Last week we did the ol’ Bear Mountain boomerang. And this time we had a special guest: photographer Fabio Affuso tagged along on this quick out-and-back from Brooklyn to Bear Mountain.

“Quick” can be a relative term, we found, and because of a slight communication issue Fabio thought he was signing up for a dawn-patrol ride around the city. Several hours and almost 200 miles later, he figured out it was a little bit more than a local loop.

Even leaving at sunrise we caught a bit of construction traffic on the George Washington Bridge, but we soon forgot about the momentary gridlock as we set into a peaceful burn up the deserted Palisades Parkway.

After a quick a dip through the rolling roads of Harriman Park’s sinewy Seven Lakes Drive, we wound up at the lookout on the east side of the Hudson River, where we were rewarded with hot boxes of coffee and doughnuts, smuggled up in a pannier.

As per tradition, these are one-way early AM express trains out of the city. Following the Dunkin Donuts infusion of sugar and caffeine, the group split up. Some went back into the park, a few turned directly around to get home for weekend obligations, and a few of us rolled into Greenwood Lake (via the best road in the park) for a proper breakfast at a local café before taking the long way home.

Fabio wasn’t planning on joining us and didn’t have his usual professional camera setup. But shooting one-handed, on a borrowed bike, wearing a borrowed helmet, he managed to capture a great collection of shots with only his trusty Fuji point-and-shoot.

Thanks for the snaps Fabio! Follow this international photojournalist on Instagram at @fabioaffusophoto, or see more of his work at fabioaffuso.com. And keep an eye on our own Instagram feed to keep abreast of late-breaking announcements of future #pokethebearnyc runs, and to catch up on what you may have missed in our Highlighted Stories.