Deep in the Woods…of Urban Madness

by chriscrews · 06/17/2018

I always find that a long walk in the woods helps me to think and clear my head. Sadly, in NYC, that is simply not possible. So I have learned–rather begrudgingly–to reconcile myself to short walks in the “woods,” such that they are, in places like the North Woods of Central Park or Van Cortlandt Park way up in the Bronx. What follows is an abbreviated list of some of what I came across during my brief stint in the woods along the loch path.

I should also note the quote on the opposite page of my sketch (details below) is worth contextualizing a bit. As I was standing on the small bridge that crosses the stream which runs along the main trail in the North Woods, and which leads to the small tiered viewing area over the water near the waterfall, several young women came walking past me. One of them commented that she hoped they would be able to find this place again since it was so deep in the wilderness…At which point I had the existential feeling down to my core that I have been in NYC too long.

1 cracked pigeon egg (en route to park on sidewalk)
1 male Bluejay (who followed me for part of my walk from the trees above)
1 female robin (who was busy bathing in the stream)
Numerous tasty-looking spicebush, one with the fleshy seeds plump but still green
1 chipmunk (who was scampering across the rocks into the woods)
2 Mallard ducks (male)
1 rotten carcass of unspecified type (never did see it, but definitely smelt it!)
Plantain
Red clover
Wild sorrel (an exceptionally big and tasty looking specimen)
Various and sundry trees (oak, elm, maple, tulip, sycamore, willow, cherry, w. pine, hawthorne (?), b. locust, staghorn (?) sumac, sassafras
Various ferns (maidenhair, cinnamon, ostrich (?))
Poison Ivy (although a recent nature hike suggested “Irritant” Ivy or “Itching” Ivy would be more accurate, since it’s not actually poisonous)
Virginia creeper
Pokeweed
Various canes (black berry and raspberry, with some fruit almost but not quite ripe)
1 bullfrog (who I never saw but clearly heard)
Various mosquitoes (of which only 1 was able to slightly wound during defensive swatting)
Wild violets
Various wild roses (pink esp.)
Jewelweed
May apple (sadly with no good fruits to eat yet)
1 holly bush (oddly placed in the middle of the woods near a path)
Burdock
Mugwort
1 bull fly (sitting quietly on a leaf)
1 hawk (casting on the thermals above the treeline, so too far away to id, but white underbelly with brownish feathers on top)
1 mystery plant (later id revealed it was Virginia Sweetspire, or Virginia willow (Itea Virginica), which is pictured here in my sketchbook.

For those not familiar with NYC or Central Park, I offer a side-by-side comparison of the “north woods” and Hickory Creek Wilderness Area in the Allegheny National Forest, PA.

This highlighted section of Central Park, which includes the North Woods and a lot more, is about 217 acres. The area circled in red “The Loch” is where these women passed me noting how they were deep in the wilderness…

Below is a map of the Hickory Creek Wilderness Area, which is about 8,630 acres, and sits within the larger Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. This is an extremely small wilderness areas by US standards, not even in the top 100. By comparison, the largest wilderness area in the US is the Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness area in Alaska, at 9 million acres! That’s something like 41,000 central park north’s all stuck together, and without all the roads, trails, cars and people!