and kept me from promoting the 911 hike series at all since it might not be possible to continue after the beginning of Spring. If I were sure of schedule, I would have hikes planned out through the entire remainder of the year, and I could do a much better job promoting them. Hopefully answers come sooner than later and I can see this through to full potential.

Unlike the NJ Perimeter series, this series has the potential for so many to do every hike in the series, if they so wish. It doesn’t have to be just me. This is a fresh start with an incredibly interesting collection of trails.
The NJ Perimeter series alienated many of the Metrotrails regulars because they got sick of back roads, Delaware River and Bay, and beach, but this series will be much different. Only the first few are urban, followed by suburban, then country, interspersed with amazing historic sites, vistas, and natural beauty. This has the potential to be the greatest hike series we’ve ever done.