Hudson River Park

On a hot June weekend I had a few hours to spend with my kids in New York City. When our boat returned from the Liberty Tour to the Circle Line pier, we decided to rent bikes and ride the Hudson Park trail. The kids had noticed the very busy bike trail earlier in the day when we visted the river front a few blocks further South in Chelsey, and they really wanted to try it out. So I rented two bikes at the place right in front of the Circle Line, one for myself and one for my son, and a trailer attachment for my daughter. She can ride a two-wheeler, but the trail is so busy that I did not want her to be on her own.

The Hudson River Park bikeway runs along the river for approximately 5 miles, starting at Battery Park Place in the South and connecting to Riverside Park in the North. It was a great experience to be in New York City and on a bike trail at the same time. Because it was a weekend, the trail was busy with all sorts of activities. There were many other bikers of all ages. We even saw a unicycler. In some areas the trail is shared with pedestrians and roller skaters, in other areas it is dedicated to bicycles. There are many pedestrian crossings, essentially two for every city block, and sometimes more. This is the one thing I did not like - I had to be very alert, twice as alert as I normally would have been, because my son had never cycled on a busy trail like this and I was not sure if he was paying attention.

Luckily, and despite being an obstacle to many other trail users, neither of us got into an accident. We rode South first, past Chelsey and the Carousel on Pier 62, almost to Greewich Village where we turned around and rode back upstream, past the Intrepid and the cruise ships, all the way to Clinton Cove. My daughter had so much fun on the tandem attachment that I had to brake at a few times against her pedaling.

I had not been to New York City for a few years, and I was thoroughly impressed by this project - not just the bikeway, but even more by the parks and attractions along the way. The Hudson River Park is a must-see destination in NYC, and we will definitely return for a longer ride when it is less hot.

More information: http://www.hudsonriverpark.org

Check out the interactive Flash map on the website ("Explore").