Fairmount Park is one of the largest urban parks on the country. Unlike Central Park in NYC, however, or the Public Garden in Boston much if it winds through outlying city neighborhoods, so it doesn't get the press and fame of other city parks.

 The Wissahickon Creek runs through a good portion of the park, starting as a retention pond near Montgomery Mall, passing through Lansdale, Upper and Lower Gwynedd, Fort Washington, and down toward a merger with the Schuylkill River near City Avenue. Up our way, it is barely more than a brook, often dry if no rain has fallen within a few days or so. By the time it gets to the city, running along Lincoln Drive near East Falls, it is a real river, flowing through one of the most un-urban parts of a very urban city. 

Along Forbidden drive - a trail that runs through the park - there are many portions where you can imagine you are somewhere far away - but the city is always just around the corner.