While not a lot of color on the lower peaks, it was still a beautiful early October Day looking down from the Allegheny Front at the lower peaks towards North River Notch and Petersburgh, West Virginia.
Taken on Friday October 11, 2019 at Dolly Sods Wilderness.While this year was a rainy one, and it rained during many of my trips, I was able to get out for 53 nights in the wilderness — mostly fairly close to home but I also did a trip down to West Virginia in late October with several trips to the Adirondacks, Central New York and summer vacation in the Finger Lakes.
To start out my camping adventures in 2023, I drove out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. There wasn’t a lot of snow — just a dusting but it was a fun weekend, topped off by a beautiful sun-full glittery hike up Tassell Hill after a hoar frost. Explored Lost Pond and several of the trails in the middle of state forest.
For my fortieth birthday, I took off the Friday leading up to my 40th birthday to cross country ski and winter camp at Rensselaerville State Forest. It was a beautiful weekend with lots of blue skies, sufficient snow for skiing but not so much that was a ton of snowmobiles out on the trails.
I decided for Presidents Day Weekend to do another trip out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. Slightly more snow then last time but again largely a snow-less winter, with some nice days for hikes through the various truck and horse trails. I hiked around much of state forest, especially the more southern part of the forest.
On Good Friday through Easter I camped at at Rensselaerville State Forest. The snow was gone and it was fairly mild though at times it was a bit cool. Spent a fair amount of time walking around and exploring the new OSI Parcel that has been recently added to state forest and is still largely open fields with sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains.
The first Friday in May I took a half day from work and headed out to Schoharie County to camp at Duck Pond at Burnt-Rossman Hills State Forest. Originally the plan was to camp two nights at Duck Pond, hiking along the Long Path and exploring the state forest and then on Sunday hiking the Catskill Scenic Trail. That part of the trip changed when driving along Duck Pond Road the low tire pressure light came on I found a pallet nail in my truck tire. I was able to top off the truck tire and then change the tire when I got home and got the nail pulled and plugged. But it wasn’t the best way ever to end a trip early.
After visiting the folks on Mother’s Day Weekend, I decided to do a quick overnight hammock camp on Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. Nothing fancy or formal, it was as much a way to test out sleeping in my hammock with the bug screen. Kind of a chilly night, I took camp down fairly and headed home early in the morning.
This year I decided to eschew the Adirondacks and Greene Mountains for Memorial Day Weekend due to the black flies, my desire to look at bicycles, and work I had to do on the Saturday morning leading up to the holiday weekend. I decided to hammock camp again Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. This was a three-day two night trip, so it it gave me a chance to bring more gear up the mountain, set up a more formal camp. Cooked on the fire, hiked around the forest. It was a warm weekend, but I enjoy the solitude, along with having good cell service for listening to podcasts and watching videos.
To kick off summer, I did my usual Juneteenth weekend camping trip, tacking on some days on the Juneteenth Holiday Weekend. It was a bit of a cool and rainy weekend to kick off summer, one that would actually be followed by many cool and rainy weekends where I would stay home. Camped at House Pond for the first three nights, spending time down floating in the tube on East Branch while the final night I camped up at Powley Bridge site and kayaked along the East Branch. Really, like often is the case, the best weather was the day I took down camp.
After several months of researching and visiting various bike shops, I finally got a mountain bike. I decided it would be fun to do as much of the Catskill Scenic Trail as I could before my summer vacation got underway. Actually did quite a bit of riding and hiking that weekend — started out hiking Pratts Rock’s then riding from Grand George to Hobart. Sunday, I rode from Fultonham to Middleburgh on NY 30, doing a quick climb up Vromans Nose, then stopping at the farm market then going to Mine Kill State Park to swim. Monday I rode from Hobart down to Bloomville, getting caught in a major thunderstorm and downpour a few miles north of Bloomville with no shelter in sight. The trail became super boggy, then I went to Mine Kill State Park for one more swim, and then out to folks house for Sunday dinner a day later then usual.
Every year for nearly a decade and a half I’ve been doing summer vacation out in the Finger Lakes — camping in the National Forest and exploring as much as possible during my days there. The past few years I’ve been driving there on a Friday, to get a better campsite before they’re taken by the weekend campers. This year was no exception. With Blackie, my mountain bike, I did nearly all of the bike trails in the near vicinity, from the Black Diamond Trail to the Cayuta Valley Trail to Dresden – Penn Yan Canal Trail. Kayaked on both Cayuga and Scenic Lakes, swam many days at Watkins Glen State Park and Taughannock State Park, explored the Cornell Campus and Botanical Gardens on my bike. Got some good ice cream at the Spotted Duck, explored the Geneva Waterfront along with the Cayuga-Seneca Canalway. Some rain but compared to the wet summer that was, this was a pretty good week.
