Matthew Monday: Father’s Day Hike

This year for our Father’s Day adventure (we go on one every Father’s Day) we decided to do another hike, but this year we decided to stay on Staten Island.  Last year we went to Bear Mountain, which is a couple hours drive from us.  We simplified this year and drove just ten minutes away. 

Staten Island has a nature reserve which is called the Greenbelt, and the Greenbelt has a number of hiking trails.  You can read about the trails here and you can see a map of them here. 

We decided to do the red trail since it was only four miles long. 

So here are some pictures.  First at the Nature Center, which is the headquarters of the park, we’re trying to get our bearings and figure out where the Red Trail begins.  Here’s Matthew with the map on my phone.

Matthew had a burst of energy starting out.  He’s such a kid.

Here’s a little movie clip of him bouncing around the path.

Eventually he tired out…lol.

We came across some different terrains.  Here’s an open field not far from a golf cource.

Where am I in all this?  Well here’s a picture of me.

Towards the end we couldn’t find our way back to the Nature Center where our car was parked.  We were still on the trail but we had to split off to the blue trail to take us back where we started.  We couldn’t figure out the split.  We came across this rock pile, which obviously has some meaning. 

But I was never a boy scout, so I had no clue.

We made a decision to take a right bearing split, and for a while it seemed right.  But we were never reaching the Nature Center.  Matthew wanted to turn around.  Then he decided to start marking trees with his pocket knife.

He’s such a little boy.  But I insisted we continue on.  Finally we came across two women hiking in the opposite direct who seemed to know their way about.  I asked if the direction they came was toward the Nature Center.  The older woman was very assertive.  She replied with what I thought I heard, “You’ve got to look at your all trails map.”  I said I have a map but I didn’t know where on the map I was.  “No, no,” she said, as if I were an idiot.  “You’ve got to look at the All Trails App.” 

Now I knew what she meant.  Last year for Bear Mountain I subscribed to the All Trails App.  It was about $30 for a year and supposedly you get all the hiking trails in the country and it shows you where on the trail.  It didn’t seem to match the Bear Mountain Trails, so I thought it was a waste of money.  I didn’t re-subscribe, and now I was kicking myself.

“So which way to the Nature Center?” I asked.  She looked at her phone, presumably her App.  “It’s that direction,” she confidently said, pointing to the opposite of the direction we were walking.  “Oh, so were walking in the wrong direction?”  She nodded.  “Get the App,” was her final word of wisdom.  So we turned and walked as they pulled ahead walking in their brisk, confident manner.

So we walked until we realized that we had reached an exit onto the street and we were heading in the wrong direction.  She took us a mile out of the way.  We were in the right direction.  She may have the App but if she doesn’t know which direction you’re walking, the App is useless. 

Anyway, we finally got back.  The whole time was two hours and eight minutes, and according to my Fitbit, hiked four and a half miles.

We had a blast.  Great father and son day.