The Queens Way, Forest Park and Forest Hills Gardens- 5-6 Miles-Limited Space

THIS IS THE SECOND TIME WE ARE DOING THIS PARTICULAR EVENT.

ONLY RSVP AFTER YOU HAVE READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENT CAREFULLY ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE NEVER ATTENDED AN EVENT BEFORE WITH THIS GROUP. I CONSIDER THIS A MEMBERS APPRECIATION EVENT.

THIS GROUP DOES NOT USE THE WAITLIST IN A CONVENTIONAL WAY.THOSE ON THE WAITLIST WILL NOT BE MOVED TO THE GOING LIST AUTOMATICALLY. I do NOT believe that the Meetup waitlist works well for a number of reasons.

IF APPLICABLE, ALWAYS JOIN THE WAIT LIST WITH LOW PRIORITY WHICH IS FREE. IF THERE IS A WAITLIST, IT APPEARS MEETUP WILL ASK YOU IF YOU WANT TO JOIN MEETUP + BUT IN SMALLER LETTERS AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE YOU CAN CLICK CONTINUE WITH THE FREE PLAN. There is NEVER a need to pay extra to use Meetup's High Priority wait list classification for this group.

AGAIN, THIS IS A MEMBERS APPRECIATION EVENT. WE MAY ADD SOME FIRST TIMERS BUT YOU MUST READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENT CAREFULLY.

I WANT TO REWARD NEWER MEMBERS WHO HAVE ATTENDED EVENTS AND OTHER 2025 REGULAR ATTENDEES FOR SUPPORTING THIS GROUP. WE ARE THEREFORE GOING TO GIVE VERY STRONG PRIORITY TO THOSE MEMBERS WHO HAVE ATTENDED AT LEAST ONE EVENT AND HOPEFULLY MORE IN 2025 WITH FEW CANCELLATIONS.

THERE IS LIMITED SPACE ON THIS EVENT.

I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS ON THIS EVENT EVEN IF YOU TRY TO FORCE YOUR MONEY ON ME!

NO GUESTS ON THIS ONE.

IF YOU HAVE NEVER ATTENDED AN EVENT BEFORE WITH THE GROUP, I AM ASKING FOR YOUR HELP AND COOPERATION AS I PLAN THE EVENT. I AM THEREFORE REQUIRING THAT YOU SEND ME AN E-MAIL AFTER CAREFULLY READING THE DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENT TO bsb2@att.net AS SOON AS YOU RSVP, EVEN IF YOU ARE ON THE WAIT LIST, AND PUT YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IN THE BODY OF YOUR MESSAGE TO ME. THIS WILL HELP ME COMMUNICATE MORE EFFECTIVELY WITH THOSE WHO RSVP. SOMETIMES MEETUP MESSAGES DO NOT GET DELIVERED FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS. IF YOU CAN'T ABIDE BY THIS SIMPLE REQUEST, YOU ARE GOING TO END UP ON THE NOT GOING LIST. If you think this request is just too much for you to bear, please let me know.

YOU CAN GET THERE EASILY BY SUBWAY OR THE LONG ISLAND RAILROAD. WE WILL NOT BE ENDING WHERE WE STARTED-2 SHORT SUBWAY STOPS AWAY- BUT WE WILL FINISH NEAR A MAJOR SUBWAY STATION AND NOT FAR FROM THE LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD. If you drive, I can give you some ideas on what location to park in.

This event will be a fun, fast paced approximately 5-6 mile hike. We will begin by walking through a bit of Forest Hills Gardens where I will provide very limited commentary. We will then get a glimpse of where the first section of The Queens Way is hopefully going to be built-IT HAS FUNDING NOW- but we will NOT walk on the abandoned railroad tracks on this first section. (The Queens Way is designed to be a linear park on an abandoned stretch of rail tracks in Central Queens with some similarity to the High Line but it has NOT been built yet). Then it gets rather gritty as we walk towards what is another section of The Queens Way where we will scramble up a slight incline from some abandoned railroad tracks to get into Forest Park. There we will do a short hike in the Park to finish.

Last time we did this Ruben of the Friends of the Queens Way led us to the abandoned railroad tracks where section 2 will be built. This time I will lead the way which was used during Open House New York 2025. (One highlight of the event will be a brief stop at Dick's Sporting Goods Goods store we will converge on their bathroom!)

I have led two tours of Forest Hills Gardens for the Guides Association of NYC but it took me about 50 years to finally understand the area-some flowers just bloom later than others!

We will meet BEFORE 10:15 A.M. Be ready to go. WE LEAVE ON TIME.

BRING SNACKS AND WATER. THERE IS NO LUNCH BREAK. THIS GROUP NEVER STOPS TO BUY FOOD ON AN EVENT.

MEETING DETAILS WILL BE SENT OUT VIA A MEETUP MESSAGE TO ALL THOSE WHO RSVP NO LATER THAN THE EVENING BEFORE THE EVENT.

IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO, ON YOUR DESKTOP, PLEASE CLICK ON YOUR PROFILE WHICH IS ON THE TOP RIGHT OF THE SITE, THEN CLICK "SETTINGS", THEN CLICK E-MAIL UPDATES" ON THE LEFT. MAKE SURE YOUR E-MAIL UPDATES ARE ON AND WHERE IT SAYS "UPDATES ABOUT YOU”, CHECK MESSAGES BOX. THIS WILL HELP TO INSURE YOU GET MESSAGES FROM ME. I LIKE TO THINK THOSE MESSAGES ARE IMPORTANT. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE YOUR SETTINGS FOR A SPECIFIC GROUP WHICH MAY BE HELPFUL IF YOU BELONG TO MANY MEETUP GROUPS.

I am going to ask that people not post any comments or questions prior to the event. You have more than enough information to do this once you get the meeting details. No offense, but I don’t need to know-and probably neither does anyone else- what you are doing that day if you can’t make it or what you think the weather will be. AFTER the event, post as many comments and photos as you like. PLEASE RESPECT MY WISHES ON THIS.

We will probably finish by 1:45p.m. and not far from a major subway station. It won't be so easy to leave before we finish because of the route we are taking.

If the weather forecast is really bad, I will post a notice on the day of the hike by 7:00 A.M. If there is no notice, we go.