The next few weeks for rainy and by the time I got away for one more long weekend, it promised to be fairly nice weekend but turned out to be fairly cool and cloudy with some rain. Back at the House Pond Campsite, did some swimming in East Branch, but with the mercury in the 60s most of the weekend, I didn’t spend a lot of time in the water. Hardly what I had dreamed when the I planned the weekend. Rode Blackie up to Goldmine Stream Falls and relaxed down by the falls for a bit, also sat down by the swimming hole off of the Old Edick Road Snowmobile Trail, watching the rain fall, bemoaning the wet and cold weather. Still it was good to get away for a bit, and I did do a fair amount of reading in hammock, under the protection of the bug net, as the bugs were bad after such a wet summer.
I took the Friday off before Labor Day to get a jump on the holiday season travel, and set up camp at the site I really enjoy up at Perkins Clearing overlooking the mountains. Did a fair amount of riding along the various dirt roads of Perkins Clearing, including over to Mason Lake and on Sunday rode most of the way to the Spruce Lake Trailhead, though didn’t make it there in time as I got a bit of a late start as I spent the balance of the day reading and swimming in the Jessup River Bridge swimming hole. Labor Day, I rode around the Spectulator Tree Farm, doing a large loop, through the tree farm, past the north end of Elm Lake, then down to Austin Falls and Old Route 8B. I had hoped to get ice cream, but by the time I got to the ice cream shop they were out of soft-ice cream, and there was a long line. Summer was dragging to a close.
With time being fairly tight and the weather only so-so I decided to do a two night trip close to home out in Rennselearville to ride some of the gravel trails, explore the OSI Parcel further and just enjoy an early autumn weekend camping.
Columbus Day Weekend was cold and rainy for the first half of the weekend, but the Sunday heading into Columbus Day was nice, so I decided to head out to Rensselaerville for a quick overnight at the campsite on CCC Road. Leaves were late this year, so not a lot of color, but it still was nice to get away for a night and ride some of the trails around.
The banner trip of the year was my trip down to West Virigina. While it started and ended in rain, it was a very enjoyable trip with lots of new adventures this year. Camped the balance of the week — 6 nights in Canaan Heights — doing day trips from that area. Overnighted one night driving down at County Bridge Campground in Pennsylvania, and a on the way back camped overnight at Long Pond State Forest in New York. Adventures in West Virginia included hiking at Dolly Sods, mountain biking at night in the sods of Canaan Heights, riding up and hiking to Table Rock, exploring Blackwater Falls State Park on the mountain bike, MonPower Mountain Bike Park, Thomas Rail Grade and the Olson Firetower. Rode part of the Great Allegheny Trail through the Cumberland Passage, and the two sections of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canalway, including the Paw Paw Tunnel.
A little over a week back from West Virginia, I headed out to Madison County to ride the Tassel Hill Mountain Bike Trails at Alfred Woodford, the Chenango Canal Trail in Hamilton and Erie Canalway from Chittenango to Green Lakes State Park and then to Canastota and Wampsville. The first night was cold at Stoney Pond but the subsequent nights were quite pleasant and mild.
![Old Canal Warehouse in Chittenango [Expires November 19 2023]](https://andyarthur.org//data/photo_005914_large.jpg)
Strangely enough, I had never been up Prospect Mountain. So I decided the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) to hike up Prospect Mountain, and then spend the next two nights camping on East Branch of the Sacandaga River. The Saturday and Sunday was fairly cold, so I ended up spending the bulk of day hanging around camp, doing a bit of hiking around Fox Lair. Sunday, evening around 8 PM it started to sleet, then snow, then rain, Monday morning, it turned into a white globby snow, and I ended up taking down camp fairly early after discovering I was out of propane and then spent much of the day exploring the Hudson River Special Management Area – Buttermilk Falls.
On the days leading up to Christmas I decided to take a second trip to Madison County. I was originally planning to camp two nights at Stoney Pond then two nights at the Charles Baker Horse Camp but my family’s holiday plans were cancelled due to illness in my family, so I ended up staying an extra night at the horse camp, through the day after Christmas. On Friday, I rode the Erie Canalway from Canastota to East Verona, nearly to Rome. On Christmas Day I rode around many of truck trails at Charles Baker with my mountain bike, leaving my face splattered with mud. Many of the days were fairly cold and cloudy, but that’s too be expected in late December. Still it was a special way to spend Christmas.
