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Published at 5:29pm
Published on 10/6/08
Video
Start: Broad Channel A-train station
End: Broad Channel A-train station
Time: 2.5 hours
Distance: 4.64 miles
1 To get to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, walk out of the Broad Channel A-train station and head down Noel Road until you get to Cross Bay Boulevard, at which point you’ll hang a right and walk for about 15 minutes—be sure to breathe in the air as you pass the Call-A-Head portable-toilet company (it’s “No. 1 at picking up No. 2”). Soon you’ll see the all-green visitor center on your left; pick up some free trail maps and other material at the front desk. This is where you’re going to want to use the bathroom, unless you’re outright determined to pop a squat in the woods and get yourself a nice rash. (TONY—historically a major proponent of indoor plumbing—does not endorse the latter practice.)
2 Douse yourself with bug spray (you should also be wearing light-colored garments to help spot ticks) and then begin your Walden-esque afternoon on the one-and-a-quarter-mile West Pond trail loop. A quick scan of the free reading material reveals that, ironically, the Jamaica Bay refuge is largely man-made. Commissioned in 1951 by Jane Jacobs’s old sparring partner Robert Moses as a sanctuary for displaced wildlife, it is open daily year-round, from sunrise to sunset. At a leisurely tourist’s pace (arguably the only time it’s okay to walk this slow in New York City), this leg should take a little over an hour to hike. Leave through the visitor center’s back door, turn right and amble down the trail. At the first sign of the trail splitting, make a left into the South Garden. As you stroll under the red maple and willow oaks, it might be a good idea to linger for a few moments, as there isn’t too much shade to be had the rest of the walk. There are, however, numbered benches along the way for when your lazy, city-slicking ass gets tired.
3 When you exit the South Garden, make a right down the gravel pathway. In the distance on your left, out beyond the Phragmites australis (that’s Latin for reed grass) marsh, check out Rockaway’s skyline. If you’re here during migration season (late April through May), a wide array of woodland warblers and other avian spring arrivals can be seen flitting among the trees. The drunken show-off of the bunch—the American woodcock—is, much like yourself, quite a sight to behold while mating (check out a preview of its goofy dance on YouTube). Further, if anyone asks you where to find “the blind”—apparently a hideout from which to unobtrusively watch birds—just do what we did and gesture vaguely toward the trees.
4 While making your way by the West Pond, you’ll come upon thickets of bayberries, which leave a pleasant odor on your hands if you rub them between your fingers. Indigenous cacti also abound—and are, it turns out, less tactilely pleasing than the bayberry. In the summer, as you cradle your pincushioned digits, take some solace in knowing that the sand eels have it way worse than you and your throbbing hand, as Jamaica Bay’s tern population noisily dive-bombs them for food.
5 When the path splits again, hang a right through the North Garden. It’s full of trees and can be a bit swampy, but it feels like an authentic nature walk—that is, until you come upon the parking lot. Cut through it and sprint across Cross Bay Boulevard to the entrance of the East Pond.
6 Follow the signs along the path to the satellite Big John’s Pond—so named for the tractor driver who originally dug it. A small footbridge will appear on your left, which leads to a lookout point (at last, the elusive blind!) where one can see waterfowl like wood ducks, waterthrush and kingfishers.
7 Continue down the path to the East Pond itself. Sit for a spell on the bench, but don’t try sneaking up on those graceful swans for a photo op—they are bloodthirsty bastards, and camera shy to boot. Flee along the path back to the visitor center.
8 As you make your way down Cross Bay Avenue to the train, don’t immediately turn left back onto Noel Road. Instead, go through the third traffic light you come to and stop in for a $2 slice at Tommy’s Pizza (915 Cross Bay Blvd at 9th Rd, 718-945-6054). It’s the perfect pre–train-nap snack.
DID YOU KNOW?
Look near bench 9 for the nesting grounds of the horseshoe crab, a creature that was alive at the time of the dinosaurs.
Saturday
Wanna try this walk?
Meet Drew (and a specially arranged park ranger) at the Refuge, May 3, 2008 at 11am.*
* If you join us for a walk, TONY is not responsible for your safety or your expenses. But if you have fun, we will take full credit for that.
