The Best Place To Kayak In New York City Is A Reclaimed Toxic Waste Dump Morphing Into A Vast Wild Paradise

Sometimes called New York City's "forgotten borough," Staten Island has its perks for those in the know. The island borough is a much quieter alternative to the skyscrapers of Manhattan or the nightlife of Brooklyn, with some surprisingly beautiful patches of nature. It's home to one of NYC's least-crowded swim beaches, a network of hiking trails, and soon-to-be the largest park built in the city in the past century: Freshkills Park. The 2,200-acre park is set to be completed by 2036, but parts of the park are already open to the public, including walking paths with wildlife viewing, sports fields, and miles of creeks suited for kayaking tours.

Before the park's development, Freshkills was a landfill established in 1948, used to receive the household garbage of NYC residents. The waste accumulated into four "mounds," which stopped accepting waste by 2001 and were capped to prevent contamination. The mounds are being transformed into distinct parts of the park, each with their own theme, as National Geographic reports. The landfill was also used to store debris from the 9/11 attacks, some of which was deemed toxic. The debris, interred at the park's western mound, was also capped and will be a solemn memorial to 9/11 victims.

Creeks running all through the park are open to kayakers even while certain areas are unfinished. They've been opened before all else due to the unique ecological conditions that have made them naturally clean. Christopher Ricker, a Freshkills Park coordinator and kayaker, called it "the cleanest tidal water estuary in NYC" and the city's best paddling spot in National Geographic. Kayak tours (which you can register for in advance online) wind for 2 miles along the creeks, open during the summer by donation, giving you a chance to get a sneak peek at the park's features to come.

One part of Freshkills Park already accessible to the public, aside from the kayak routes, is the North Park. The section has two entrances: one at Schmul Park and one on Wild Avenue, both of which are about a 25-minute drive or 45-minute bus ride from the ferry terminal. You can easily get to the terminal from Manhattan with the free Staten Island Ferry (it also gets you close to the Statue of Liberty). Freshkills' North Park has a 0.5-mile path with both pedestrian and bike lanes, winding through the park's mixed terrain of grassland and wetland. The restored wetlands are an ecological highlight of the park, where a variety of plants, fish, and waterfowl reside. A bird tower in the North Park gives visitors a perfect view across the wetlands to watch its local avifauna.

The next section of the park expected to open is the South Park, which is in the procurement stage as of this writing, according to the Freshkills Park Alliance. Its design comprises of two soccer fields encompassed by picnic areas and trails meandering through a habitat of wetlands and woods. The East Park is proposed to incorporate more nature, including meadows and freshwater ponds, while a master plan allots the West Park for a bird sanctuary, a 9/11 monument, and a fishing deck. The park's central area will be more urban, with waterfront restaurants, a marina, and exhibition spaces. After a day at the park, you could visit some of Staten Island's other gems, like Fort Wadsworth, a once-abandoned military base turned into a museum.