This year I’m glad I’m not involved in any elections or doing anything political. Just sipping my coffee watching the sun rise remembering the days gone by but glad I’m not at all rushed this morning.
Good morning! Happy Election Day 2023. Partly cloudy ⛅ and 51 degrees at the Stoney Pond State Forest. ☔ There is a west-southwest breeze at 15 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 47 degrees. I can smell the manure somebody’s spreading this morning 💩 it’s November in Madison County and the field work is soon to be done for the season. 🚜 They might have snow as soon as midweek.
Turned out to be a much nicer morning then expected. ☕ I knew it was going to be a great day when I awoke, saw the clear night skies 🌜and the moon. Had a nice hardy breakfast of eggs 🍳 with lots of vegetables and onions 🧅 that I got at Aldi’a yesterday in Cazenovia. While yesterday was cold, damp and gray at times it was still a good day with lots of riding 🚲 and making the most of my day off. A lot has changed in this world over the past few years but mornings are still quite beautiful and the coffee is good.
Glad I’m not involved in any elections this year 🗳 but there were many hard fought ones out of Bill Magees auction house 🗝️ 🍶🏺just down the road. Been half a decade now, I saw the bridge in Cazenovia they renamed after him. It was sad he lost five years ago, but during that general election cycle wasn’t my race. 🧑🌾 Truth is winning these rural districts is almost impossible with the democratic party becoming mostly an urban issues party with gun 🔫 control one of their top priorities. I can understand why people vote the way they do nowadays out in the country. 🚜 It’s not just Trump. Both parties have become more extreme but the Republicans have really locked up the rural areas nowadays. I have a feeling that Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Senator John Tester of Montana are going to loose in 2024, especially if the GOP runs a stronger presidential candidate then felon Donald Trump. ⏳ Time moves on. Democrats though really have locked up the suburbs, especially the older ones and professional class. 🕴🏻
Today will have showers likely, mainly between 10am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 43 by 5pm. 🌦️ Breezy, with a west wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with sunny skies in the afternoon. The high last year was 69 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 1938. 4.5 inches of snow fell back in 1886.❄
I’m not sure how long it will be nice, clouds are already pushing in. 🌥 I don’t want to deal with wet camping gear 🏕 so I’m slowly but surely taking things down. I don’t have solid plans for today but I think 🤔 I’ll just go for a walk 🚶 around Stoney Pond then head home and get unpacked. 👪 Planning to go see my family this afternoon it’s been three 3⃣ weeks as I’ve been out of town 🌲 on various trips. Despite yesterday being cold and dreary especially midday it was a great trip.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 30.9° from the due south horizon (-39.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:08 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (241°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (249°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:50 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 8 seconds with dusk around 5:18 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:53 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 44 degrees. Breezy, 20 mph breeze ⛅ from the west-northwest with gusts up to 32mph. Today will have 10 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 26 seconds over yesterday.
Yesterday I rode the South Trail from outside of Cazenovia to New Woodstock. 🚵 Nice ride though best on a mountain bike as some parts of the trail are a bit rough with roots and gravel. Pungent with the cow poop and water slurry 🐮 💩 one of the dairies was applying to a nearby field but that’s to be expected this time of year.
Spent a little bit of time riding around New Woodstock yesterday after taking the South Trail from outside of Cazenovia to New Woodstock. 🚂 Neat little village with a Historical Museum just off the rail trail. They like in Cazenovia also have an old Black Diamond Caboose there. Cute little village.
Unfortunately my bike had developed a really annoying squeak on Sunday afternoon ⚙️ which I couldn’t figure out and started applying grease everywhere, including getting it all over my hands 👐 and jeans 👖 and started to drive me crazy thinking I might have a failing bearing or some problem that could leave me stranded. I thought it was just some stone dust from the Erie Canalway somewhere it shouldn’t be mixed with the grease. Kept stopping, applying grease trying to find the noise. 🔕 Finally, I figured it out, it was the left pedal got some stone dust in it and squeaking. A little spray lubricant, knock off WD 40 on the pedal after my south trail ride 🚲 returned my sanity.
Swung by Critz Farms hoping to get apples 🍏 but it looked like only the brewery was open 🍻 and I wasn’t looking for a drink. So I went to Cazenovia Lake Park. Kind of cold gray afternoon but the geeese didn’t seem to mind the cool gray day on Cazenovia Lake. 🦆
Then I went to the Lorenzo State Historic Site, never been there before. ⛲ Been by it a million times though. It was a Monday so all the buildings were shut up and no visitor services or as I needed a bathroom 🚽 but it was still nice to explore the grounds. Swung by the library 📚 in Cazenovia for a pee.
