Take a Hike!

The Fountain of Life Statue in front of the New York Botanical Gardens; sea nymphs and all!

As part of some recent craze for adventure, the bf and I decided it would be a fabulous idea to leave the city and TAKE A HIKE NEW YORK CITY. As far as scenic hiking trails within 2 hours of NYC are concerned, this book features at least 2 dozen hikes, many with manageable public transportation options, that take you far away from the concrete jungle of NYC. As far as scenic hiking trails are that are amenable to my tolerance of mid-January weather though, that is a different story. But in the spirit of Mother Nature, we trekked forward.

Hm.. maybe we should have reconsidered coming when there were less brown, more green?

There is a small preserved forest in the middle of the New York Botanical Gardens, quaintly known as the "Native Forest". It is a preserved 50-acre remnant of the old-growth woodlands that used to cover all of the  current NYC urban landscape. The trails are straightforward and easy, and 250 year-old birch and maple trees line the dirt paths. There has even been rare sightings of North American Beaver (okay. just once. and it most likely escaped the Bronx Zoo.)

For forest fires?

One might wonder what sort of botanical wonders inhabit the Winter seasons. I can confidently say that there was one garden worth seeing... The Ornamental Conifers! These buggers stay alive through it all and the NYBG had a fantastic display of all kinds of exotic species of Christmas tree look-alikes. There were enough scenic points to keep us interested, including local history spots.

Looks perfect for a star role in "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

Old-time Mill on the Bronx River where snuff tobacco was made

Man-made waterfall of Bronx River

In conclusion, I would give the NYBG a two thumbs up and make recommendations to visit again... maybe when there are a few more botanical things to look at!

(note: all photos taken with iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S2)