7 minute read
BEST FOR: NATURE LOVERS
Here Comes the Neighborhood
Art installations like Samantha Holmes’s Hell Gate Cairns periodically grace Riverside Park in NYC.
IN THE public consciousness, “going where the action is” often conjures images of an urban jungle forsaking floor space, daylight, and greenery. But the natureloving cognoscenti know better: You can have both culture and breathtaking room to roam if you pick the right location. Here’s a roundup of neighborhoods across the country that deliver both. UPPER WEST SIDE, NEW YORK CITY This tony sliver of cityscape, while densely populated, is nestled between two iconic outdoor masterpieces: Olmsted and Vaux’s Central Park and, mere blocks to its west, Riverside Park. Their glorious landscape architecture bookends the brownstones, majestic prewars, and luxe, contemporary high-rises before the topography spills dramatically over bluffs into the tidal Hudson along with the sunset. Opportunities for outdoor activities are plentiful year-round.
Ijust about anyone,” says Felice Silberman Dannenberg, a mother of two and fashion industry veteran who lives just off Central Park. She ticks off a dozen activities, from hiking bedrock in the Ramble to biking, rowboating, volleyball, picnicking in Sheep Meadow with its stunning skyline views, and running the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Bonus: You can do it “all while enjoying myriad opportunities to peoplewatch. I always say I have the biggest backyard in the world and don’t have to mow the lawn.” Considered by many to be the hidden gem of the Upper West Side, Riverside Park offers equally abundant ways to enjoy nature—along with some of the city’s most stunning water views. In this quieter, less touristy counterpart to Central Park, with its canopy of trees that stretches for miles, you’ll find a portion of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, a 32-mile bike and pedestrian route that circles the island. Outdoor sports facilities include tennis courts (clay and hard), handball courts, basketball courts, running tracks, a skateboarding park, soccer and baseball fields, kayak launches, dog runs, and multiple playgrounds with whimsical names like Hippo Playground and Dinosaur Playground (and climbable sculptures to match). For those with a green thumb, opportunities abound for volunteers to putter around and tend the flowers in the Garden People’s Garden near the 90th Street entrance. Don’t miss the chance to watch the sun set from Pier 1 at 70th Street.
Crandon Park Beach, once part of the country’s biggest coconut plantation, offers a two-mile stretch of sand dunes teeming with Florida wildlife. PREVIOUS PAGE: 1212471529/ISTOCK/GETTY; CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: © SWA/ BALSEY, PHOTO DAVID LLOYD; FOTOLUMINATE LLC/SHUTTERSTOCK; NPS/ALAMY
“If you want to get really close to nature, Key Biscayne FIRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE is the A string of 17 distinctive seasonal and year-round communities stretch the 32-mile length of this wispy premier barrier island separating the Atlantic Ocean from the Great South Bay by only a half mile at its widest point. place.” With no paved roads and only service and emergency vehicles allowed (residents commute by ferry and —Ed Pritchard, Miami EcoAdventures at Crandon Park boardwalks), traversing the terrain of windswept dunes, bayside marshlands, and ancient maritime forests affords the opportunity for walking, jogging, or e-biking along the beach, as well as paddleboarding, windsurfing, swimming, and kayaking along the bay. Or hop a water taxi, perhaps to camp at Watch Hill while exploring the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness, the only federally designated wilderness area in New
The clear waters of Biscayne National Park are ideal for snorkeling.
Here Comes the Neighborhood
York State. Within this seven-mile stretch of pristine bliss is the Wilderness Breach, the lingering aftermath of Superstorm Sandy and a testament to the island’s dynamic landscape, ever changing through wind and challenging tides. In response, indigenous gardening has taken root as both pastime and profession. Liam O’Malley Davy recently transitioned from teaching school in Brooklyn to naturalist gardening in what he calls “a splendid classroom of coastal biodiversity. It’s exciting to learn with residents how the local ecosystem is a fragile and resilient paradise, and how being stewards to the harmonious nature of the native ecology is a lush and wondrous pleasure.”
