Secret Nature Sanctuary in Central Park

Today I checked another box off my bucket list. I explored the extremely rarely open (as in a few hours per year) Hallett Nature Sanctuary.

The Hallett Nature Sanctuary as seen from across the Pond.

So the history here is that in 1934, Robert Moses, the Parks Commissioner at the time, closed these 4 acres of Central Park to the public for use as a bird sanctuary. And it stayed closed to the public for 79 years. It's like the Forbidden City, but in Central Park.

Forbidden for us at least. The birds love it. Here's a robin's nest. It's still a bird-watcher's heaven.

Over the next several decades, Parks Department officials used the sanctuary as an experiment: what would happen to the parks if we didn't take care of them at all (just let them grow wild)?

A few invasive species got in, along with some invasive insects, so the Central Park Conservancy stepped in in 2001 to clean things up.

That's the sanctuary on the left, across the water, taken from the path that encircles the Pond (on the right).

But they still didn't let the general public in. Not until the Fall of 2013, when they allowed a few special guided tours. I was in Alaska and then Asia. Visiting the other Forbidden City.

In 2014 and 2015, they opened it up for a few hours per month, only in the summer months. Still with Park officials as tour guides. I was in Alaska again for work. :/

But this year, they opened it early (before the summer months), so I'm still in New York! So I worked late last night so I could take the afternoon off today. Having run every path in the Park multiple times, I have circled the Hallett Nature Sanctuary many, many times, always wanting to explore it.

Olmsted and Vaux designed this to be a promontory. This is the viewpoint from atop the lookout point.

It was wonderful. It was exactly what I thought it would be. Peaceful. I was so happy in there.

They only allow 20-30 people in at a time so the noise doesn't disturb the birds and butterfly population. So if you can get in (which right now is not a problem since they're not promoting it), you'll have it mostly to yourself. Especially because this year they're allowing you to explore on your own - no tour guide! There are friendly volunteers hanging around though, making sure you don't fall off the waterfall while checking out this view:

It's open for a few hours a day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday now, with slightly extended hours in the summer. Check out the Conservancy's page for specific times here:

Hallett Nature Sanctuary Open Hours

If you want to go, head to the Southeast part of the Park. Cross the Gapstow Bridge and follow the fence to the right. You'll see the entrance on your left.

Central Park Sunset

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I have a conference call that goes until 6pm. So I usually can't go out and run until it's dark. But today I decided to see if I could take the call from the Park. It turned out to be a great decision.

I was still home when the meeting started. Based on the agenda, my part wasn't until the end. So I walked over to the Park and listened while the other presenters talked. I watched the geese and admired the hazy skyline.

By the time my turn came around, I was on the East side of the reservoir.

It was relatively quiet where I was, until a few helicopters flew overhead. I hadn't planned on that.

The meeting ended just as the sky was starting to glow.

Perfect timing. I ran up the track a little to put the clouds where I wanted them in relation to the El Dorado Towers.

I think I'll do this every week now.

Reservoir Reflections

My ankle has been messed up lately so I haven't gone running. I'm trying to rest it. But I had to get out of the house tonight. I went for a walk in the freezing cold (it's colder when you're not running!) over to the Reservoir. I always love the midtown skyline.

I left the shutter open for a minute to get these shots, which apparently is too long because the stars moved. It was quite the challenge to time it so I didn't get any planes or helicopters in the shot. Most of the pictures looked like this:

I don't like the streaks through the picture.

This was also the first time I noticed how pretty the Upper East Side looks across the Reservoir. I'm always so mesmerized by midtown that I never really pay attention to the east side. But I should...

Can you see the Guggenheim? It's just right of center.

And that's about all my hands could take because it got even colder. So I walked home. Good night! :)

North Meadow Central Park #EveryPath

I started out in the 90's and ran around the Tennis Courts for a while. Oddly enough, I don't have a single picture of the tennis courts though. Some other time. Here's a path to the north of the Tennis Center though:

These are some of the least frequently used paths, as it's really just a cut-through from East Drive to West Drive just below the 97th Street Transverse. And most people would rather take the more scenic path along the reservoir just below here or the more popular path above 97th. Or just bus it across 97th.


It's paths like the one below that make running every path kinda humorous to anybody paying attention. To get them all, I have to run down one path, up the next, and down the third. Fortunately, nobody really pays attention in New York.

There's another section down between the zoo and the pond and there are 5 or 6 paths side by side. That's fun.

The North Meadow is home to a dozen softball fields (literally, 12). I play soccer on these fields in the Fall.

It also has a rec center with basketball and handball courts in the center. And bathrooms, if you need them while you're up here.

Off to the north side of the meadow is a small trail that ducks down to a little arch.

The arch is one of the smallest and least known in the Park, mostly because it's almost entirely hidden from the North Meadow, and on the other side is the much less-travelled Loch.

