September 7, 2015 evening

Good evening. We are now down to 77 degrees but the dewpoint remains stuck at 66 degrees. Looking for 67 degrees for a low, which will ensure fog and clouds by late. Tomorrow will be a hot one, with temperatures expected to reach 92 by afternoon. Heat and humidity — with temperatures reaching into the low 90s — are expected last through Wednesday. More seasonable weather (the mid-70s) are expected to return on Thursday.

I was a bit disappointed to see the pictures I took this weekend came out with a soft focus. I switched back to my Digital SLR camera, as I’m not happy with the camera on my new cellphone, which replaces the last two that I broke. But for some reason the focus ring on the lens was sticking. That said, I kind of miss the ease and convenience of having the slim little phone to take photos, and Instagram to post them right away. Maybe I just need to learn to take photos with my more basic phone, or try to get one of my broken phones working again. I do still like the FM radio feature on my new phone.

September 7, 2015 afternoon

Good evening! Happy Labor Day. I hope you are having a relaxing Labor Day with these very warm summer conditions. The temperature is91 degrees and muggy this evening in Dormansville, but the calender reminds us that summer is unofficially over. The Albany rush hour traffic will be back tomorrow. The leaves are already starting to turn a bit on the mountains at Moose River Plains, with dry conditions and chilly nights pushing fall into the forefront. Peak color is expected in only two or three weeks at the Moose River Plains. Labor Day was late this year, but also exceptionally warm.

Where did the summer go? I mean really. I know the weather today feels like summer, but the daylight and cool nights are telling us that summer is on it’s way out. It feels like summer ended before it began. I know it didn’t help that May had a lot of wet weekends, and I put a lot of long hours at work in June, but it seems like summer came and went before I knew it ever existed. It didn’t help that I sprained my ankle mid-August, which kept me laid up for two of the nicest weekends of August, but somehow summer ended before ever really beginning this year. Then again, most good things in our life end before really beginning. You don’t know what you are enjoying in life until it’s forever gone.

That said, it was a remarkable Labor Day Weekend. Every day was in the upper 70s or lower 80s with almost entirely blue skies up at Moose River Plains. It was a nice weekend, except for the fact that my ankle is still somewhat weak, so I didn’t really do much hiking or anything besides hang out camp both days, spending some time shooting, reading, and listening to podcasts. Did a fair bit of grilling and drinking, on Friday I ended up hanging out with some military dudes, and I got so plastered that the Saturday morning I puked and had severe diarrhea and was pretty darn sick until mid-afternoon from the alcohol. Moonshine is good, but apparently sweet enough you don’t realize how drunk you are getting. Who knows how many proof it I was drinking. Hangovers were a lot less fun in your 30s. That evening was a lot of fun though, hearing all of those military stories was fun. Being a state-worker who takes the bus to work weekdays, I have few good stories to tell.

Stopped by the Trappers Expo in Herkimer Fairgrounds. It was $10 bucks and I probably didn’t stay as long as I should of, but I was impressed by the size of the event. There had to be 60-70 venders, shows, and all kinds of trapping products and supplies. I didn’t buy anything, but I could have bought almost any kind of lure I would have wanted. The bobcat fur that had displayed at one of the booths was kind of neat. I walked around for about an hour, but by then my ankle was pretty darn sore, and I had to limp back to my truck. My ankle healed up by Sunday, but I really took it easy both days, as I don’t want to re-damage anything if possible. If the show is ever in the eastern half of state, either within commuting distance of Albany, or better yet somewhere near enough to Adirondacks where I can camp in wilderness, I’ll make sure to go multiple days. It’s a fixed fee for the weekend, they give you a ticket you can use to get subsequent days. They have different skinning and other presentations by noted speakers on trapping throughout the weekend (Thursday-Saturday).

