How to Walk from Greenpoint to Red Hook

When asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, mountaineer George Leigh Mallory famously replied "Because it's there." Some people were just made with the exploratory jones for adventure! And some people die in the process. Take on this challenge with the hunger of Mallory. Then stray from the template by coming home alive.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A Map
• Running Shoes
• Mace

1. Let's say you're starting at the safe, central intersection of Greenpoint and Manhattan Avenues. The most reasonable, direct route is to walk south on Manhattan til you reach Bedford Avenue. Walk south through McCarren Park.

2. Congratulations! One neighborhood down, seven to go! Take Bedford Avenue straight south through Williamsburg. Around Broadway, you'll notice the demographically seismic shift from artists and Latinos to Hasids and Hasids. Take a right (south) on Williamsburg Street West.

3. Assuming you're taking this walk at night, remember you've now entered the environs of the empty Brooklyn Navy Yard. Keep an eye out. Now bypass depopulated Flushing Avenue and instead take a right (west) on Park Avenue and a left (south) on Washington Avenue. Congratulations. You've now entered Clinton Hill.

4. Walk south to Lafayette Avenue. Look at that! You've now crossed the roughly defined border into Fort Greene. Take a right on Lafayette and continue all the way to Schermerhorn Street.

5. Now walk right (west) on Schermerhorn until you reach Smith Street. Walk south. You've now bypassed Downtown and entered Cobble Hill. Continue all the way down Smith (passing through Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens) until you reach West 9th Street by the Smith-9th Street subway station.

6. Now take a right on West 9th Street until you hit the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway/Hamilton Avenue. Take another right and walk until you reach Van Brunt Street. Take a left (south) on Van Brunt and celebrate your entrance into Red Hook by patronizing one of the 4 or 5 drinking establishments and/or collapsing on a pier with a lovely view of Manhattan.

Tips & Warnings

• I would suggest you bring a map along that shows the locations of the projects so that you may strategically avoid them and/or go slumming.
• Because of its isolation, the area around the Brooklyn Navy Yard (Step 3) is potentially dangerous.
• North Williamsburg (Step 2) is predominantly safe but has recently had an increased amount of muggings.
• The Red Hook projects south of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and east of Van Brunt Street (Step 6) are not terribly unsafe, but gigantic.