I got this idea in my head that I couldn't shake. I wanted to walk the length of Manhattan island. After almost three years in this city I'd never been north of 116th street on foot. One of the things I love most about New York is that wilderness isn't far away in terms of distance; but when you're in the heart of the city it can feel like forever away.
It's a little over 13 miles from the tip of Manhattan's residential north to the far south of Battery Park, and in the short days of early Spring there's a risk you'd be pounding the pavement in the dark without careful planning. So I instruct my co-conspirators to be at the 215th Street station at 8am or risk being left behind.
We track a path due west to the Hudson river through Inwood Hill Park and then south. That first nook of wilderness feels like a forest compared to the rest of Manhattan's well manicured parks. The trees tower over you all around and with their leaves bare it's like walking through the ruins of a lost civilization.