2019-03-30 - Cold Spring Harbor to Massapequa Traverse
The Freewalkers Cold Spring Harbor to Massapequa Traverse was a 22-mile hike from Cold Spring Harbor train station north to the actual Cold Spring Harbor and south to the Massapequa train station with an optional extension to reach the South Oyster Bay and back.
After meeting with a small group of hikers at the Penn Station in Manhattan, we took the LIRR Huntington Train to Cold Spring Harbor. I enjoyed chatting with everyone on the train before arriving and gathering with the larger group already there. We had about 20 people total. After a brief pre-event briefing we walked a short way on the road up to the trail. A very hilly tree-filled and rocky white-blazed trail led us to the Cold Spring Harbor. Along the way, with Ed's permission I started leading a faster group. Peter, who lives on Long Island, taught me a lot about the surrounding area as we hiked.
The view of the harbor was gorgeous but the bathroom stop at the nearby library only had one functional toilet. The bathroom stop took a long time and faster walkers went on ahead as I waited for the last people in my group to get a chance to relieve themselves. One experienced hiker named Kay went on ahead early and we would not see her until the next rest stop several miles away. The couple with me and I caught up to the main faster group on the way back south towards the train station. I thought I could run on ahead to catch Kay but she was too far gone. Instead, I sat at the trail crossing with the road we took up from the train station to make sure none of us made a wrong turn back towards the train station. We had to hop a fence and continue following the white trail.
After meeting with a small group of hikers at the Penn Station in Manhattan, we took the LIRR Huntington Train to Cold Spring Harbor. I enjoyed chatting with everyone on the train before arriving and gathering with the larger group already there. We had about 20 people total. After a brief pre-event briefing we walked a short way on the road up to the trail. A very hilly tree-filled and rocky white-blazed trail led us to the Cold Spring Harbor. Along the way, with Ed's permission I started leading a faster group. Peter, who lives on Long Island, taught me a lot about the surrounding area as we hiked.
The view of the harbor was gorgeous but the bathroom stop at the nearby library only had one functional toilet. The bathroom stop took a long time and faster walkers went on ahead as I waited for the last people in my group to get a chance to relieve themselves. One experienced hiker named Kay went on ahead early and we would not see her until the next rest stop several miles away. The couple with me and I caught up to the main faster group on the way back south towards the train station. I thought I could run on ahead to catch Kay but she was too far gone. Instead, I sat at the trail crossing with the road we took up from the train station to make sure none of us made a wrong turn back towards the train station. We had to hop a fence and continue following the white trail.
Risa had fallen a minute behind due to filling up her bottles with water at some point. We walked together all the way to the second rest stop at a Stop and Shop through less hilly terrain. We encountered open fields, leaf and sand-covered trails, as well as bamboo lined paths. Risa may have ended her walk or dropped off here or somewhere else between this rest stop and the next one.
Most people sat down for a break after going into the Stop and Shop but three people wanted to go on ahead so I decided to help lead them. These were some really fast walkers consisting of Anna, a hike leader of the Ramblers, and an Italian couple. We enjoyed speeding through the relatively flat trails all the way to the CVS shopping mall rest stop. We had finally caught up to Kay but only the Italian couple decided to stop with me.
Unfortunately, I got left behind while I was in the bathroom. Even more unfortunately, I decided to wait for the main fast group but somehow missed them. Apparently, they had been speeding like crazy to try to catch up to me and arrived before I expected them. After waiting for about 30 minutes, I decided to walk the last 3.5 miles alone to the train station. It did give me plenty of time to take photos and catch the 6:07 PM train (which was 3 minutes late) with Janet who had missed the last train. Also, all the walkers with Ed had dropped out before the third rest stop and he was continuing on to the train station alone as well.
The three walkers I was with (Anna, Glaucos, and his wife who I forget the name of) plus Kay must have finished a long time ahead of me. I learned later that at least three walkers (Sharon, Nakis, and Gloria) continued down to the South Oyster Bay for the full version of the walk. Ed picked up Brian towards the end and they took the train together. Peter and Grace had also taken an Uber back to their car at the Cold Spring Harbor train station. It was a beautiful hike. Thanks to Ed and the Freewalkers for organizing and hosting it!
