I strolled the Pat Dolan Trail on opening day, curious to see for myself what was in store. After entering from the Park Drive East side, I was greeted by a fairly clean path atop the mulch, but it was very newly strewn, and did not make for steady walking unless one were readily to tolerate wood chips in the shoes. The grounds look fairly lush, but in late May/early June, NYC is usually in bloom. The photos on ltvsquad.com were obviously taken before the height of the season, and I believe would be more reflective of how the park looks year-round. A lot of the brush remains to be cleared away. As I wove my way clockwise around the western side of the lake, the path completely gave way to mud several inches thick, traversable only by a few brittle and slippery planks. I didn't dare even take out my camera to snap the worst of it, lest I should have lost my footing and dropped it into who knows what. Hope your readers enjoy the pics.
Sincerely,
Jon Torodash
5 comments:
What an insult to Pat's memory!
I went to the trail on sunday too, and they have basically poured double the amount of wood chips that there were before, and literally covered up the 2 large sections of the path where one can see some sort of oily substance in the soil.
The west end of the trail is not passable without thick boots and a machete. I have no idea why they even opened the west gate, or didn't just rope off the trail at the willow lake bridge.
It seems pretty clear to me that they are working diligently to cover up this fiasco and evade any questions as to how polluted the lake actually is. They have put more work into fixing this park up in the last month than they have in 15 years.
I'll be posting more photos later today.
-j.a.
ltvsquad.com
I brought my Kew Gardens Hiking Group there yesterday May 17 2014. There are now fun stones and wooden palates to get through the muddy parts. The strange part os the gate on the Grand Central side was locked. There was oil in some of the water. I hope that the place is cleaned up. Also I wish that the traul could be made longer.
Guys - is it fairly safe to walk this trail by yourself? I didn't see a soul when I entered from the GCP service road and crossed over GCP to the other side
2 other frightening aspects that I have encountered. You can walk in one entrance and find that when you get to the other side that the gate is locked. Now you are left hoping that they did not lock the other side.
When this happened to me and my group, we tried calling the emergency number attached to a note on the locked gate. The person who answered had no idea of what park we were in.
If you do not care to go to park trails, feel free to join www.meetup.com/kew-gardens-hiking and you will have a great bunch of local folks to join you.
Kevin
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