Sunday May 19, 16.2/26.1km

Fingerboard Shelter (1390.1) to Bear Mountain Bridge (1406.2)

After a nice quiet night of sleep, with no bear visits whatsoever, we hit the trail. This section of trail is quite nice, and it looks like trail crews have recently been working on it.

Bob and I stopped at a shelter for a mid-morning break, and I found this neat game inside. The game was an AT-themed board game, and had some very specific trail details!

As we hiked closer to the Hudson River, there were occasionally some views of it thru the trees.

And I could see the upcoming objective, Bear Mountain.

The climb up Bear mountain was easy, as the trail was built for the dayhike crowd, so it was nice stone stairs and smooth trail. It even had a bench along the way!

It also had some danger noodles along the way too…

And at the top of the mountain, there was a bike race going on! It must be a weekend. The race volunteers gave me some fruit, Gatorade, and a bagel too.

There was a tower at the summit, so of course I climbed the tower.

It had some better views from above the trees.

The walk down the mountain was simple, on a huge path that was as wide as a driveway. Hundreds of day hikers were coming up the hill. There were some views on the way down, and a park at the bottom.

And the park had a playground. Ruben needs to hike the AT, haha.

And an ice cream vending machine?!? What a time to be alive.

The final part of the day’s trail had a zoo! It was a free zoo, and it just walked right thru for almost a mile.

Bears!

I left the zoo, and crossed the Bear Mountain Bridge over to Hudson River.

My cousin Kelsey was waiting for us on the other side, with a few surprises.. her dad and her brother (my uncle and my cousin) were there too! We drove back to the house, and had a nice visit with Kelsey and Pete the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had a barbecue, campfire, and some Game of Thrones viewing. Amazing day!