Hike #1184; Bronx to Manhattan

Hike #1184; Bronx to Manhattan

12/15/18 Bronx/Tibbets Brook/Manhattan with Scott Helbing (Tea Biscuit), Amanda Lance, Ellie Zabeth, Red Sean Reardon, Ronnie DIVergilio, Craig Craig, Eric Pace, Ted Wright, Bobbi Landrock, Alex Gisser, Peter Fleszar, Alyssa Lidman, Marissa Panton, Rob Gearheardt, Jennifer Tull, Carolyn Gockel Gordon, ?, ?, Jack Lowry, Sarah Jones, Jennifer Berndt, Jim Mathews “Mr Buckett”, Justin Gurbisz, Brittany Audrey, Janet Lynn McCourt-Finsen, Steve Sanbeg, David Goldberg, Timothy Kovich, Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Michele Valerio, Kathryn Cataldo, Kevin Kowalick, Jeffrey Di Bernard, Denise Saraceni Pangborn, Diane Reider, James Quinn, Kenneth Lidman, Sarah Hare, Dan Asnis, Anne ?, and Brian Coan

It was that time of year again for our annual Holiday New York City Hike!

The starting group at the tree in Penn Station

As this time of year approaches, I start to dread it as being one of those requirements of the season, something that everyone looks forward to and comes out on, even though it’s not nearly the best hike of the year or even in the top ten.

Mad Dog to start

This year, I was at first put off by the planning of it, but I decided I was going to make it more of a hike that I wanted to do rather than one that would “sell the product” and that everyone would expect.
I could still have improved upon it, and I have to keep it fresh in my mind for next year, but this one overall turned out to be not just a good holiday hike, but a pretty damn good hike in general.
I planned this one WAY in advance. So far in advance because that would alleviate the first of the millions of complaints I get: “I can’t go that day...can’t you change it FOR ME...?”

Red sweater love

By posting it even before the height of the Summer, no one could say they didn’t have enough advance notice, and no one said that to me at all. Problem solved.
The second problem was that I would lose half the group within the first couple of miles because it’s just a mess trying to walk the streets of New York. It got to the point where everyone’s expectations were making he hike get annoying . They wanted to go to the Macy’s display, they wanted to go to Central Park, they wanted to go to the High Line, they wanted to go to the Rockafeller Center tree and so on.

In Penn Station

I came up with a hike that wouldn’t include those places, but would be more of a hike. This trip would take us to the north again, right from the start, via subway to the Bronx for a new route that brought together portions of past hikes with other things that I’ve long wanted to do.
The only real problem with this was the subway thing heading to the north. It was going to be tough to corral everyone together to get on the same train and end up at the correct point. There were different trains, and required switching of trains if we wanted to do it fast, otherwise take an hour ride.

Macy's

I should have started the hike earlier like I usually would. Unfortunately, with the NJ Transit schedule and with people coming from so far away, doing that can prove problematic. Someone would have to be resourceful to even meet up with us (like Pete F, he did it).
I was originally looking at a starting point in Van Cortland Park, but we had done this in the past. With only a few days left before the hike, I changed the actually starting point a few times to something that would be somewhat different.

In Penn Station

I didn’t want to start in Van Cortland again. No. We had done that already a few times in the past. I wanted something more new.
I looked over the maps, and then saw Mosholu Parkway, which would put us a little further away. I had done some of that on a weekday hike a couple of years ago. Then I saw below that to the Bedford Park Blvd Station. It was an easy shot from Manhattan, and would put us a few blocks from the Mosholu Parkway where we could do a little that I’d never done, and some other stuff that I had piecemeal-ed together.

Mirror shot

I came up with something that I thought would be really fun and very diverse. It would be something that anyone who enjoyed any of my past hikes could enjoy, whether they came just to be in New York City or not.

Subway ride to the start

I was really tired after the week of partying and night hiking, as well as doing some pretty heavy tree work on my job. I wasn’t looking forward to driving to Summit, Short Hills, or Millburn. Elizabeth M told me about the bus going from Clinton, and told me that it was a really easy way to go. Normally I wouldn’t go for it, but with the crazy week I’d had, this was just the relaxing way of getting there I was looking for. I met her at the station, but was almost late. Although I told her it was totally unnecessary, she generously bought my ticket.