KEY BISCAYNE, FLORIDA Trace the Atlantic barrier islands due south and you will ultimately reach the subtropical paradise of Key Biscayne. Within eyeshot of Downtown Miami across a causeway, the opulent neighborhoods of Key Biscayne lay sandwiched within what is essentially one giant nature preserve. The island’s upper third is home to the 800-acre oasis of Crandon Park, featuring palm-lined beaches, native plants, coastal wildlife, a marina for boating and fishing, bike routes, a fossilized mangrove reef, a nature center hosting educational programs, and seagrass communities just offshore that are perfectly situated for kayaking and snorkeling.
“If you want to get really close to nature, Key Biscayne is the premier place, not just for vistas and the views, but for some of the most beautiful spots for kayaking,” says Ed Pritchard of Miami EcoAdventures at Crandon Park, an entity of Miami-Dade County Parks that organizes all kinds of naturalist tours. “And it’s just a hop, skip, and jump from downtown.” Encompassing the island’s lower third is Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, which features a lighthouse dating to 1825. This cultural heritage site was also part of the Underground Railroad for Black Seminoles making their way to the Bahamas.
ASPEN HIGHLANDS, COLORADO “There’s never a boring season to be here,” says Grayson Bauer of the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES). The area’s outdoor appeal is legendary. Yes, there is that famed skiing all winter, as well as the
Rowboats are available to rent at The Lake in Central Park.
—Felice Silberman Dannenberg
Los Feliz boasts some of L.A.’s best trails.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JENM PHOTOGRAPHY/GALLERY STOCK; MATT DIRKSEN/ISTOCK/GETTY; VICKI JAURON, BABYLON AND BEYOND PHOTOGRAPHY/MOMENT/GETTY; TREKANDSHOOT/ISTOCK/GETTY Aspen Highlands is a favorite for fly-fishing.
mountain biking and hiking all summer. (Maroon Bells is said to be the most visited spot of any national forest in the country and the most photographed mountain range in Colorado.) Or try fly-fishing for trout in Maroon Creek (with a permit) from spring to fall. But then there are the added bonuses that can, as Bauer notes, “provide a mission to your hike.” For example, mushroom foraging in high summer. The elevation, dense forests, and rich soil of the Roaring Fork Valley sprouts excellent chanterelles. ACES hosts a summertime mycology camp as part of their Naturalist Field School. (Neophyte foragers are advised to go with someone knowledgeable.)
Another way to liven up your hike is to admire the wildflowers. Different species play out in waves across the elevation change. “The wildflowers up here are spectacular,” Bauer explains. “Earlier in the season, certain species will be blooming while there is still snow on the mountain. And as the summer progresses, that wave moves up the slope.”
LOS FELIZ, L.A. Ask about Los Feliz and three attributes invariably surface: its qualities as a historic district with handsome housing stock (e.g., prime Spanish colonials), its preponderance of celebrities due to studio proximity, and the ability of residents to walk to “the park.” That would be Griffith Park, the largest municipal park with an urban wilderness area in the U.S., composed of rugged natural areas and more than 50 miles of hiking trails. “A lot of writers call it the lungs of L.A. because it is one of the few open spaces in the city,” explains Luiz Sampaio, who purchased in Los Feliz with his husband in 2006. “There are big parts of the park that are largely untouched. So once you get out of the main trails, you can be in what was original California wilderness.”
Trails range from moderately inclined paved fire roads (quite popular) to strenuous narrow foot paths. The payoff comes with the incredible views. You’ll find some of the best when venturing up West Observatory Trail from Fern Dell Drive. Upon ascending to the Griffith Observatory, one has the chance to see a cavalcade of stars, literally and figuratively. Further out, that could include even the park’s most well-known resident, a mountain lion named P-22. “It’s surprising how much wildlife is left up there,” Sampaio says.
Fire Island is renowned for its remote, windswept beaches.
