The New York Afternoon Hiking Meetup

The New York Afternoon Hiking Group is founded on the belief that civilized people like to sleep in on weekends, and lead their active lives in the afternoon. Hiking is not only exercise, it's also a great chance to socialize in pleasant surroundings, making both platonic and romantic friendships.

We lead hikes, roughly one per month, in New York City. All hikes start and end near subway stations or bus stops, and those interested can go to a restaurant nearby for dinner afterward.

We only use restaurants that take separate checks so everybody can pay with their own credit card and we don't have to split the bill.

We aim to arrive at the restaurant at 6pm if on Sunday, 7pm if on Saturday, or a half-hour before sunset, whichever is earlier. For all but the longest hikes, this means we start in the afternoon.

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We have enough routes that we generally don't repeat any of them multiple times in a year.

One thing about most of these hikes is that since they are within NYC, if you get tired, you can just drop out and jump on public transport at any time.

The pace is about 2 miles an hour. We find that people walk a bit slower in summer and faster in winter (trying to keep warm). The pace is slow enough that pretty much everybody is able to spend the entire time engaged in conversation.

We don't appoint sweeps because we find that if there's a sweep, people no longer fear being left behind and abuse the situation, walking really, really slowly as they get lost in conversation, risking our not completing the hike before sunset. We may consider adding sweeps in the future, but only if they can carry a cattle prod.

We don't do headcounts. What happens is that some people show up looking for social opportunities, decide partway through the hike that they don't really want to meet anyone else present, and then quietly drop out and jump on a subway without telling the leader. And if we did a headcount and came up short, what should we do? Send out search parties scouring New York City for "a human being, no description"?

Once, a guy sent word up from the back that he had hurt himself, then everyone was held up for 45 minutes while the leader went back looking for him and couldn't find him because he had jumped on a subway without telling anyone. The guy was expelled from the group for that.

Suggestions for new routes are welcome. Keep in mind the following criteria:

1. Must start and end near subway or bus stops.
2. There must be a restaurant near the end that can handle a large group, that will do separate checks for that large group, and that takes credit cards. It's desirable that there be vegetarian options on the menu.
3. Greenery and bridges along the way are preferred.
4. Route must be at least 4 miles long, preferably more.
5. Information about restrooms we can use along the way is very helpful.

There is no financial charge for attending these hikes, but you participate in exchange for your relinquishing the right to sue the organizers for anything unfortunate that may happen during the outing. By attending an event, you agree to the terms of a lengthy legalese waiver that can be read here. In the agreement you give up any right whatsoever to sue, to the fullest extent permissible by law.