City folk balk at the idea of hiking. All those bugs and mud, the chance of getting lost “Blair Witch”-style, and nary a Starbucks in sight?
But just because you’re not a fan of leaving the comforts of the five boroughs doesn’t mean you can’t still get your taste of the hiking life. A handful of smartphone apps offer preselected routes and guides that take in both New York’s ample park space and its even more impressive cultural and historical sites. We ventured forth and conquered four of them.
* MAPMYHIKE
This app is mostly for using GPS to track your own workouts and hikes, so you can see how far you’ve traveled. But you can also browse nearby routes others have traveled, which gives you a list of options of varying lengths, difficulties and environments.
Our hike: A 5.5-mile tour around Central Park, starting at the Pond (enter southeast corner at 59th street), following the pathway on East Drive around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and then down West Drive.
Stops include: The playful Mother Goose statue (near 71st Street, right), the scenic reservoir (86th Street), the deserted but architecturally interesting bandshell (72nd Street).
Overall: Outdoor fitness junkies will love it.
* ALL TRAILS
With traditional hikes of different varieties and lengths, this app notes whether they are best for hiking, walking or bicycling. Trail stats display ratings for each route, and a tracker feature lets you mark your own route, distance, time and average speed.
Our hike: Named “Five Bridges and Three Boroughs,” the hike claims to be a nine-mile flat route, starting at McCarren Park in Williamsburg, going across the Queensboro Bridge, the Pulaski Bridge, through Greenpoint and across both the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, ending at City Hall.
Stops include: An array of classic, picturesque places including Chinatown, Newtown Creek and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Overall: Total bust. The map didn’t load, and downloading it brought up an error message. We had to go back to a desktop computer and actually print out a paper version of the trail, but then, what the heck is the point of the app?
* INDETERMINATE HIKES
This app lets you create and search offbeat paths around the city, pointing out unusual places or putting you through absurd conceptual tasks along the way. Many stops require taking a picture or typing in a note, and app users can browse other users’ experiences, too.
Our hike: A 14-block trip up Fifth Avenue and down Sixth from 14th Street to 20th Street.
Instructions including oddball commands, such as: Pause at East 16th Street and “do not continue until you feel the rumble of combustion engines”; another tells you to close your eyes, listen to the sun or the moon and text your friend to tell her what it sounds like.
Stops include: The Limelight, a disco-turned-market (corner of 20th Street and Sixth Avenue), the New School’s distinctively designed University Center (Fifth Avenue and 14th Street) and Namaste Bookshop (2 W. 14th St.), for Buddhas and other Zen items.
Overall: Too conceptual to be fun.
* EVERYTRAIL
A mix of a hiking helper and a pocket tour guide, EveryTrail has many urban-exploration routes that include bar crawls and sightseeing.
Our hike: Greenwich Village NYC: Walking Tour, which starts at the restaurant Otto, (1 Fifth Ave.) and hits nine other points downtown.
Stops include: the swanky Minetta Tavern (113 MacDougal St.), C.O. Bigelow pharmacy (opened in 1838, it claims to be the oldest apothecary in the country; 414 Sixth Ave.) and Washington Square Park.
Overall: Easy to use, totally worth the battery life for both tourists and locals.
Afraid of nature? Try the MTA App
Meridian, the MTA’s Arts for Transit app, offers an underground-art scavenger hunt. The app lists images and details about the art found on each of the subway lines, so you can, say, learn where to find the Elizabeth Murray glass mosaics at the 59th Street station or read about how the Leo Villareal “Hive” installation at Bleecker Street/Lafayette Street was made, without ever going aboveground.