Riverside Park

This week we set about enjoying the New York's preeminent Botanical Garden! When we're not wandering the grounds, we'll be covering a lot of Bronx city life as well, hitting the Hudson River coast in North Riverdale all the way down to the tip of Hunts Point and the East River. Not included in this route are 3 miles reserved for daily garden browsing.

Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted literally shaped the landscape of New York, with an influence that touches millions of lives every day. On this walk we take a day to visit experience nearly all of their local contributions, starting at Morningside Park and hanging a right to take in Riverside. Cutting through the lower half of Central Park, we take the Manhattan Bridge over to Fort Greene Park and head for a ramble through Prospect Park. We come out the other side to take a long stroll down the Olmstead designed Ocean Parkway, then up the Prospect Park again before concluding the day on another Olmstead route, Eastern Parkway. Excluded in this walk due to distance is the previously visited Forest Park in Queens.

Our final survey walk of Manhattan covers the upper quarter of the island, starting at 110th street and snaking its way through Harlem, Washington Heights and right to the tip of Inwood. Long walks on Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue lengthen out the walk, while a trek down Highbridge Park and the Harlem River Drive completes the day.

This week we tackle the most famous Green space in the city and possibly the world: Central Park. We'll cover it from tip to top, with detours to the shores of the Upper East and Upper West Side to see the sights and meet our daily mileage quota.