It is awesome to witness an enormous reptile with a huge, humpbacked shell and enormously thick legs glomp slowly forward, with majestic indifference to the gawkers by the trail, myself included.

On a recent Friday afternoon, hundreds of visitors in soccer uniforms or draped in flags waited for their turn to mount the humpbacked animals.

This humpbacked start over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is one of great expectancy, so the first mile uphill is hardly noticeable and the second mile downhill gives a giddy but treacherous sense of ease.

Serious golfers will find challenges with bank shots or terraced greens, but it’s fun for the youngest visitors, who thrill in whacking colorful balls over a humpbacked bridge.

With two outs, Zimmerman shattered his bat but dumped a beautiful, humpbacked flare into center field for a single.