December 2, 2017 Evening

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Good evening! Partly cloudy and 26 degrees off of the East Branch of the Sacanadaga River near  Bakers Mills. Calm wind. A bit cool but still pretty nice. I decided that I wouldn’t pitch a tent, because I decided it wasn’t that bad cold, but I do have plenty of propane that if I need the heater and the tent, I certainly could put it up. But for now it’s fine by the fire. Maybe it will prove to be a mistqake at 5 AM when I’m freezing, but honestly under the covers in my truck is pretty comfortable.

Today was a nice day out on Thomas and Cat Mountain. The Thomas Mountain cabin that currently is open to the public is so nice. It’s really disappoiting that they’ve proposed to demolish it to comply with the rules set forth in the Adirondack Park. The only thing it’s msising is the wood stove, which was removed what appears to be fairly recently. I don’t know, if they allow intensive use campgrounds in the Adirondack Park, they should allow the legacy cabin to remain. I figure its good to see it before it’s demolished. If they want to continue the state’s prohibition on closed camps on state forest preserve (which I think is silly, but so is the whole forest preserve concept), they should just remove the front wall, and make a really nice two-story leean-to. I think my dream house would be a lot like that cabin, although I would want some kind of hot running water and shower, so I could get clean in the winter. I like camping, but not having regular showers is probably the biggest disadvantage of being out in the woods. That’s one of the things I like about the Finger Lakes National Forest and visiting the state parks in the summer — the nice showers before and after swimming.

Tonight will have increasing clouds, with a low of 20 degrees at 1am. Six degrees below normal. Calm wind. In 2016, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1976. That’s the Albany record, I’m sure it’s gotten even colder up north here. I mean, we are already in December.

While tomorrow officially is the Cold Moon, December’s Supermoon, for all purposes the moon is nearly full. The sun will rise at 7:11 am with the first light at 6:39 am, which is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 52 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 20 seconds over last night. Nights are really long this time of year, but then again around the first day of summer, you can go walking at Moose River Plains at 9:45 PM, and there still is a little light leftin the atmosphere. I like camping year round, but those warm summer nights are still so delightufl.

Tomorrow will be partly sunny, with a high of 37 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees below normal. Calm wind. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 2009. 5.2 inches of snow fell back in 1893. 

My toes are a bit cold from the boots getting wet, despite changing my socks. I’ll chanage them once again before bed. I finslly got out the propane heater, and I’ve had it next to my chair warming up my behind. I am glad I got propane, because I had only about 2.94 lb left. With the heater, camp stove, and latern, that would leave me dangerously low by morning. 

But I really don’t have an execuse for not having enough propane going up to the Adirondacks. Tractor Supply in Clifton Park is only a short distance from the Northway and tanks don’t have to be totally empty to be filled, and they only charge you for the amount of propane you need. In other words, they charge by the gallon, $2.99. Which is better then the Delmar hardware store where it’s a flat fee no matter how empty your tank is. Which is a good markup from bulk propane delivery, but it takes specially trained staff time to operate the filling machine. The lumber mill in Wevertown also fills propane tanks, but I’m sure they are more expensive and probably aren’t open the long hours as Tractor Supply.

I am very much still in shock that it’s already December. It just got cold so quickly, and summer faded away before you knew it. Been listening to Christmas music while Iam, and that Cold Moon is quite beautiful. I am pretty sure this will be the last night in the wilderness at least truck cap camping for the year, but I might pitch a hot tent later on in December. Fire is roaring away now. While I bought a bag of wood at Stewarts, I’ve been almost entirely just burning wood that I found in the woods. I’ll save the wood for a future trip. The nice thing about the kiln-dried wood is it can be legally brought across state lands and is easy to ignite — and for $8 you still get a pretty good amount of wood — some places it’s cheaper too. Having a cozy campfire is well worth paying for and knowing you have a security of not getting stuck in the dark trying to scrounge up some wood. 

Thomas and Cat Mountain are a nice hike. While there are a handful of modestly steep cliffs that the trail between them goes over, most of the trails are old woods roads. Cat has some pretty impressive secenery, and the Thomas Cabin is really nice. I was slow and took a lengthy stop on both moutains, but if you do both, you can enjoy a nice 7 mile loop that I was able to turn into a five hour hike. There is a good amount of elevation gain, but it’s hardly strenous compared some of the hikes I’ve done elsewhere in both the Adirondacks and Catskills. I will post lots of photos when I return home.

