A Walk in the Woods

"You only need to sit long enough in some attractive spot in the woods, that all of its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you in turn."

H.D. Thoreau, Walden

I was back up in the Bronx yesterday yo visit the final bit of Hudson River waterfront that I have yet to see up close. I took a nice long walk in 2 connected but separate parks. First the Wallenburg Forest and then Riverdale Park.

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish Diplomat that was thought to have been killed by the KGB in 1947 at the young age of 35. He was an important figure in helping save the lives of European Jews bound for concentration camps during WWII. He was famous for printing counterfeit Swedish passports for Hungarian Jews and purchasing houses that were adorned with the Blue and Yellow Swedish flag to house condemned Jews. These houses were considered neutral diplomatic property and beyond the reach of the Nazis. Wallenberg has been credited with saving tens of thousands of lives.

The forest is just across the street from Riverdale Park. Most of my trip was spent walking through this park (RP). I entered the park at its southern most point at 232nd street and walked north. I'm not sure whether its city conditioning or my recent adventures, but i spent the first 20 minutes wondering when i was going to get "somewhere". It was then that i realized i was just taking a walk in the woods. This wasn't a park like those in most of NYC, it was just a long stretch of undeveloped forest set between the Hudson River and the rest of civilized Bronx. If you wanted to, as I did, you could cut left and scoot down the woodsy hill toward the river and take a look. Its cut off by a fence that blocks you from the train tracks, but you can get a great view of the raw beauty of the open cliffs of the the Palisades. Outside of just one opening in the forest, you can walk all the up to Westchester without interruption.

The trees are great and you'll get a lot of company from the birds and squirrels that are scurrying everywhere. Enjoy your walk.