Got Some Good Use Out of My New 22. Those ten round magazines go fast, you can send a lot of bullets into the air with an auto-reloader, although obviously if your going for anything resembling accuracy, you really need to re-sight the target between shots. The lack of recoil was nice compared to my shotgun, and I think it even had less recoil then my single-shot air gun. The auto-reloader β€œrecycles” the recoil to load the next bullet. I’m kind of glad that large capacity magazines are illegal in New York as I’d probably end up burning up a lot more ammo with the 30 round magazines that you can get and have legally in most other states. So I’m set, I ordered two more 10-round Remington 597 magazines, so I don’t have to mess with loading magazines when I’m out shooting. Made enough noise that the forest ranger stopped by to make sure I wasn’t damaging state property or defoliating the woods. I showed I was shooting on a dead stump and an old campaign sign, and wished me luck, and reminded me to pick up the spent ammo and any other litter before I left.

Saturday evening I went out to Inlet. Went for a swim and shower at Limekiln Lake Campground, as I wanted to get the puke off myself before the rest of the weekend. The Limeklin Lake beach was closed for the season, but that didn’t stop plenty of bathers from partaking in the beach, and there was nobody to chase people out of the water. The water was crystal clear in Limeklin Lake but a bit a cold, and with sprained ankle and no boot in the water, my foot was a little sore swimming in there, so I didn’t spend too long there. In Inlet, I sat out by the public library with it’s Wi-Fi connection as I had no data connection up here, so I could check my email and social media. Then I got a fairly boring vanilla and chocolate soft ice cream at Northern Lights. I don’t recommend their soft ice cream, but their hard-ice cream menu looked interesting. I walked down to the Inlet beach, which was pretty. I thought about going back over there on Sunday, but decided I’d rather just relax in camp with a good book or two. The thing is I get tired of constantly driving along Moose River Plains Road, especially as it seems so rough and washboardy with recent dry conditions. The section as it drops down the side of Seventh Lake Mountain to Limeklin Lake is pretty atrocious this year, at least from the perspective of passenger comfort and my truck’s suspension, even at a reduced speed of 5-10 miles per hour.

Being disabled kind of sucked all weekend thought. I would have loved to spend more time fishing, or kayaking across the Cedar River Flow and up the Cedar River to the lean-to. With blue skies and a gentle breeze, it would have been perfect weather to kayak. It might have also been fun to hike back to Squaw and Indian Lake or maybe Falls Pond. Or another trip up Wakely. So many nice little hikes but it wasn’t going to happen with my foot being in the condition that it currently is in. Still I enjoyed the quiet of camping at Campsite 56 out of eye-shot and mostly out of ear-shot from the road throughout the weekend. It was a quiet weekend except when I was chewing through ammo with the 22.

Probably the last time I’ll be up at Moose River Plains this year for an overnight. I’ve been talking to mom and dad about taking a trip up together for the Moosefest on September 26-27, so they can see the colors and see all the beauty at the Plains during peak foliage. They like Moose and I figure it would be nice to share with them the place I so enjoy so much. But they don’t want to camp, so we will probably end up staying in the cabin or a motel in Inlet or Old Forge. Moose River Plains is pretty in the fall, but I have plans this year to go to other places, such as Independence River and the Otter Creek-area in three weeks when the doctor says I’m recovered enough to resume most normal activities – like carefully put the kayak on the roof of Big Red. I want to explore the Whetstone Reservoir in fall. I suspect I won’t be mountain climbing until October, but I’m doing a lot better.

Checked out the Campsites Along Old NY 8/30 at the Spectulator Tree Farm on the way home. I was under impressed with them, I have to say. Old NY 8/30 is an deteriorated, narrow asphalt road that can be accessed from it’s northern end, via NY 8/30 outside of Spectulator. The campsites are former logging clearings, with a small stone fire ring and a large area to pull off into. I would imagine they would be kind of hot in summer, and neither campsite is near the Sacandaga River – one is actually at quite a slope above the river. It was a good place to explore, but I’m not sure if I would want to camp up there.