The group on Mosholu Parkway

We arrived in the city earlier than expected, by which time I had already downed one of my entire bottles of Mad Dog in my Arizona tea can.
Elizabeth and I walked the few blocks from Port Authority to Penn Station and first found Rob and Tim in one of the little stores along the way. I made my way to meet the group at the big tree in the middle of the station, where we’ve met usually ever year.

On Mosholu Parkway

Everyone siphoned on in, and I greeted everyone. Once we had most the group together, I got them to stand for a photo, and I went over what some of the plan was. Our friend Alex who lives in the city offered to help usher people to the correct subway, I think it was the “D” train to the north, and we’d all gather there.
I wanted everyone to all get on the train together because everyone would have to get their Metro Cards. Uncle Soup got me through with his. It’s always a time consuming process, but we did it.

Mosholu Parkway

Unfortunately, right from the start the group split in two because many got on the train while the others were all still buying tickets. Everyone left Penn Station different ways. Alex headed one way, but then I ran after a few others that went direct up to the street on the escelators. It gets incredibly frustrating trying to get people together. I was already over it before it even started with this. I just wanted to walk and be done with it. At this point, I decided that next year’s hike will have a meeting point not in Manhattan.

Scene on Mosholu Parkway

A have a few other options I’d like to explore including going from Staten Island again, doing the George Washington Bridge again, or even try something starting a little further up like maybe in Yonkers. These are all pretty good options, but the point is we have to get together at an outside point.
We all got on the train and arrived at the station, but the previous group ended up going to a diner to use the restrooms and the second group had to wait for them at Mosholu Parkway. Fortunately it didn’t take too long and we were all together soon.

Bridge on a bridge, Mosholu

The Mosholu Parkway, like many projects in New York City, was a Robert Moses plan constructed between 1935 and 37 to span the three miles between Bronx River Parkway and Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. Many of these parkways in the city and out into Long Island have pedestrian routes beside them, and the Mosholu Parkway is very much designed in this way. Both north and southbound have some pretty nice pathways which connect the two greenways with a pleasant walking route. My plan was to follow the greenway south just a bit, cross over, and then head north to Van Cortland Park.

Mosholu Parkway

The term “Mosholu” is an Algonquin native American word meaning “smooth stones” or “small stones”.
We walked south just a bit to the crossing at Bainbridge Ave, then headed up the northbound side.
We tried to go up slope from the road a few times to get away form the highway, and skirted a playground as well as other paved paths that connect. It made for an overall nice walk to get us up to West Gun Hill Road.

Old Croton Trail

We had been to this intersection before. There was a small foot path heading up from the intersection into the woods, and it is part of the Old Croton Aqueduct trail.
We walked into the woods on it until the trail became a bit more pronounced with bridges and such. Tim and I were up front of everyone else. After I spotted the point where there was an old promenade style base to the thing, I waited for the next clear section to gather the group for a little history lesson on the “OCR”.

Profile of the Old Croton Aqueduct

Manhattan was growing rapidly from the beginning of it’s settlement, and because it is an island, it has a limited supply of fresh water. It’s not surprising that early on, this became a huge problem as the population and demand went up.

1887 Scientific American etching showing the Croton Aqueduct route spanning 41 miles from the Croton River to Manhattan

The main source of clean drinking water in southern Manhattan was known as “The Collect Pond”. It was ruined early on when a tannery was built on it’s shore. People were dying of water borne pathogens and Yellow Fever, and something had to be done.

An old underpass abandoned

David Bates Douglass, engineering professor at West Point Military Academy was charged with the task of surveying and planning a route to divert water from further up state to the city in 1833. Construction began on the route, which would drop water at about one foot per mile from the Croton River in present day Westchester County, in 1837 under supervision of John B. Jervis, who was Douglass’s successort. The aqueduct was completed in 1842 to much fanfare, and a song “The Croton Ode” was even composed.

Abandoned road off of 87

The old Croton Aqueduct earned it’s “old” prefix in the 1880s when it was replaced by the “new” Croton Aqueduct. The old one did remain in service until 1955, and some sections are still in service today.
We remained on the historic route through the park lands parallel with Mosholu Golf Course (the word apparently also comes from an earlier name for Tibbet’s Brook). We left the Old Croton Aqueduct and instead walked to the east following a trail very close to Interstate 87 and Allen Shandler Recreation Area.

Old Croton Aqueduct trail

The trail we were following brought us out to Jarome Avenue. There, we continued ahead a block on 233rd Street to the intersection with Van Cortland Park East where we could pick up some more drinks. I got myself a can of Four Loco Gold, which I don’t often get.

