Pelham Bay Park (6)

Escape from the chaos of the concrete jungle and into the nature of Pelham Bay Park! Well… sort of.

If you cross a mere pedestrian highway overpass, you can go from this …

… to this.

This end-of-the-line stop brings you to a massive tangle of car expressways, and it’s one of the northmost MTA subway stations with old-time history. So it makes sense that there are a bunch of taxi hustlers and people milling about for bus connections right at the station exit.

Overlayed on the subway station wall tile.

There’s not a lot of food/drink/entertainment out here, but I invite you to tell me I’m wrong in the comments.

A pedestrian bridge will get you over the expressways and feed you right into a Pelham Bay Park entrance, but the noise pollution from the cars can take away from the nature vibe.

The pedestrian bridge that connects the station to the park.

The park itself is nice. There are picnic areas and hiking trails, and those will always be gemstone finds in the city. Plus, you can find nice agate in the park’s waterfront area.

One of the trails taking you deeper into the park, towards Bronx Mountain (which, like, is a hill at best).

But, the car noise, man. Anyway, the noise lessens the deeper you go into the park from the subway. So, if you’re willing to stick it out for a longer hiking excursion, do it. But, if you’re looking for a hop-in-hop-out nature escape, look elsewhere my friend.

View from the station of the pedestrian bridge that’ll get you to the park.