New York City’s High Line and Hudson River Greenway
Posted By auntie on April 19, 2019
4.1 miles; New York, NY
[Editors Note: Once again I’ve broken my solemn vow to not let unposted hikes accumulate. I wound up almost a full month and 8 hikes behind. Mea culpa. Won’t happen again. I hope.]
My sis-in-law and I visited New York City recently and got in a very beautiful walk along the High Line Park trail and a small part of the Hudson River Greenway. It was quite the revelation.
Rail Yard
This trail started at the Rail Yard, which is, from what we could gather, a shopping mall. And it’s also across the road from the Jacob Javits Center. The High Line is, well, let’s just let Wikipedia do the heavy lifting here:
The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City.[1] The High Line’s design is a collaboration between James Corner Field Operations (Project Lead), Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Piet Oudolf. The abandoned spur has been redesigned as a “living system” drawing from multiple disciplines which include landscape architecture, urban design, and ecology. Since opening in 2009, the High Line has become an icon of contemporary landscape architecture.
It really was simply stunning.
Lots of People
Like everywhere else in New York, there were lots of people shuffling along the trail. It’s very popular, for good reason.
Time to Organize
There are so many fascinating sights. Not sure if this was art or history or advertising, but it was really fun. I love the cat silhouettes.
Political Statement
This art gallery that fronted the trail made a very pointed political statement, what with the effigy of 45 in prison garb on the roof and all.
Apple Blossoms
The flowering trees and shrubs were putting on a show, too. I was amazed to see so very many mature trees. There were places you were walking under a leafy canopy high above the street level.
Portland Brownstone
At the end of the High Line, we walked a few blocks west to the Hudson River Greenway, a bike path that runs along the river. At one point it goes through Chelsea Waterside Park, and there were dozens of big old brownstone blocks everywhere. I tried to find out more about the story behind them, but Mr. Google failed me, alas.
Track (click for details)
You can find out more about the High Line from its own website. The Hudson River Greenway is part of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, and you can see a detailed map with highlights on this website (pdf file). As always, click the image above for details about this hike and to download the gps track.
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