On Old Croton Aqueduct.

We had a little break here and let people use the restrooms. We were able to walk across the street to Indian Field, a little ball field park section on the east side of Van Cortland Park, to wait for the others to come back together.
From here, we walked to the north side of the field, where a foot path headed into the woods. We followed this for a bit, and came to an intersection with another more well worn trail parallel with Interstate 87 again. We continued north to reach an abandoned road that passes beneath the highway and into more of the main part of Van Cortland Park.

Old Croton Aqueduct

We continued down hill on this old road route for a bit, and eventually came back to the route of the Old Croton Aqueduct again, which is on a shelf with a high masonry retention wall below to the left.
Pete F managed to find us in this area. I had been in touch with him texting back and forth, and he figured out how to get to us, which was very cool. Together, we all started walking the route to the north. I had a few plans of things we could do in this area, but I decided on the one I preferred.

Old Croton Aqueduct in Lincoln Park

For this next bit, we would actually leave New York City. The Old Croton Aqueduct leaves Van Cortland Park and enters Westchester County in an area called Lincoln Park. I wanted to follow this up to Tibbett’s Brook Park, follow some of their trails, and end up on the old Putnam rail line on the other side. I’d of course already done these, but never been into Tibbett’s Brook, so this would be a cool way of getting over there.

Old Croton Aqueduct at Tibbett's Brook Park

It really doesn’t seem all that much different leaving the city. It’s actually less woods than the Van Cortland Park section, but the aqueduct itself is a good greenway like a rail trail.
We continued on this high shelf with homes both above and below us. We crossed over Lawton Street followed by McClean Avenue. It wasn’t all that far until we got to one of the old ventilator shafts that were constructed about once every mile to allow fresh air to reach the water (this kept the water more pure on it’s route).

Old Croton Aqueduct ventilator shaft

At this point, since we now had Pete with us, I figured this is the perfect place for us to stop and get our group shot.
I had to take it several times of course because not everyone was caught up each time that I thought they were.
We continued along Old Croton Aqueduct for a while to the north until we passed beneath Teresa Avenue through a little culvert thing. Just past that, there was an underpass below the road for a trail or something going to the left. I decided this was a good point to go left.

The group on the OCR

We cut down hill and headed for a large parking lot in Tibbett’s Brook Park. Below that was a large pond on the dammed Tibbett’s Brook. We headed toward the edge of that.

The group on Old Croton Aqueduct

Jack was carrying his usual Carbon Fiber guitar, and music was going the entire day. He started out the day trying to get me to start with Christmas songs that I wasn’t into enough in the morning. He finally got me going with John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” and Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime”. I suppose anything by a Beatle is enough to get me out of most any funk. Plenty of other stuff came up along the way including of course multiples of “Feliz Navidad”.

The group

We had a few other ones came up that I just can’t remember at the moment, from the break stop at the end of Van Cortland and the BP station to this point. I recall he handed off the guitar to Serious Sean at one point and we sang “What Is and What Should Never Be”.
We followed the short of the lake on a nice path heading to the south, and then made our way toward a causeway between two sections of the lake.

Old Croton Aqueduct

Up in a tree, I spotted an albino squirrel. I tried to get a good shot of it, but it was kind of hard. I got something, but I alsmost got a really close one.
We headed to the outflow of the lake to the lower lake, and Sarah was down trying to hop across the rocks rather than use the pedestrian bridge. I decided to run down and hop across like it was nothing, and then proceeded to jump right into the creek. The temperature was actually pretty warm for this one. Probably in the lower forties or so.

Old underpass

The paved trail split on the other side, and we turned to the left heading to the south. It then turned to the right where we made a connection to the paved South County Trailway, which is actually the old Putnam line.
We’ve done a lot of hikes on this line, and actually have followed all of it from Van Cortland Park north all the way to the bridge over the Croton Reservoir. I’ve yet to hike any of it north of that point, but the line, the New York and Putnam Railroad, extended all the way to Brewster NY near the Connecticut line.

Jack entertains

This line, often know as the “Old Put”, was built in the 1870s on various different charters it would seem, like so many other railroads, then was reorganized.

White squirrel

It came under control of the New York Central in 1894, but it repeated the service of other nearby lines including the Hudson River Railroad and the New York and Harlem Railroad.