In four weeks on December 30 the sun will be setting at 4:29 pm, which is 8 minutes and 50 seconds later then tonight. It remarkable to think that 2017 is coming to aclose to so quickly. I wonder if I will get a chance to get out camping once again before the end of the year. I guess it depends a lot on the weather — will we get a lot of snow, and how old it will be. I keep telling me a New Years Eve camping trip would be fun, but that never happens. One year I did welcome in the New Year Eve on Overlook Mountain. That was cool but I don’t think I made it quite to the top by when the ball dropped, and it was a bit scary driving down the snow covered Overlook Mountain Road in the morning. Camping I wouldn’t have to worry though about bad roads or drunks on the highway.  In 2016 on that day, we had snow, mist, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 35 and 24 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 32 and 16 degrees. The record high of 53 degrees was set back in 1984.

Looking ahead, Ground Hog Day is in 2 months and The Day the Music Died is in 9 weeks. Bye, bye,Ms. American Pie.

I may listen to another podcast, then I will likely retire to bed in the bed of my pickup truck on last time this year. Good night.

December 2, 2017 7 AM Update

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Morning Folks. It’s December! Sorry that I didn’t post many updates yesterday, I kind of got working on mounting the solar panel on the roof of my truck, and other projects on my day off. Partly cloudy and 33 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. Clouded to the north, sunnier to the south. Not sure if the forecast will be quite as nice as earlier estimated. The skies will clear around 10 pm.

Today it’s off to Thomas and Cat Mountains to see the beautiful cabin and sights before they tear them down next summer. Then camping probably one last time before thesnow, but who knows, this winter so far has been pretty snow-free here in the Albany area and Eastern Adirondacks.

Today will be mostly cloudy, with a high of 42 degrees at 2pm. Two degrees above normal. Light and variable wind. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 49 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1998. 6.2 inches of snow fell back in 1949.

The sun will set at 4:22 pm with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 16 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy conditions and 40 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 18 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 30 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal. Calm wind. In 2016, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1976.

The Albany County Young Democrats meeting was fun at Center Square Pub. While I’m not a big drinker, it’s fun to go out after work from time to time. I’ve been an on and off member of Albany County Young Democrats for nearly fourteen years now, although in recent years I’ve not been that politically involved. Sure, I almost always vote, especially in the general elections, but I’ll be the first to admit that my interest in politics is rather fleeting. I do like drinking a good beer from time to time, and talking politics. 

I might be more conservative than many of my friends in the party but ultimately I almost always pull the lever on Row A. Even if in 2016 I voted for Jill Stein. I didn’t care that much, I knew Clinton was almost certain to win New York. I’m not convinced that the Democrats would have made solid progress on climate change with a Republican congress at any rate. People sometimes forget I’m a liberal. So far I haven’t gotten sick from the CSP food which now is famous for the most dirty kitchen in the county per Albany County Health Department. I guess somebody has to be on the bottom of the list. 

The bus going home was pretty late, but we are making decent time, and I’m sure I’ll be home by 7:30 pm. Sometimes congestion makes the bus late. At least with the real time bus information I knew when the bus was coming. Friday though, I had had off, so so I could ignore the bus schedule. I actually saw my regular express on Friday morning when I got milk, but I just waived the driver on. It was nice being able to just relax and not have to worry about catching the bus.

Yesterday, I bought an aluminum bar to build the cross racks for the solar panel, and then when I got home, I realized I hadn’t thought of a way to tighten the bolts under the solar panel. Fortunately after some hemming and hawing, and lots of measurements, I found an alternative method, using the mounting plates that came with the panel (which turns out to fit the track), but I will use the aluminum bar to reinforce the mounting, and better spread the weight out over the Yamika tracks. By the time I got done working on that, it was too late to leave for camp, so that’s why I am heading out today.

My propane tank isn’t totally empty, but I really don’t want to run out of propane when camping in the cold. I found out it is possible to have a propane tank filled even before it’s totally empty. All places will fill tanks that still have some gas left, and it turns out a lot of places, like Tractor Supply Company only charge you for the propane you actually buy — it’s not a flat fee for  a 20 gallon tank like at the hardware store. I am going to stop at Tractor Supply on my way up to Cat and Thomas Mountain today. They open at eight AM.

Finally got my soldering iron in the mail and other supplies to build circuit boards. I didn’t want to leave the soldering iron at home all weekend while I was home in case of rain, heavy dew, or I guess theft. I am sure any theif would be disappointed when they disovered they stole a fairly basic soldering iron (granted it is a lower-end Weller soldering station), but regardless I wouldn”t have my soldering iron to start building electronics had it been stolen or damaged.

There are 2 months until Ground Hog Day when the sun will be setting at 5:11 pm with dusk at 5:40 pm. By then the cold of winter will have somewhat moderated, and the days will be getting longer. Winter is deep and dark in late December into January, but it never lasts. The average high temperature is 41 degrees, with a record high of 66 in 1998.

I had better get going, I’m burning daylight.