6/22 A New Low

20.9 hiked today, 1402.8 miles N, 771.2 miles left
Denneytown Road Parking Lot

The skyline was awesome last night. Down below the Hudson was invisible but the dots of light from the homes that surround it carefully outlined it. Again New York was visable even better due to it's lights.
Last night it turns out I walked about 10 feet from McGyver and we didn't see each other. We met up early at the top of Bear Mountain. The top of the mountain is the high point os the AT in NY and to add to this there is a tower on top of it to get one above the trees. McGyver and I enjoyed this view before heading down the other side and into a zoo. It was the "Trailside Museums and Wildlife Center" where one could see all sorts of wild life and exhibits about the natural features of the area. We had a good time reading all the signs and trying to memorize the names of everything we see on a daily basis. The zoo also has the lowest point on the entire AT. It was located at the bear exhibit at and elevation of 124 feet above sea level. After that we crossed the Hudson on the Bear Mountain Bridge which features phones that auto dial a suicide prevention hot-line. The trail rose steeply up the other side of the river. We bounced along the ridge for a while before descending to another road where we hitched to Peekskill. The hitch was a rough one taking a long time but when we finally got it it turned out getting into town involved a large number for turns and a exit ramp. This made it nearly impossible to get back to our dismay.
In town we took care of our supply needs and picked up lunch. The man behind the counter at D&J's deli showed me some of his hospitality by over charging me by a $1. When I corrected him he denied it and then rung up my credit card for the dollar extra anyhow. Instead of picking a fight I just sucked it up but between the hitch and the jerk of a deli owner I recommend one stays away from Peekskill. The other people in town turned out to be very nice though. The library provided us with internet access and while we were at the bus stop trying to figure out where we were on the map someone stopped and asked if we needed a ride to trail. They had to drop someone off but they were back in 10 minutes and drove us back to where we had left off. That was an amazing but of luck!
After that we stopped by a campsite at Graymoor Friary where we got water and chatted with some thru-hikers spending the night. Again we made it a late night though pushing on until just before dark. At the Dennytown road junction there is a water spigot to get water and the woods just past the road are a very agreeable spot where we are spending the night.