"Zoo animals are ambassadors..."

"...for their cousins in the wild." -Jack Hanna

August 17, 2001

A very interesting day!  I went over the beautiful Bear Mountain Bridge...

Bear Mountain Bridge crossing the Hudson River

...and into the zoo [Trailside Museum and Zoo].  They had all the animals from the Trail in the zoo.

The AT literally goes through the zoo!

One of five black bears I would see on the AT...does it count if it's in a cage?

Although I would have to go around several beaver-made ponds, and cross a few beaver dams, I never saw one except here in the Trailside Zoo:

Trailside Zoo beaver

After leaving the zoo, I came across one more animal for the day:

Probably a black Rat Black Snake (thanks, Dad!)

Fortunately, I saw him crossing the log just before I was about to step on it!

At Tiorati Circle I met 3 new Southbounders...Twinklefeet, Giggles, and Beat who started June 1st.  They had gotten a pizza delivered so I helped them eat it.  Ed [who I had been hiking with] got a ride to Campmor so he is a little behind but should catch up soon.

Little did I know that I would finish the Trail with Twinklefeet, Giggles, and Beat, but never see Ed again.  Twinklefeet (Mac) and Giggles (Marge) were dating and had picked up Beat (Jason) along the way.  I became a fourth part of the group until we hit the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.