The Loch is one of those places in the Park that very few tourists wander because you can't see the City and they get scared because they don't know where they are or if it's safe.

It's safe. At least in the day time. There are no lights in here at night. And although I've never felt scared running through here at night, I wouldn't recommend it.

There are two main paved trails paralleling the Loch...

...and then the side trails are all wood chips.

The Loch begins at the Pool (the body of water - not a swimming pool, although confusingly enough the Loch ends at Lasker Pool - the swimming pool on the north side of the Park). So that paved path I mentioned before runs alongside the Loch through Glen Span Arch. I'm standing next to a waterfall fed by the Pool to take this picture.

The sun was setting, and don't tell Central Park but I cheated on her and ran over to Riverside Park to watch the sunset over there. Sometimes I just want to check in on the Hudson River and see how she's doing.

She's good.

It's amazing how many people run and bike along Riverside Park. You can go for miles.

It was a good day. Which I'm glad because my left achilles feels like it's strained so I'm gonna have to lay off the running for a few days and let it rest back to normal.

Central Park at Night

Sometimes I work late. Ok, it's more often than that. And since I work from home, it's not uncommon that at 7pm I've taken less than 300 steps. And my daily step counter on my phone gets mad at me if it's under 10,000. So I have to go running at night.

Fortunately, Central Park stays open until 1am.

If you ever want to see Central Park completely empty, just go on a cold winter night.

The pictures on this post are from three separate nights. The first one was freezing. Like crazy cold. February 13 had a high of 22 and a low of 6, with a windchill in the negatives.

And if you think I just waited until it was really late and there was nobody around, this picture was taken at 7:30pm on the West side. I ran through the park for about 20 minutes and then walked for another 10 or 15. The entire time, I saw 5 people. Two dog walkers, a couple, and one other runner.

This one was taken around 5:40pm on the East side a few days later.

I'm telling you, you'll find more people in a frozen yogurt place on a winter's night than you will in Central Park.

If you're concerned about running in the Park at night, rest your fears aside. Most of the paths are really well lit. And with the exception of cold winter nights, it's still pretty busy until around 10 or 11, even up here on the north end of the Park.

There are a few paths devoid of light, like the dreaded Bridle Path. Never run the Bridle Path at night. And honestly, it's my least favorite path to run in the daytime too.

Run through that tunnel if you want to get your adrenaline going. I did. I don't recommend it. Hopefully Isa won't read this part of the post. :) With good reason, she likes me to be safe when I run at night. So normally I stick to the main paths.

So the first freezing night I ran with the Olympus - it's freeze-proof. The Canon only works to about 30 degrees. Isa and I took it out during the blizzard and it started having some issues once it got too cold. But this second night (2/17) got up to 35 degrees, so I ran with the Canon. It takes much clearer pictures at night.

On my quest to run every path in Central Park again, I felt like I've been neglecting the south part of the Park. I also love the midtown skyline at night, so I wanted to photograph it. I ran just under 4 miles.


From Columbus Circle, I cut across the Park to the Pond. The workers were taking the ice down at Wollman Rink. Winter is over (although it didn't feel like it).

The rink and the pond are really well lit. Since the south part of the Park is where the tourists usually are, this whole section is really safe to run at night - lots of people and plenty of patrol cars cruising around.

There's no flash on that picture. It's just that bright. Here's the view from the other side.

I tried my best to lean my camera on something stable so the long exposures came out clearly.

When I was taking these skyline pictures, I noticed the stars and I seriously went a little crazy. You don't see stars in Manhattan. Especially not in midtown. But you can actually see Orion here!

The pond was still recovering from the frozen week we just went through.

I ran up through the Mall, but it's wide open so I had nothing to rest my camera on and all the pictures turned out blurry, so I decided to come back with the tripod later. This was the best I could get.

From the Mall, I ran up through the Ramble to the Belvedere Castle.

And then cut through to one of my favorite views of the midtown skyline.

I liked it tonight, but I like it better without the ice. I'll get it later in the season.

So two days later (2/19) it was borderline too cold to use the Canon, but I went for it anyway. And I brought the tripod so I could set up pictures wherever I felt like it.

This was the first picture I took and immediately I noticed I had forgotten something important. My camera battery was blinking red. :(

So I ran straight over to the Mall to get what I came for. I was afraid that there'd be people around, so I waited until 11:30pm to go. And it was empty for the entire 20 minutes I was there. This is what the Mall looks like at night from Bethesda Terrace.

Not a single soul as far as you can see. I moved up to get it from a few vantage points.

I loved that the night was so still. The branches didn't move at all throughout the 20-second exposure. The camera died after the third shot, so I waited for a minute and took a shot facing north.

I'll have to take the tripod out another night (with a full battery) and get some more shots around the park. For now, if you want to see more night shots from Central Park, check out my run around the Harlem Meer:

Click the picture to go to the Harlem Meer in Winter run.