Pelham Bay Park-Parkchester-Metropolitan Oval Bronx Walk

Logistics: Reviving a personal holiday season tradition, this will be a combined nature and urban architectural approximately 19-20 mile walk.

As we will be near the waterfront a good deal of the way, please dress warm. Since it may be a little slippery in parts (and there's optional walking on rocks), sturdy shoes with good ankle support are a must. As there will be very limited food opportunities for the first 3/4 of the walk, plan on bringing along ample food and water. We may see some deer along the way, so please be tick conscious. Binoculars are recommended as the coastal/wetlands portion of this walk is particularly beautiful.

Please note that we’ll only cancel in the event of inclement weather, in which case our stroll will take place the next day, Sunday. Out of fairness to others who may wish to join this walk, please sign up only if you are serious about attending!

Before getting into more details, I'd like to thank, once again, Margarita Eremeyev, for having plotted out the wetlands portion of this walk a few years back.

More details... When scouting this walk on Saturday, the 6 Train was running only to Parkchester in the Bronx - we will therefore meet at 8:00 am sharp at the Starbucks just outside the station, and will be taking the free shuttle bus to the Pelham Bay Park station. I will let you know the day before the walk if the train situation changes. As of Saturday, the restrooms near the entrance to the park were open.

Once in Pelham Bay Park, we will head for the waterfront, following a paved path east, then past a landfill and from there, make our way over an unpaved stretch to the Pelham Greenway (a shared pedestrian-bicycle path), crossing a bridge with great views, and continue to the right on the Greenway until we get to Orchard Beach. Note: There's significant construction going on at the main pavilion at Orchard Beach, but at least one large restroom should be open. From the beach, we'll have great views of many of NYC’s and Westchester County’s outer islands (including Hart Island, the city’s ‘Potter’s Field' and the bizarre Columbia Island). After a short restroom break, we’ll walk to the northern tip of the boardwalk to the entrance to the Twin Islands nature trail. Note it may be slippery along this loop nature trail. This loop walk promises great views of a number of nearby and distant islands, including he bizarre Columbia Island.

We’ll then come back out to the boardwalk and walk the Theodore Kazimiroff nature loop trail, which loops around Hunter Island, with, depending on the tide, a very cool surprise detour along the way. At the end of the Kazimiroff loop, we’ll end up at a big parking lot, where we’ll walk parallel to a rocky shoreline containing many oyster beds. Then it's back to the Greenway and a return close to where we first entered the park in the morning. Here we will take our lunch and restroom break. At this point, we will have walked about 9-10 miles. Those who wish, can drop out at this point (though I hope you won't!) :)
After this break, we will exit the park and continue near the waterfront past several 'electrically' (literally!) named streets and on through the Country Club neighborhood of the Bronx, with views south to the Throggs Neck and Whitestone Bridges, finally winding up at tiny (no restrooms) Bicentennial Veterans Memorial Park. We'll then cross over the Throggs Neck Expressway and then walk several blocks (a bit of a slog) back to Westchester Avenue and the Buhre 6 Train station. There are food options along this stretch (Italian bakeries, pizza places and other food opportunities).

We will then continue on the last part of our Bronx saunter, walking south along Westchester Avenue on our way to Parkchester, where we will be stop to see some of the unique whimsical terracotta sculptures (AKA "appliques") gracing the otherwise plain brick apartment buildings. Since it'll likely be dark by then, plan on taking flashlights to better enjoy them!

We will finish our stroll by going to the nearby jewel of a pocket park - the Metropolitan Oval, which has a beautiful Christmas display, and a fitting end to our Bronx walk. For those interested, there's a seafood restaurant next to the Oval where we can have a bite to eat and a drink or two.

From there, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump back to the Parkchester 6 Train station.

Alex: 929-919-6022
Co-leader: Carmen: 646-667-1962