C&O Canal / Washington,
D.C., and Maryland
Often overlooked amid the capital’s
many attractions is the 1830s-vintage
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, where
flatboats once hauled everything
from coal to whiskey along the
Potomac River. Besides its 184.5 miles
of flat towpath hardpack, perhaps
the greatest jewel of the C&O comes
as it passes by the Great Falls of the
Potomac, the towpath giving birth
to miles of overlook and loop trails
above the churning river. Watch for
circling bald eagles and graceful,
long-necked great blue herons.
OLYMPIC PARADISE
boutiques, and cafés. Don’t miss the
plank walkways in a section of the
park called Washington Grasslands—
where firetail mountain fleece and
moor grass turn this corner of
Manhattan into a lazy meadow.
The High Line /
New York City
Visitors to Manhattan need only look
up to discover a new trail in one corner of the island’s West Side. There,
two years back, a section of the old
Meatpacking District’s elevated
railway was converted to an above-street-level park, running from
Gansevoort Street to West 20th
Street, a distance that’s just shy of
1. 5 miles.
Blooming in season with native
flowers—such as jade coneflower in
summer and blazing star in fall—the
High Line offers sweeping views
of Hudson River ship traffic, New
Jersey beyond, and the ever-trendier
Chelsea district, with its art galleries,
Lakefront Walk / Chicago
My favorite walk in Chicago begins
at the corner of Randolph Street and
Michigan Avenue, where the northern end of Millennium Park harbors
a bizarre outer-space pod: the reflective sculpture called Cloud Gate.
The trek continues down Michigan
Avenue past the Art Institute, then
winds through Grant Park to the
Adler Planetarium—a total distance
of about 2 miles. You can enjoy
another couple of miles’ walk south
of the planetarium around Northerly
Island—the former Meigs Field airport, now demolished and restored
with prairie grass.
The Confluence / Denver
Colorado weighs in with the lowest
obesity rate in the country, and it’s not
