Capuchin monkeys like this one occasionally attack unsuspecting hikers passing through the national park of Cahuita, mugging them en masse for their packed snacks. I once witnessed a French woman foolishly try to feed a biscuit to one while the rest of the gang of tiny apes crept up behind, swarmed her, removed her fanny pack, then escaped into the trees with the box of cookies and her wallet.

North of Manhattan are several large patches of wilderness in the lower Hudson region. Among them is Harriman State Park, a wonderful web of criss-crossing hiking trails featuring commuter train stops near the trailheads on the southeast and northwest sides of the park. It is the largest reserve near my home in NYC that allows camping, yet it is quite sparsely utilized by us city dwellers.

Among the network of trails is the Long Path that runs from the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, and weaves 350 miles north (564 km) to Albany NY. For anyone who finds that jaunt too brief, Harriman is also intersected by the infamous Appalachian Trail that spans 2175 miles (3500 km) from Maine to Georgia.