Day 38: Something tells me it’s all happening at the zoo…

Summary
June 2nd

West Mountain to Bear Mtn Zoo

NOBO mile# 1403.8

Tolmann’s daily mileage 7.0

Tolmann’s total mileage 380.1

When is the song of the whipporwhill most annoying? On a migraine morning…

Short day today. Maybe a short post, too!

Got up feeling headache-y and nauseous. Still, packed up and had some breakfast (and vitamin I). Got on the trail by 7-ish. Just had the downhill off West Mountain (and the .5 miles of the side trail), then up Bear Mountain, and down to the Bear Mountain Zoo.

7.1 miles in all. Except for the extra I did when I took a wrong turn coming off West Mountain. Nary worth the mention. So what if it added 40 minutes to my hike? Nah, let’s not even consider that. <grumble, grumble>

Some interesting engineering went into the trails on Bear Mountain. It’s worth checking out! Stone steps, stone balustrades hold some ledge up, other interesting features, as well.

I had lost the trail (which deserves nary a mention, as I’ve said, maybe repeatedly) while out in front of T&H, so it was a bit of a surprise to them when I came out of the woods to join them up near the tower on top of Bear Mountain. They had some Powerade and soda, so off I ran to the vending machines. We rested a while longer, mostly because there was no hurry at all to get down. Then we continued down this amazingly maintained trail, the Hudson River getting closer every minute, until we stepped into normality.

It’s bizarre to live the trail life, seeing mostly trail people (even if some do smell surprisingly of shampoo, deodorant, or cologne; day hikers, obviously. They’re so… fresh!). Then your walking amidst families or school outings or, well, normalcy. You want to smile at everyone, say “hi”, wish them a pleasant hike, Ed, day! What we must smell, er, look like to them! Mind boggling!!

We spent some time wandering around the zoo, which is the official Appalachian Trail, as well. The path leading past the bear enclosure is the lowest point on all of the AT . That’s in terms of elevation (124 feet) and, for some, emotionally, too. After all, we’ve seen bears running free; we take precautions to keep them away from our food bags. We think about them a LOT!

And here are these two black bears (color-wise they are brown at this zoo), trapped inside this enclosure, surrounded by buzzards (I think the buzzards are attracted to what they feed the bears). One kept going to the fence and seemed to be looking for a way out. The older one just lay inside a roofed-in structure, much like a carport. It is pretty sad…

We had made motel reservations (Tilly and Hops, myself, and a National Parks employee named Halfway), and were planning on a pickup at the zoo parking lot (which we had some trouble finding). Eventually though, we got to our motel, and all of our dreams came true: showers, laundry, resupply, new poles, BBQ…

Oh, and Boss and Goddess are here, too; we have filled all the rooms!!

And now bed. After I figure out tomorrow’s game plan.

Only 57 more miles until Connecticut.