In Friday’s New York Times, I’d seen an article with updates on the condition of the city’s parks, post-Hurricane Sandy. My own nearby park was listed like this:

RIVERSIDE PARK Large areas of the park, which stretches along the Hudson River on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, were under four feet of water after the hurricane, according to the Riverside Park Fund. Dozens of trees were destroyed, and hundreds of others damaged. Some paved walkways were washed away, and falling branches damaged park lights, playground equipment and benches.

The article went on to say that many of the city’s parks would officially be reopening Saturday, though I was not sure they’d be able to open Riverside. Checking the NYC Parks Dept. website Sunday I see that Central Park has re-opened, but the part of Riverside Park nearest my Upper West Side apartment is still closed, especially the stretch between 116th and 125th Street. Sunday and Monday I took my first bike rides since the hurricane, and found evidence of the storm’s prolific destruction. These photos show a tree care crew cleaning up from a really big oak, originally standing in the grove to the right, that fell across the paved path in the center. The butt of the fallen tree is impaled on the black iron fence bordering the path. It’s going to be a long while until our parks are back to anything like they were before the storm.