dog watching near the Schuykill

If you're willing to go a little further past rittenhouse square to find a more secluded park, you have to see Schuykill Banks. Okay, so maybe it's a bit of a hike past Rittenhouse located on 25th and locust, but it's worth the long walk on a nice day. Surrounding the park are a lot of new condos renovated from old factories, up-scale quaint little neighborhoods, and an old railroad that boarders the stretch of green in front of the river. Across the river in the distance are all the campuses of University City stretching into West Philadelphia. It is an interesting location for a park to say the least.


We came in on the south side passing the small community center littered with little kids climbing up the tube slides, running around swing sets and screaming in their high pitched voices. Just past the playground are others dribbling cross court in small pick up games of basketball. We continued past the courts and decided to enter the dog track. Yes, there is a specific fenced in area for you to liberate your dog from the tug of a leash and allow him to roam free. The park is separated into two territories, one area for your small dogs and another for your bigger dogs. There is even a free water dispenser for your dog to rehydrate after he is exhausted from chasing that little pain in the ass chiwawa that keeps messing with him. And if you don't have a dog, relax on one of the benches and watch them wrestle each other , then mount each other, then run after each other, repeat.



Next to dog world is the schuykill garden which is basically some fish in a pond, roses, and vegetable patches. Past the magical garden and across the railroad tracks is the real Schuykill Banks. It's really not much more than a few park benches and a stretch of grass, but I mean...it's a park. The guy in the white Atlantic City baseball cap knows what to do. Juggling between two rigs that he rests against the railing, he stops to show me a catch from earlier grabbing the catfish lying on the grass behind him. For those of you who are cautious about eating fish from the radioactive schuykill, this man doesn't seem alarmed. His small and large catches bake in the sun in a small pile on the grass. Before he leaves, he grabs them two at a time and tosses them into a plastic bag to take home. Interesting guy, good adventure for an afternoon.