April 29, 2016 Evening

Good evening folks. Happy Friday evening to all of those who worked much harder than me. 44 degrees with light drizzle but with no wind feels reasonably warm. You know it’s been a cold week this evening feels warm. That north wind blowing across the pasture onto the campsite just was so cold β€” even with the tarp blocking the northern breezes.

Ended up going to Watkins Glen and then to Newfield State Forest and ultimately Enfield Glen, to check out that gorge. Also was in Montour Falls, looking for a place to launch my kayak. I had heard that the DEC was planning to designate new campsites in Newfield State Forest near Connecticut Hill WMA, but it doesn’t look like that had happened. My truck sure is muddy from exploring Newfield State Forest.

Part of Watkins Glen is now open, from the lower parking lot to the Grand George / Lovers Lane. The rim trail is open year round. Starting to green up in parts of the gorge. Enfield Glen is also greening up, although the gorge trail there is closed although the lower gorge, the big steps, and trail over looking Lucifer Falls was open. A good amount of water was coming over Lucifer Falls.

I took a number of pictures but I need to go through them and upload them. My laptop battery is dead, but when I head out tomorrow, I’ll charge it off the inverter. Hopefully there will be some good photos.

Spring peepers are enjoying the rain and are singing their songs. I like the rain as its largely eliminated the fire risk. The DEC downgraded the fire risk to low for this part of the state, with the greater humidity and the declining wind.

Despite being relatively close to Ithaca when I was at the Enfield Glen, I decided to back track to Watkins Glen Walmart to get camp supplies including a replacement globe for the lantern. I get there and they are sold out of globes. Which is fine as I have electric lights for camp but the propane lantern doesn’t wind down the accessory battery, requiring the truck to be started. Also forgot to buy dish soap. It also was kind of out of the way. Oh, well.

Tonight the low will be 39 degrees. It looks like the rain is done for the night but it will remain cloudy through Saturday. Continued cool tomorrow with a high around 57. Rain for Sunday.

Depending on how wet things are tomorrow, I’m thinking of taking down my campsite and heading East, maybe to Long Pond, so I’m closer to home on Sunday, and because if I camp on a lake, I’m more likely to finally get out on the lake in the kayak, and spend more time fishing. Although I would like to spend more time in the Finger Lakes.

April 29, 2016 Morning

Good morning. 53 degrees, cloudy but not so cold. The wind has finally died down. Feels a lot warmer. 54 degrees later. We had some showers late last night but not too much rain. Rain is expected tonight but not with much breeze. Sunny for Saturday and temperatures around 62. Rain again for Saturday night.

Today I’m heading down to Watkins Glen. I need some supplies for today. Totally out of toilet paper for example. Probably will hike along the Rim Trail at Watkins Glen and maybe toss in a line somewhere along the way. I don’t know.

For Saturday I think I will finally put my kayak to use on the Montour Falls barge canal. If I brought it all the way out here, might as well put it to use. It’s just been so dang cold. But Saturday will be sunny and the warmest weather all week.

I got tarps hung up and firewood under the tarp. I’m ready for this evening’s expected rain, although I don’t expect a wash out. Last week would have been a much better week for my trip weather wise, but how would I know early April what the weather would be in mid to late April. Regardless, certainly not as nice as late July when I could spend my days next to the Watkins Glen pool.