An occasional series featuring the best places to burn in Westchester. All names have been changed to protect the adult offspring of this boomer parent from embarrassment.
VOLUME 1: The Irvington Woods, AKA “The I.W.”
You know, that badass, street-smart, watch-your-back, crime-ridden Rivertown overlooking the majestic Hudson, where the median home value is seven figures-plus? Yeah baby, that Irvington.
The I.W. is the largest wooded public space south of “287.” It’s not until you reach Van Cortlandt Park that a larger public space exists in “Southern 914.” In other words, the I.W. is a gem, a quiet and seldom-used oasis in a very mysterious western nook of our county.
To say this is an archetypal suburban NYC-rich town that produces abundant burnouts would be an understatement. It takes an entire 8th-12th grade of misbehavior to exhaust the vast landscape of cool Stoner spots in this ritzy rivertown. But The I.W. reigns supreme.
Let’s take things back a decade or two. ‘Cause let’s face it, cannabis was much cooler when it was illegal. You once had to work diligently, secretly, mysteriously, to cop and to get high. Partakers experienced an aura of rebellion back then. You could fly your own freak flag or, at the very least, admit to inspired rock and roll risk-taking.
B.L. (Before Legalization), if you saw two scraggly looking I.H.S. (Irvington High School) kids wandering into the I.W.) at 11 AM, you could assume they were headed for a single purpose: to catch a midday buzz.
Irvington being a small rivertown, it was easy to spot the suspect stoners. They were yoga moms walking dogs, stockbrokers riding mountain bikes, and unemployed divorcees getting some fitness after an AA meeting. Anybody could bump into I.H.S. stoners heading into the I.W – B.L. It’s likely the moms, brokers, and sober alcoholics were heading in there to get high too.
To this day, you rarely bump into a human after entering the I.W.’s trail system. You heard that correctly. I W. has a well-mapped, maintained, and historically significant set of trails. Initially, the trails were given names and markings by a stoner Boy Scout for his Eagle Scout badge project. I imagine he had some relaxed days in the woods, mapping and marking, doing one-hitters, and dreaming about becoming a super Eagle Scout.
But I digress.
If you are like me, and you blaze the 914, the I.W. should be on your shortlist! Be it majestic Hudson wintertime vistas, mid-July eagle mating rituals, rugged single-track mountain bike autumn adventures, or just a quiet dog hike in a legit old-growth forest to the famed “SplitRock,” the I.W. is a canna lover’s paradise.
