Somewhere along my train ride from Philly to Manhattan, it occurred to me that I had never done two urban hikes of 10+ miles each in 48 hours. This happens to me pretty often. A cool recreational opportunity arises, you instinctively commit, and it’s only the night before when you start thinking more scrupulously about the risks involved. Back when I wrote for the Southwest Airlines magazine, I was sent to Reno for a story about urban revitalization and I agreed to take part in a Via Ferrata rock climbing expedition where your ascent is aided by ladder rungs and pegs nailed into sheer cliffs. (You’re wearing a harness and attached to a guide cable.) I told my friend and fam about it, flew to Nevada, checked into my hotel and practically had a panic attack that night.
So you can imagine that when I woke up the morning after my 13-mile Central Park to 238th Street thru-hike—the first half of the Ramble In The Bronx Trail across New York—I had to gin up some courage to get out of bed and see how my feet felt when they made contact with the floor. To my relief, nothing crunched, popped, or seared. I had the beginnings of a pinch blister on my right middle toe, but that’s what toe socks and tape are for. Alright, I thought. I can proceed. I was greeted by my Airbnb hosts’ playful cat (also named Miles) as I stepped outside to sun. I caught two MTA buses to 238th Street. Well, three buses. Because the second bus contained one of the most noxious septic odors I’ve ever encountered. As one of the high school students near me said, before we evacuated and waited for the next bus, “I think I’m starting to hallucinate.”
Things got much less frantic once I de-boarded the final bus at the 238th Street MTA subway station where I had concluded yesterday’s hike. I procured a buttery croissant and some coffee at Mon Amour Coffee & Wine, watching The Bronx wake up as Edith Piaf boomed from the cafe stereo. Then it was time to head north along Broadway to the southwest gates of Van Cortlandt Park, the fourth largest public park in New York and the first of three XXL traverses across Bronx green spaces that my hike today would involve. The entry gates for such a bounteous park were rather understated, and if you judged Van Cortlandt Park by the visible elements from this spot, you might assume that the park is just a collection of athletic fields and playgrounds. But a wolf statue by the entrance hinted at more primeval surprises lurking within the grounds.