Then I Canastota – Cazenovia Trailway, it was starting to rain and was cold didn’t spend a lot of time, ☔ wanted get back to camp and start cooking soup plus by then I needed another bathroom 🚽 break. Too much coffee ☕ in the morning. 🌅 Also didn’t feel like carrying my mountain bike over several steps to cross Bingley Road. Visited Aldi’s in Cazenovia 🍏 🥦, such a delightful shopping experience. 🛒 Low prices, simple selection quick in and out and the cashier lines without them bagging is so quick. ☺
Got back to camp around 4 pm accidentally brushed a tree with one of my tires backing into the campsite ⛺ rushing having to pee but didn’t do any body damage to my truck 🛻 as the tires stick out beyond the body. Sun ☀ came out and ghe wind died down. Fried onions and mushrooms, boiled carrots, broccoli, spinach and whole wheat pasta, added some tuna fish 🐠 for an excellent dinner. Soup really warmed me up 🍲, I just wish I had some homemade bread 🍞 to dip in it but I eat all of that the previous three days. Had a nice fire 🔥 didn’t rain until 7:30 pm so it was a good evening at which point I retired to bed 🛏 in my truck for the evening.
Tonight will have a chance of rain and snow showers before 11pm, then a slight chance of snow showers between 11pm and 1am, then a chance of flurries after 1am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 26 degrees at 6am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 3rd. Northwest wind 14 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of 18 occurred back in 1971.
Cool but fairly decent now for Veterans Day Weekend, especially come Saturday. ☀ Friday, clouds then clearing, high may reach 43. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 37. Sunday, going to be sunny and 39. Typical average high for the weekend is 51 degrees. Probably will stay 🏡 next weekend.
Looking ahead, next Tuesday is Average High is 50 🍂 when the sun will be setting at 4:42 pm with dusk at 5:11 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 42 and 27 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 50 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 1973.
For many the extra hours is a chance to sleep in but I look at it as another hour to ride and explore the Erie Canalway today.
Good morning! Happy Sunday. Cloudy and 44 degrees at the Stoney Pond State Forest. ☔ Calm wind. Nice morning now that the rain showers have pulled away.
Started my morning with frying 🍳 onions, spinach, garlic and peppers. And making eggs, dumping cinnamon rather than chipotle on them but actually I kind of liked the warm note the cinnamon gave to the eggs 🥚. Experimenting isn’t a bad thing even if it’s driven by your half awake body. Coffee ☕ is good, with the intended cinnamon and ginger in it, lol 😂.
Bit cooler this morning then last night with the breeze picking up 🌬️ after that little clipper front came through delivering rain showers early on keeping me mostly in the truck bed 🛏 until closer to six though around five I got up and visited the bucket shitter 🚽. Eating breakfast this morning I watched a gray squirrel 🐿️ run up the tree across the way and wonder why I wasn’t sitting next to my 22. Probably shouldn’t be shooting in a campground at any rate, especially as there are people camping down the way by the lake, but we used to shoot up here back in the day with the boys when I was working down in Nelson. Those were the days. 🔫 I was surprised that others are camping but they’re a ½ mile away and out of ear shot. 👂 Except maybe from a gun.
Today will have a chance of showers, mainly before 8am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny 🌥 👉 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. Light west wind becoming northwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Chantce of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 76 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 1994. 3.0 inches of snow fell back in 1894.❄
Heading down to Chittenango to explore the Chittenango Landing Musuem, 🚣 and ride the Erie Canalway west to Green Lakes area and then go west to Canastota. I was originally going to park in Canastota as I thought it was closer but I think I’d rather explore the other part of the trail as it seems more interesting. 🚲 The Oneida – Canastota section pretty much just runs along the road that I’ve driven a million times when I was working up this way.
I could stop at the Aldi’s in Canastota this afternoon but I think I’m fairly set on overpriced groceries after visiting the Richmond Springs Price Chopper. 💵 It actually wasn’t that bad but I skipped getting peppers and broccoli 🥦 there as they were absurdly expensive. I skipped getting gas in Sharon Springs for $3.54 a gallon and was raked over the coals for gas at $3.79 in Richfield Springs ⛽ but I wasn’t messing around this time as I almost ran out of gas driving down to Binghamton two weeks ago. ⛽ Figured better just get r dun. It’s stupid to stress over $4 when your putting $80 in your truck. I got black sweet grapes 🍇 at Price Chopper hoping to capture some of that sweet flavor of the concord grapes I got last week at Annuto’s. Lol. 😂 Nope, maybe 20%, of the sweetness. Tomorrow I’ll probably check out the fancy Caz Aldi’s though.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 31.5° from the due south horizon (-39° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:11 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (242°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (249°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:52 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 7 seconds with dusk around 5:20 pm, which is one minute and 13 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:55 pm. Time change gets you! At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 9 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over today.
