The Big C stands for Columbia U., which plays intercollegiate football and soccer games at nearby Baker Field.
Today it's called the C rock, isn't that original? In my day, when kids had imagination, it was called "Geronimo".
Now and again someone, not one of us of course, would take a leap off of it.
The bridge is the Henry Hudson, built in 1936, which carries the Henry Hudson Parkway over the Harlem River.
I don't really know if anyone tried to fly from there.

The Salt Marsh: Located below the baseball fields at 218th Street. It runs along the river's edge up to the Henry Hudson Bridge and around to the lower fields at Dyckman Street.

Take a seat: You'll find it hard to find a more beautiful spot then Inwood Hill Park; to sit and take in some fresh air in New York City.

In 1626, it is said, Dutch governor Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Canarsie Indians for a collection of beads and trinkets valued at 60 guilders, ascertained to be worth 24 US dollars. The price was actually around $2,400 for all of the goods paid the Indians. Big money in those days. Around 1640 the Dutch and the Canarsie's wiped out the local tribe of Weekquaeskeeks. The rock, called Skorakopock Rock, is on the exact site of a giant tulip tree, its girth marked by a concrete ring around the rock, where the transaction took place. The tree remained until 1933.

Inwood Hill Park is filled with tulip trees, which are native to Manhattan Island.
Tulip trees grow tall and straight and were used by the Weekquaeskeeks to build their canoes.
Quite a few of the 20th century tribes used these same trees to keep from falling down drunk

Just past The Rock, the path, to the left, leads you along the hill. You will see rock formations that were dragged here by the Wisconsin Ice Sheet during the last ice age. Native rocks like this are visible in many areas in Manhattan and the Bronx, but are especially noticeable in Inwood Hill and nearby Fort Tryon and High Bridge Parks. In the natural hollows formed by the rocks, the Weekquaeskeeks found shelter, cooking clams and oysters. In the past, pottery artifacts have been found in these crevices. Other artifacts found indicate that the Weekquaeskeeks may have been displaced by a tribe called Rheingold. This has never been proven

The glacier broke up chunks of earth and moved large boulders. As ice melted the boulders fell and formed tiny caves in Inwood Hill Park. The moving ice carved striations or grooves in the rocks. The glacier also left "potholes" behind. Eddies of turbulent water carrying pieces of rocks drilled holes into the rocks.	The largest glacial pothole                     in New York City

Below, two more views of the rock caves.

Up the hill and under the bridge:
This is the path, to the right, that leads from the rock, up thru the park, to the southern end at Dyckman Street.
You can't complain about the view either, can you?

The path you're on: curves around and under the Henry Hudson Bridge, providing further views of the Hudson River.

Fishin' hole: The shore line under the bridge is a favorite spot for local fishermen.

Follow the path along into a primordial Manhattan with only the birds and the sound of rusting beer cans to interrupt the silence. Eventually, the path U-turns. After it does, bear to the left and take the path closest to the Hudson River. Walk straight and the path will wind through the center of the park and exit on Payson Avenue and Beak Street or down Payson at Dyckman.

Pines provide a swatch of green even in the winter.

    Bearing along the leftmost path, you will eventually come to a
   small clearing and it is there that you have a sweeping panorama of the
   Hudson River and the New Jersey Palisades, the same one that the
   Weekquaeskeeks enjoyed for millennia before the 1700s.

Overlook Meadow: We are now overlooking the Hudson River and standing on the parks higest point; looking down on the lower fields at Dyckman Street. To return: Bear on a path that goes toward the right, then go left again. You will be on a path overlooking Inwood Hill Park and the little salt marsh below. You are at the top of the hill that looked so high when you were at Shakoropock Rock.

Pretty as a picture: There is no other way to describe the park as you walk through it.

To the left are the rock caves in the summertime.

This is a picture of the spirit tree in Inwood Hill Park, which is home to Father Forest.
On the 20th of August 2004 at around 2:15 PM I was lucky enough to catch him on
one of his rare visits.




Can you tell me what human form the spirit has taken and what name it goes by?
On a scale of 1 to 10; I'd rate the difficulty of answering correctly 10

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