Tibbett's Brook Park

Abandonment of the line started in 1958 and continued to where almost all of it is gone today, save for a little stub of it near the Marble Hill station to the south.
I figured this section would be a great little return route to Van Cortland Park, and then we could cut off and head onto other trails there that I’d never done.
We started following the rail trail to the south, which ran very closely parallel with the Saw Mill River Parkway. We passed under McLean Avenue, and then turned away from other roads toward the park.

TIbbett's Brook Park

When we reached the border to Van Cortland Park and New York City line, the trail is no longer paved. It looks a lot like rail trails back home, with ties still in place.

Tibbett's Brook Park

Authorities had been trying to get that last bit of it paved, but there is a lot of fight against that happening. I personally thing it’s one of the best things about Van Cortland Park, because it is so natural and nice to walk on. I don’t feel like I’m in New York City when I’m walking it, and that’s what I wanted to convey to the group by walking the places we were walking. I think they got a lot of that same feeling too. If they were to pave that section of the railroad bed, it would seriously detract from it’s attractiveness.

Tibbett's Brook Park

We continued to the south with the golf course to the right of us on the railroad bed, and then soon after crossed over the start of the Mosholu Parkway. After that, we turned.

Old Putnam Line

We had to bully through a little bit of a brushy path and go through a hole in the fence from the Old Putnam line to the mowed area. This was another golf course section with pavement.

End of the pavement at the city line

We kept to the right around the outside of the course, and I figured it was just another part of a public path. By the time we had half encircled the course, there was a fence keeping us from where I was originally planning to end up. We had to turn back to where it was lower.

Old Putnam line

We eventually spotted a hole in the fence where we were able to get on through to one of the official trails on the other side. We passed through a section of woods and ended up in a big open field where we could cross directly to the south.

Old Putnam line

When we got to the south side of the open fields, we came upon the old Frederick Van Cortland House, which is the oldest surviving house in the Bronx.

Frederick Van Cortland built the first part of the home in 1748, on plantation lands that had been in his family since 1691.
Unfortunately, he did not live to see his home completed, and left it to his son, with lifetime rites to his widow. During the American Revolution, the house was used by Rochambeau, Lafayette, and Washington.
The house now serves as a very nice museum piece near the south side of the park that bears the name of it’s builder. We continued on the paths south of this point through the park.

Van Cortland House

From here, we headed to Route 9, which has the M Train over top of it on an elevated section. Everyone was getting hungry, and so we decided to make this a food break stop.

Van Cortland Park

I don’t quite recall what I had, but I know I had something there. Everyone sort of dispersed into a few different directions to get food, and then came back together afterwards. I think maybe I had pizza or something. At this point I can’t remember for the life of me.

Elevated line

Once we were done, we all started walking the road south. My next plan was to cross over the Broadway Bridge. This was one of the few bridges remaining that connects to Manhattan that I had yet to cross.
Originally, Marble Hill, on the north side, was part of Manhattan. The Harlem Ship Canal spanned by the bridge today was created in 1895. Prior to that, the east estuary went up and around Marble Hill. When the channel was created, Marble Hill became an island, and later the old estuary route was filled in. This is the reason why Marble Hill is still considered part of Manhattan although not connected.

Jamming with street musicians!

The original bridge over the original channel was known as the King’s Bridge. The first bridge to span the newer ship channel was a steam powered swing bridge in 1895.

Harlem Ship Canal

That bridge was replaced by a second one in 1905, which was also replaced a year later. That second bridge was floated down the East River for re-use became the University Heights Bridge in 1908.
The current Broadway Bridge was opened in 1962.
Once we got across the bridge, we turned right on 218th Street toward the waterfront parks and the Muscota Marsh. We walked to the right on a path that dipped down below the road level and headed out to the waterfront for some more views.

Spuyten Duyville Creek

It was called the Spuyten Duyville Creek at this point.
We didn’t go all the way to the end of a small peninsula in the park, and weaved back to follow the waterfront to the west along the Inwood Hills Park. A cop car came by us as we were walking but didn’t give us any hard time. When he was out of sight, I held everyone back and we walked into the Inwood Hills Park to the right. At the first trail intersection, we continued to the left and passed large rock outcroppings where the “Indian Caves” are.

Spuyten Duyville Creek

Inwood Hill is the most natural place left on Manhattan Island. Unlike other parks, it was not planned or manicured. It contains glacial folds and outcroppings of schist.
The park was once home to a few mansions of big time department store owners like Macy’s and Lord and Taylor, but no sign of any of the buildings that were once there now exist.
During the 1930s, whatever squatters remained were kicked out by Robert Moses, and crews paved or improved surfaces of some of the Inwood Hill trails. So, some of them have lamp posts and such.

