Activities
The Nassau Hiking and Outdoor Club organizes hikes across a wide range of locations, from local parks and preserves to upstate escapes. Members can explore Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Westchester, and Upstate New York. Some of the popular spots are Bethpage State Park, Sunken Meadow State Park, Jones Beach State Park, and Stillwell Woods Park that are hiked weekly. Farther afield there’s Mohonk Preserve and Rockefeller State Park Preserve.
Beyond hiking, NHOC offers a vibrant calendar of non‑hiking events, such as: annual social gatherings (Holiday Dinner Dance, Summer Picnic in Bethpage; “Thanksgiving on the Trail” at Sunken Meadow), bike rides (Eastport–Quogue, Manorville, Mattituck Strawberry Festival, Dutchess Rail Trail), kayaking and canoe outings, movie nights, free summer concerts and fireworks (e.g., Jones Beach Air Show and July 4th Fireworks), visits to arboretums (Planting Fields Arboretum and State Historic Park and Bayard Cutting Arboretum), overnight trips (Pocono Environmental Education Center, Longwood Gardens/Winterthur at DuPont Mansion), plus museum and cultural tours (Apollo Theatre tour, Louis Armstrong House tour and museum, Nassau Museum of Art, Murals and Mosaics of Spanish Harlem)
Brooklyn Botanical Garden
Bethpage State Park
Old Westbury Gardens
Annual Events
• Holiday Dinner Dance- Hartigan Manor, Bethpage NY
• Picnic- Bethpage State Park, Bethpage NY- Hike the trails followed by a barbeque lunch
• Thanksgiving on the Trail- Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park NY- Hike the trails followed by a Thanksgiving meal
Overnight Trips
• Longwood Gardens, - A 3-day trip to see Cuba Center, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, and Longwood Gardens, Kennet Square, PA
• Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) Dingmans Ferry PA- A 3-day hiking trip
Special Events
• Apollo Theater and walk, Harlem, NY, A behind the scenes tour of the theater
• Audubon Mural Project Tour- Guided tour of murals created by the Audubon Society in Upper Manhattan
• Bike Ride of Dutchess Rail Trail and Walkway over the Hudson- a 28-mile bike ride, Hopewell Junction, NY
• Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Brooklyn, NY
• Christmas at Old Westbury Gardens- self guided tour of the mansion decorated for the holidays
• Concert- Hewlett Point Park, Hempstead, NY
• Concert- Just Sixties- Seaford Library, Seaford, NY
• Concert- Morgan Park, Glen Cove, NY
• Engeman Theater, Northport, NY- See "Come from Away" Musical at the theater
• Hofstra University Campus Environmental Highlights Tour- Tour the bird sanctuary, Arboretum/Pinetum, Native plant gardens, Green Roof and Greenhouse, Hempstead NY
• Holbrook Holiday Lights, -Walk a beautifully decorated neighborhood in Holbrook, NY
• Holidays in Manhattan- Explore department store windows and holiday markets in Manhattan
• Jones Beach Air Show- See the US Air Force Thunderbirds
• LI Ducks Game- Central Islip NY
• LI music Hall of Fame- Billy Joel exhibit, Stony Brook, NY
• Louis Armstrong House- Private tour and Museum. Corona, Queens
• Mark Twain House and Museum and Harriet Beecher Stowe House- Private tour of both properties in Hartford, CT
• Moonchaser Boat Ride, Captree State Park, Babylon, NY
• Movie at Bethpage Library, Bethpage, NY
• Murals and Mosaics of Spanish Harlem- a guided tour of public art of Spanish Harlem
• Murder, Mayhem, Money and History in Old Southern Bay Ridge Brooklyn- Tour provided by a NYC historian about 18th, 19th and 20th century Bay Ridgecultures and people
• Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY
• NY Botanical Garden, Bronx NY
• NYC Fall Foliage Cruise- Cruise north on the Hudson River from Manhattan to Palisades Park
• NYC Harbor Cruise & Highline, Manhattan NY
• Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows Park- Panorama of NYC, World's Fair collection & Tiffany Lamps
• Radio Play at Port Washington Library, Port Washington, NY
• Robert Moses Beach- Hang out at the beach with fellow NHOC members
• Ronald McDonald House- Tour of the facility and dinner preparation for the families of sick children
• Secret Garden Tea & Port Jefferson Walk, Port Jefferson, NY
• St. Patrick’s Cathedral Tour, Manhattan, NY
• Top Golf- Compete in a video type game against other members hitting a golf ball into the field
• Untenmeyer Gardens and Leonir Gardens - Walk the grounds of 2 gardens in Yonkers, NY, followed by optional lunch
• Woodhaven walk and Jazz Brunch-A Walk through Forest Park and Woodhaven followed by a jazz brunch at Neir's
Hikes
• Alley Pond Park, Queens, NY
• Avalon Park and Preserve, Stony Brook, NY
• Bayard Cutting Arboretum, Great River, NY
• Belmont Lake State Park, North Babylon, NY
• Bethpage State Park, Bethpage, NY
• Blydenburgh County Park, Smithtown, NY
• Caleb Smith State Park Preserve, Smithtown, NY
• Central Park, Manhattan, NY
• Cupsogue Beach and Seal Watch Walk, Westhampton Beach, NY
• Douglaston Manor Neighborhood, Queens, NY
• Five Bridges and Three boroughs, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, NY
• Forest Park, Woodhaven, Queens, NY
• Long Island Greenbelt Trail, Long Island NY
• Heckscher State Park, East Islip, NY
• Hempstead Lake State Park, Hempstead, NY
• Highline, Manhattan, NY
• Jones Beach State Park, Wantagh, NY
• Lakeland County Park, Islandia, NY
• Manorhaven Beach Park, North Hempstead, NY
• Mashomack Preserve, Shelter Island NY
• Massapequa Preserve, Massapequa, NY
• Norman Levy Preserve, Merrick NY
• NYC Saunter, Manhattan, NY (32-mile shoreline hike broken up into 3 separate hikes)
• Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, Oyster Bay, NY
• Port Washington, NY
• Rockefeller State Park Preserve, Pleasantville, NY
• San Souci County Park, Sayville, NY
• Stillwell Woods Park, Laurel Hollow, NY
• Sunken Forest, Fire Island NY
• Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park, NY
• Trail View State Park, Woodbury, NY
• Upland Farms Sanctuary, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
• Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY
• Veterans Park, East Northport, NY
• West Hills County Park- Jaynes Hill, Melville, NY
• Connetquot River State Park Preserve, Bohemia, NY
• Wertheim Wildlife Refuge, Shirley, NY