A note from the
Hike Leader Committee
Welcome Hike Leaders,
Here’s where you’ll find useful information on how to plan and lead a walk for Shorewalkers (see the links below).
Safety is top priority and hike leaders are the heart of our organization – we could not do this without you.
See you on the trail.
Laura Clark, Maureen Barodin & Brigitte Stark-Merklein
Resources:
How to post and manage a Meetup walk
Frequently Asked Questions
Online resources such as Untapped Cities (untappedcities.com), Atlas Obscura (atlasobscura.com) and Forgotten New York (forgotten-ny.com) publish detailed posts on New York City, such as “The Top 10 Secrets of NYC’s Floyd Bennett Field.”
Meetup walking groups are an excellent resource, including walks previously posted by Shorewalkers that are no longer in rotation.
For trail hikes, the New York New Jersey Trail Conference website (nynjtc.org) has an interactive guide to choose trail hikes in New Jersey and New York.
You have 3 options to communicate with your walk participants via Meetup:
Follow the instructions here.
Arrive at least 15-20 minutes before the start of the walk. Check-in attendees on the black Organizer’s app by swiping right for “Check-in” or left for “Mark Absent”. Answer questions and point attendees to the restroom.
Wait 15 minutes after the scheduled time to begin the hike. When you are ready to start, introduce yourself to the hikers, give a brief rundown of the route, and answer any questions. If you have a sweep, introduce the sweep.
During the walk, take a group photo and upload it to Meetup for use on social media.
If you are planning a hike on a walkway, such as the Hudson River Greenway, you may be able to lead the hike after only walking the route once. Check for detours and dangerous conditions, note the location of restrooms and dropout points, decide where to stop for lunch, and you should be ready to lead.
If you are developing your own route, it may take three scouting walks before you are able to comfortably lead a hike. The first time to establish the route, the second time to make minor adjustments and the third time to know every turn.
Restrooms are extremely important on a hike. Pick a meeting spot which has a nearby public restroom and try to plan a restroom stop about every hour and a half. Most playgrounds have public restrooms, however, note that they often close at 4pm. Malls and transportation hubs like the Staten Island Ferry Terminal all have restrooms that are available for use. If you have not walked the route in a while, be sure to check that restrooms will be open.
Plan for dropout points along the route with subway and bus transportation nearby.
Safety: The most important thing to keep in mind on the hike is safety.
- Be careful when leading the group across streets – if the entire group cannot cross before the traffic signal changes, wait where they can see you. If they become anxious about being separated from the group, they may decide to dart across the street against the light.
- Point out any potentially dangerous spots like potholes or slippery surfaces.
- When turning corners, make sure everybody sees that you’re turning, so they don’t get lost behind you.
- When you reach a fork in a path, be sure the hikers know which way to go.
- Check every once in a while, for people falling behind and give them a chance to catch up.
- If you want to share information, it’s best to stop and let the group gather around you, rather than talking as you walk – the hikers may get distracted and not watch where they are stepping. Stopping to point out a view or historical site is also a way to allow the slower hikers to catch up to the group and to allow everybody to take a rest and have a drink of water. On hot summer days, find a spot in the shade to stop and talk.
- Always obey traffic signs and signals; do not let impatient hikers goad you into unsafe action.
The Shorewalkers: Members Only group is limited to active, paying members of Meetup. Post your walks to this group and you’ll find better attendance and you won’t need to collect donations.
The larger Shorewalkers: General group allows non-members to sample our walks and for Shorewalkers to recruit new members. If you want to post a walk on the General Meetup, tell us first by emailing Shorewalkersny@gmail.com.
We are always interested to hear about your experience leading a hike. Email and let us know how it went.
Alert us immediately if anybody is injured or gets ill on the hike or engages in inappropriate behavior. If a hiker or a leader is hurt on a walk, Shorewalkers carries insurance for medical coverage, secondary to the person’s primary insurance. We also carry general liability insurance in case a hiker is injured on a walk and sues the organization.
We like to post our walks on social media. Upload photos to your event on Meetup and encourage your walkers to do the same. Our social media team will download images from Meetup and post on Facebook and Instagram.