WPA workers building the trails in the 1930s

Many of the lamp posts don’t even work today, and it’s probably just as well. It’s great as a natural park.
Where we entered the wooded section was at about the point where the sale of Manhattan to Peter Minuit from the native Americans took place in 1626. A large Yellow Poplar once stood at this site, but it was blown down in a storm in the 1930s. Today, there is a boulder to commemorate the site known as Shorakkopoch Rock. The route we followed was pretty easy, but we did continue to go up hill.

View of Henry Hudson Bridge

We reached another intersection, and I watched closely on my phone GPS where the trails turned. We went left, and then immediately right on another trail.

View out of Inwood Hills

At this point, we started descending. There were some water bars and such that we had to step over, but it wasn’t all that bad. We had already lost a lot of the group by this point to wherever else they wanted to go, but I think anyone who missed this section was really missing out.
We started heading down, and we could get the feeling that we were a couple hundred feet up above the river with the lights down and all around us. The trail took us out to Payson Avenue below, where we just had to take a couple of blocks to the right and then started ascending into Fort Tryon Park on steps and pathways.

Fort Tryon Park

We made our way steeply up the steps and soon reached the Cloisters. This is a castle type of structure designed by Charles Collins and funded by John D. Rockefeller Jr, where several historic structures in Europe were disassembled and reassembled in the park to house Rockafeller’s medieval art collection he had donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Billings Arcade, photo by Rob Gearhardt

When we got to the top, there were security guys there telling us at first we couldn’t go through, but when I told him we were just heading south out of the park, he gave us directions and was very friendly.
We made our way along the gardens and such, and then continued to the south through the beautiful archways known as The Billings Arcade. Once on the other side of that, we got on another trail that headed up along the slope on the other side. There was a point where there is an abandoned trail that takes us further from the end point out there, and we went around it to get out to the end of the park land.
We had to climb over the fence when we got to the end of it, but it was a nice walk away from everything and avoided some street walking for a while.

Manhattan

From this point, we just got on the streets and started heading south. I don’t even know which ones we were taking at that point. I felt like once I’d gotten us out of Fort Tryon Park, the rest of it could be anyone’s show. We did about the distance I wanted to do, and I was too tired and inebriated to care much on anything.

Xmas decor

At some point, I got on impulse power and we walked by a Taco Bell. As is usually the case, I cannot just drive by a Taco Bell. Nor can I walk by. I just changed trajectory and ended up going in. Uncle Soup, Jack, and Sarah were with us, and I’m not sure anyone else held back for it. I got a few things there and felt a bit better.
We still had a long way to go, but we kept on walking. Some of the group ahead had stopped to wait for me, but then continued on. All of them had pretty much assumed that I’d turned when I saw the Taco Bell, and they weren’t going to be seeing me again.

Heading to the station

I’m not sure at which point Jack and Sarah cut out, but they did somewhere along the way and it was just Uncle Soup and I still walking to the south.
The timing was getting close for me. Usually, I can just go by the train schedule and get out conveniently at hourly intervals, but if I didn’t catch the 9:30 pm train, the last one I could take would be 11:45 pm. I definitely didn’t want to be waiting that long.
I think we made it to about 103rd Street if I recall, and then finally said we’d better be heading back. We headed up the escalator to the tracks, which was a beautiful spot. I never really think of high lines still in use in this part of the city, but it was neat.
We got out close to the Penn Station and Port Authority, I said goodbye to Uncle Soup, and I hurried as quickly as I could back to the bus station. I had just missed the previous bus, and had to wait a bit of time for the 9:30.

Station platform

I drank lots of water and had to stay awake. Fortunately, the bus driver recognized me from before, and called me to get on as soon as he arrived. Elizabeth just barely made this bus as well.
I ended up falling asleep on the ride back. My level of exhaustion from the entire week was pretty high.
Still, the hike was an overall success and a lot of fun. I’ve got some things to consider for net year with this one, and I think we can make something at least as good, if not better. Maybe in the meantime I might throw some more NYC area stuff on the schedule that I was holding off on otherwise. Besides the Long Island Greenbelt, there is so much more I want to do. Alex had a lot of great suggestions that I would love to do, there’s just not enough time in a lifetime to do all of it.

HAM