Visiting Wood Dale County Park in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, was a trip down memory lane. It is the suburbanite's classic park: water feature, walking paths, a playground for the kiddies, a picnic grove, and if you cross a little cement bridge you can access an off-leash dog park and tennis courts. I took the two family dogs to this little park yesterday, even though that wasn't my original intention. I wanted to go to "Pascack Brook County Park," but google navigation took me to some neighborhood with a dead end. Classic. Honestly, this has happened to me about 3 other times before where the navigation would take me to some dead-end street and direct me to off road through the woods. I might have a jeep, but I'm not that ballsy.
The little dog was whining in the back of my car and I was nervous he might pee in the car or something so I took off to Wood Dale instead. The park itself is kind of set up like a bulls-eye with the pond in the center and two asphalt rings-- the inner ring for walking and the outer ring for driving. There are also two parking lots and it is incredibly accessible by car-- perfect for the 'burbs. Realistically, it seems pretty necessary to drive to this park. The main access is from an incredibly hilly street named Prospect. A street, incidentally, that lacks sidewalks but does not lack speeding cars. Besides, who wants to walk anywhere anyway? Am I right or am I right?
After parking, I managed to extract the dogs from the car and considered the dog park. While making up my mind on whether or not I really wanted to take the dogs to an empty dog park, I spied a man with 2 German Shepherds who I thought might join me). I managed to hustle the dogs across the bridge and into the mud pit known as the dog park. Big Dog and Little Dog, aka Sadie and Tyger, were unimpressed. The man with the German Shepherds must have been unimpressed too, because he veered in the opposite direction when he saw me approaching the dog park.
I was expecting the dogs to at least explore a little, but the two kind of shuffled around me, vaguely sniffing around. When I asked them if they wanted to go, they charged through the mud and straight to the gate. A clear enough answer to me. There wasn't much going on in the dog park anyway.
With resolve, I decided to make the most of it and do a loop around the scummy pond with the two and take some pictures. While strolling around it I realized 3 things:
1. Sadie (possibly the dopiest and most harmless dog I've ever met) makes people
really nervous
2. There was a decent amount of people at the park! Especially for 1 PM on a Thursday. Don't people work? (No offense of course)
3. There is not much to photograph
We made our loop. Joggers and walkers were doing the same thing either on the walking path or on the drive around the park. They noticeably drifted off the path when they saw Sadie. I tried to affirm to them that she was actually friendly. One man actually pet her head with two fingertips nervously and then continued on.
I considered why people would bother coming here in winter. I suppose the main goal for all of them was exercise in the great outdoors where the air is crisp and clean. The park is easily accessible by car, as mentioned. Its shape also allows you to count the numbers of laps you did, which I suppose might give a sense of accomplishment. The view is also probably more exciting than going down to the local track. The sheer volume of people allows for friendly interaction (if you are into that sort of thing) or people watching (a national pastime). It is also almost guaranteed to be maintained right after it snows, where a wooded park with dirt, gravel, or mulch paths is not. Finally, the park is also small, which makes it friendly and encouraging if you just want to go out for a breath of fresh air. Of course the other amenities it has (like the playground and picnic grove) make it extra appealing in the other three seasons of the year.
I guess small county parks serve their function to a broader range of the community than larger "ecological" parks do, but I'd take the "ecological" parks over the small county parks any day. And if I think about it, it was not until fairly recently (i.e. past few years) did I really get to visit larger parks more often. Small parks hold their place in my heart. I can recall driving around with two of my friends, stopping in the 'Country Store' to buy a cheap bag of popcorn, and going to feed the ducks. Or driving through at night with other friends (which is certainly not legal by the way), to bullshit in front of the pond and watch the moonlight reflect in the ripples. I didn't care that it was basically a glorified retention basin or there weren't long trails to explore. It was a destination where I bonded with friends.
Next post will be on a hidden gem which I always thought was secret and privately owned. Turns out it is not.
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