Up close and personal with the great outdoors

Vannie gives families a chance to rough it for a night

Posted

Pitching a tent. Eating s’mores by the campfire. Hiking to wetlands after nightfall. This may sound like a wilderness adventure far away from the city, but it all took place at Van Cortlandt Park last weekend, as part of a city-sponsored “family camping” gathering.

Twelve people got to spend Friday night and Saturday morning at the park – attendees chosen by one of the several lotteries the Parks Department holds each summer for its weekend camps around the city.

“The kids get a chance to experience nature that they normally wouldn’t be able to, living in the city,” a participant, Michael Chan, said after camping with his 6- and 8-year-old nephews at Van Cortlandt Park.

“We saw a skunk last night. We don’t normally see those around,” he said. Nobody got sprayed, Mr. Chan added.

Attendees arrived Friday evening and began pitching tents, with some help for those who needed it from the Parks Department’s urban rangers. The department provides tents and, at some locations, s’mores.

Participants have to bring sleeping bags or blankets, bug spray, drinking water, snacks, and a sturdy pair of shoes for the night hike. Other than the cost of snacks and similar supplies, the whole event is free.

Campers learned how to make a fire with flint, made and ate s’mores while gazing at the sky, and ventured further into the park during their nature walk to see the animals that come out at night.

“I [am] looking forward to star gazing,” stated 11-year-old Theodore Zapata, as he sat at a wooden picnic table with his mother and sisters. “I like to explore the stars in the night sky and explore the moon and how it changes, and how solar eclipses are made and how lunar eclipse are made, and dark shadows and black holes and other things in the universe and the galaxies.”

The nighttime hike at Van Cortlandt Park was to Tibbets Wetland – “a nice little area where we have a lot of red wing black birds,” said Nicole Ruszczynski, an Urban Ranger from the Parks Department.

“We have muskrats that live there. It’s a different ecosystem than the forest,” she said. “Then, we [will] go around to where the lake is and … up the Putman trail and then we’ll make a left along this path and go back.”

Normally, park rangers and experienced campers advise against hiking in the dark, especially in unfamiliar territories. But “with the Rangers, they watch over us through the night and they lead the tours,” said Mr. Chan said, a devotee of the family camping events who had previously attended the Parks Department’s overnight camp at Inwood Park.

The rangers “know the park. They know where not to go, so it’s a great opportunity for the kids,” he said.

For young children, such as 7-year-old Marietty Zapata, Theodore’s sister, s’mores were a particularly enjoyable part of the trip. The adventure at Van Cortland Park, where Marietty went with her twin sister Mirela, brother and mother, marked her first time camping – and her first time trying the popular campfire treats.

The trip was also the first for the three children’s mother, Oriette Reyes, who said she wanted to do something different with her family this summer. She brought along a shopping cart with sleeping bags, dinner, her laptop and the film Finding Nemo. Her husband could not join because of the four-person limit the Parks Department sets for each family, although some larger families have found a way around the restriction by splitting their groups between two tents.

The camp “was a lot of fun,” offering a chance to “just to be in nature with the campfire and the s’mores,” Mr. Chan said after the trip.

Van Cortlandt Park usually closes at night. But on a few nights each summer, the winners of the camping lottery get to enjoy a glimpse of the nocturnal life that animates the familiar park after dark.

“[The park] is very different at night,” Ms. Ruszczynski said. “There’s a whole different ecosystem that comes out at night. Different animals, as well. We have a lot white-tailed deer that are here. We have eastern coyotes.”

“It’s definitely worth seeing at night … It’s very beautiful,” she said.

The next lottery registration opens on Aug. 24 for Family Camping on Sept. 10 at Pelham Bay Park. For more information, go to https://www.nycgovparks.org/programs/rangers/explorer-programs#family-camping.

Family Camping, Urban Rangers, NYC Parks, Van Cortlandt Park, Lisa Herndon

Comments