In winter you can see the garden path through the bare trees.

Go early, before they open even. Then as you stand between the rebar trees and the entrance to the garden path, close your eyes and just listen and breathe and do some zen-ish mind calming exercise and then you are ready to walk down the garden path.

The walk is really I think more about listening than about looking and that’s why crowds are so disruptive to the experience. You’ll want to hear your footsteps sound on the various surfaces and how the sound of the water reflects the changing shape of the rocks and hear the plants shimmering in relation to each other. Even the difference in sound as you move in and out of the trees is quite purposeful.