I didn't grow up hiking, but I enjoy it when I can do it as an adult. Saturday, Leonard and I took the subway to the George Washington Bridge on the west side of Manhattan, walked across it to New Jersey, walked around in the Palisades, eventually found the Visitor Center and its neat Revolutionary War artifacts, and then reversed and went back home. We had a lot of fun! We watched an oriole (we think) for like 10 or 15 minutes, and that was amazing.

Lessons I learned:

• I need hiking shoes that really fit. I got my boots nearly new for $20 at a thrift store just before I went to work on a farm for two weeks in 2007, and it was fine that they're a quarter to a half size too large. I just double-layered thick socks, and I was fine doing ag labor in them. But walking in these shoes for hours produces blisters. So, new shoes time. Five years, twenty dollars -- pretty good value.
• I like doing this! I like walking on a trail in semiwildness, puzzling over a map with my partner, waiting till we get to a big clean rock before eating lunch, seeing pretty flowers.
• I prefer not seeing cars while I hike. (The bit of the path that we hiked was mostly within eyesight distance of the highway.)
• The ultralight backpack OSCON gave its attendees in 2011 is good for something!
• Not only is water heavy, it's heavy enough that water for me for a day might weigh more than everything else I need to carry.
• Tucking my pants into long socks works better than tucking the pants into the shoes.
• The George Washington Bridge is too loud, and the pedestrian/bicycle path is too narrow and busy, for a really pleasant walk. The Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge have better affordances for strolling.

I'm interested in doing similar day hikes, but it's offputting to have to take an hourlong subway ride and then walk for half an hour to get to the trailhead. Friends with cars might make this easier -- or you could recommend quasiwild park areas within 45 minutes of walking and transit from Astoria. I welcome your suggestions!