RIDGEWOOD RESERVOIR, FUR REAL!

This weekend, I finally visited the Exercise Path around the former Ridgewood Reservoir!  I was in the area before, mostly for NYRR OpenRun in the part of Highland Park that is adjacent to Jamaica Avenue, near Elton Street.  At some point, I read about how great the restoration of the area around the former Ridgewood Reservoir was.  A few times I actually parked my car in the big lot on Vermont Place, the Path is just across Vermont but I never had the chance to explore.  Yes, one time I walked around hitting easy 2- or 3-node streets for CityStrides.  But this weekend, having about an hour free before I had to be in Applebee's Queens Center for a meetup with alums from Newtown High School, I decided to give it a go.

At first, I thought I would just go up the set of stairs on Highland Boulevard, by the ballfields.  Then I said "Let's just go counter-clockwise to the next set of stairs leading down".  One thing led to another, in the end I made a loop, a slow, leisurely loop during which I took some photos shown in the slideshow link below.

One reason for my reluctance to visit the Path was that the area maybe desolate.  I don't want to be a victim of a crime of opportunity.  My walk dispelled that fear, at least for the hours around 9 A.M. and 11 A.M.  There were other people walking, running, rollerblading, and even a cyclist or two.  The loop is only a little over a mile, I think the cyclists only passed through the area and didn't go around the reservoir.  The pave path has plenty of room for people to go clockwise or counter-clockwise.

My original vision of the reservoir is that it's similar to the big one in Manhattan's Central Park.  Huge, somewhat circular in shape, plenty of water, I thought.  Recall that the Ridgewood Reservoir was retired some years ago.  There were three basins laid side by side, only the middle one still has water.  As explained in one of the info boards I photographed, over many years, the two side basins went from barren, to having low-grow plants, to shrubs, to small trees, and finally tall trees.  A forest was born.  Together the three basins, former and whatnot, form a little rectangle, with the black metal fence keeping the undesirables out.

I look forward to re-visiting the Reservoir but this time exploring the exits from it, to better explore the nearby streets.

Visit to Ridgewood Reservoir Exercise Path