Fresh Pond

Our penultimate walk has the distinction of being the only one to touch all five boroughs. The same can be said of this week's focus: the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. This route visits memorial sites in all five boroughs - some grand and others understated. Note it is the only route to use transit during the course of the walk (the Staten Island ferry) though the walking distance of 26.2 miles is still maintained.

In New York City, professional sports is as popular a conversation topic as pizza or the weather. Home to some of the greatest dynasties and underdog stories alike, we'll tackle three boroughs this week to visit their home fields. We start at the Barclays Center to visit the Nets and Islanders, then cross the Manhattan bridge to visit "The World's Most Famous Arena," Madison Square Garden, home to the Knicks and Rangers. Next is a long walk to the Bronx to visit the world's most successful professional sports franchise, the New York Yankees. We conclude with a trip to Queens to visit those lovable losers of Citi Field, the New York Mets.

Our first themed walk has us checking out two of New York's "other" Botanic Gardens during Cherry Blossom season. Cutting through Bed-Stuy and Prospect Heights brings us to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens early in the day. We don't rest on our laurels for long, heading up to Queens via MIddle Village and Rego Park to check out the Queens Botanic Garden. This walk is also an opportunity to get our first proper looks at Flushing Meadows and Forrest Parks, with paths that hug Meadow Lake and Willow Lake. We've left a mile off the drawn route to account for daily wandering in the gardens.

Few major thoroughfares define its surroundings as strongly as the section of I-278 known as the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. This week we'll follow the entirety of its path, starting at the foot of the RFK bridge in Astoria and concluding at the base of the Verrazzano. Neighborhoods along the way include Woodside, Sunnyside, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge and more.

This walk starts a two week quest to tackle the north shore of Queens. Crossing through Blissville, we border Newtown creek before meeting the East River and heading north through Hunters Point, Dutch Kills and Astoria. Taking a right at Ditmars Steinway, we hit the tip of Willets Point and head back down through the meat of the borough.

Our survey of Northwest Queens starts with a walk through Ridgewood, cutting across cemetery territory to walk up the coast of Hunter's Point, Dutch Kills and Astoria. We sweep by LaGuardia airport and tag the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows Park before cutting across Jackson Heights and down through Sunnyside and Maspeth.