Train journey was long, a bit over 2 hours, first part of the train was slow.Next morning, staying overnight in Brooklyn. New location has more amnenities, but I'm biking out away. Passed the Gowanus Canal! Wasn't even trying to see it, just happened to enroute. All trips to NYC should include a visit to the Gowanus Canal. A new Whole Foods is on the right side, a nice walkway has been been built with benches so Whole Food Shoppers can enjoy a nice view of the canal on the way in or out, or could lunch with a canal view.
A closer view revealed some icky slime. Appears to be a worse swimming spot than the Deerfield River. Icky smell, too.
A few blocks later, I went on a bridge over the canal. New construction along the canal
Some views of Brooklyn from the street:
Crossing the East River. No clue what those three guys were doing.
Unlike the Manhattan Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge bike lane isn't separated from the pedestrian path. At this hour, it wasn't too crowded with tourists that the bike lane turned into an obstacle course. The path is above the roadway rather to the side so you get better view. Manhattan Bridge bike path is adjacent to a four track subway line which has a deafening rumble everytime a train passes (usually less than once a minute). Looking northwest from the bridge:
A couple housing projects in the left foreground. Red high rise in the foreground is Confucius Plaza, a cooperative owned residential building in Chinatown. And towards the lower tip of Manhattan:
small park at the Manhattan end of the bridge end in downtown by City Hall
Continuing on... Tribeca has a neat mix of old brick with shiny skyscrapers in the background. Can't remember which roads I biked on, they were surprisingly decent (wasn't rush hour; it was 10:30)
In Battery Park City. Irish Hunger Memorial in foreground, One World Trade Center in background
Before heading north, I wanted to take a photo of the mouth of the Hudson
Moderate northwind bring clean, clear and low humidity air. Beautiful late summer day to be out. Battery Park City has nice some gardens and is well landscaped:
Architecture is rather bland, IMO
Across to Jersey City
Not sure what this is. Weird columnated structure.
Finally heading north, nice clear sky. Looking back south from the path, Battery Park City is on the right
Hudson riverfront is well-landscape most of the time, but the bike path stays a bit away from the river and the landscaping for the first few miles. Pedestrian only path passes through it. Path is OK but convenient. Got squeezed under an elevated highway
Not sure what that thing is
Further north, the path follows the Hudson. Starting to see hills in the distance over the river.
brown grass. It's been dry in downstate NY:
Have to go up hill away from the river to get to the bridge. Washington Heights, Manhattan:
favorite quote from CD on Washington Heights:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
Back in the 80s, Washington Heights is where everyone from NJ went to buy cocaine. Now that was a pretty big draw to the neighborhood.
Amusing memories of one exchange: A cop screaming "Buy your drugs in Jersey!" and the woman's response, "I can't find drugs in Jersey!"
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Looking back south from the George Washington Bridge:
the bridge path. The internet says the bridge has most vehicle traffic of any bridge in the world
Looked for lunch in Fort Lee, wide roads weren't that bike friendly. Strange to see strip malls and parking lots so close to Washington Heights. Lots of residential high rises in Fort Lee, a bit Vancouver-like
Place I stopped for lunch offered "low carb" pizza. Nope, I'm on a high-carb diet
Looking across the river. The two bridges connect The Bronx (left, part of the mainland) with Manhattan island. Bottom bridge is just for Amtrak coming from Albany, single-track. See the train?
Continued on a nice, quiet road for 8 miles with views of the Hudson through the trees. Second half had rolling small hills and local bicyclist told me it was like a "sine wave". Near the beginning of road:
Cliffs are called the Palisades, I think they're basalt. Looking south
and across the river atop a hill in Manhattan is a French abbey.
Then 8 miles on a main road with a good shoulder and not too much traffic. Lookout at the NJ-NY border
butterfly in the flowers
Lookout's garbage cans are bear proof
A few miles north, in a park
Biked out to the point shown in the photo
Guy was talking rather passionately. Appears to be low tide on the river. Could smell the salt water. What a strange river. Or is it a sea. Many of the spots I've stopped must have been underwater during Hurricane Sandy (including Battery Park City):
couple more photos
marshes
hilly town in Westchester across the river
on local roads
apartment complex
cute house by the river
treelined American commercial street (Nyack, NY)
riverside path
more basalt cliffs
second half of the path had short steep, gravelly up and downs. Fine little roller coaster, but nothing hard to handle. Sign at the end said "wide-tired bikes only". Didn't think mine qualified. Another hill in the distance
I knew the Hudson had small mountains on its sides, but I was unaware of the existence of Mt. Gravel
Treeless American commercial street. Haverstraw, NY
would look better without all those wires
more river
At the summit of Bear Mountain (1200 feet). Unlike a few to the north, it doesn't rise straight from the river so I couldn't make it from the road. Saw two deer at the top, photographed one:
Full moon:
Looking down the mountain
Preserved forest for the west, keeps going as far as I could see
cropped and enlarged view of the Manhattan skyline sticking out just over the hills to the south
hard to figure out which building is which. 10 minutes later, one building started glowing red, reflecting the sunset light
Sunset on Bear Mountain
dusk
view to the north of the Hudson on the way down
It was too dark and I was trying to finish the ride as quickly as possible, but the view from the Bear Mountain Bridge is
neat
Different scenery an hour and a half later
Waited around Union Square to meet a friend. Some group was playing electronic-ish music with a good beat and dancing to it:
Someone was wearing a shirt with a Donald Trump logo on it. First Donald Trump themed attire I've seen. Since it was in Union Square and the guy wearing was black, I'm assuming he was wearing it ironically. And something about the logo made it seem inauthentic.
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Remembered the schedule wrong, though the train left at 6:30 rather than 6:05, realized at 5:30. Watched the train pull out. 