Night is going to come quickly that’s why I am getting an early start 🌅 and have gathered firewood up for later. 🪵🪓 This way it will have time to dry ☀ and I fully expect tonight I’ll be rolling back to camp about sunset 🌇 after riding the bulk of the day. Should be more sun later plus I get an extra hour with the time change. Need to shave, change and load my bike up but for now it’s nice by the heater. ♨
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 33 degrees at 6am. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 10th. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It became somewhat humid as the night progressed. It got down to 67 degrees. Very mild night for November last year. I think I was in West Virginia then. The record low of 15 occurred back in 1951.
Yesterday was a fun day, 🚵 especially riding back down Tassel Hill once I found the trail. Some of those drops on the single track trail with the hairpin switchbacks were a blast on the mountain bike. Nothing technical or jumps just a lot of fun. That said parts of the lower trail weren’t well marked leading me to have to stop 🛑 and sear he for the trail a few times. 🔎 🗺
Then I rode along the old Chenango Canal Towpath trail 🚲 to the northern end or at least as far as I could go before downed trees blocked the northern end a bit past the substation. The northern end isn’t that impressive, 🐸 it’s a ditch and a towpath along the County Highway known as Canal Road. Kind of rough and slow going on the grass, took the county highway back. I then rode down to Woodman Pond 🦆 where there was a ton of geese. Nice section of the trail there though they resurfaced the old towpath there with fairly course gravel which made for more difficult riding.
Got to Stoney Pond by around 4:15 pm and I was disappointed to arrive to the campsite I like ⛺ and find a construction bag full of garbage and more garbage dumped in the woods. 🌲🌳🗑️ Got the mess picked upand seperated out the deposit cans, ♻ and gathered firewood 🪵🪓 for the night. 🔥 It was a beautiful night but dark, came so quickly by though. Very mild in the low fifties with a calm wind. This morning is cooler. Really wasn’t much garbage left by the time that rip roaring fire was done, the scraps of aluminum and cans I’ll take home crushed and recycle ♻.
One month 📅 from now will be Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 when the sun will be setting at 4:30 pm with dusk at 5:00 pm. I don’t drink the way I used to due to health reasons but an occasional drink isn’t a bad thing, especially a real high quality brew.
Its been amazing weather even though most of the leaves are done in the High Country but also quite quiet without the crowds. And it doesn’t get dark until around seven here but the mornings are quite dark too. But I’m enjoying it.
Good morning! No idea on the day lol, I’m on vacation. Those camel 🐫 milkmen with their fast letdown can do their thing without me commenting. 😂 Partly cloudy and 56 degrees in Canaan Heights, WV. There is a south breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. No need for the propane heater either this morning or even last night.
Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 70 degrees at 3pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 27th. Maximum dew point of 55 at 5pm. South wind 7 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 1963. There was a dusting of snow in 2005.❄
Going to be another absolutely beautiful day in West Virginia today. ☀ Riding my bike about 7 miles along the Canaan Loop Road today to the Table Rock trail, 🚲 which is a mile further to a scenic rock ledge high above the Red Run and across from Mozart Mountain with the Otter Creek wilderness in the distance. Photos 📸 at some point but probably not today, see the next paragraph lol. I could drive the road but it’s narrow and steep and probably rough – and I figure I would likely see far more on the bicycle where I can stop 🛑 wherever without worries of leaving my truck parked on a blind curve. Alternating driving and bicycling slash hiking from camp every other day. 🚶
I wouldn’t mind getting back to camp ⛺ fairly early mid afternoon and laying back in the hammock and reading 📖 for a while. Just some quiet 🤫 time in the wilderness. There is so little traffic on the road and I need some down time on my vacation. Then maybe around dusk, 🌆 like after dinner, I’ll ride up to the top of Canaan Heights and watch the sun set as I ride back to camp.
I haven’t done so good uploading photos 📸 to the blog this week as often my cell service is weak and it requires a better signal 📶 then on Facebook. I have posted a lot more on Facebook and will post more when I get back home. Same thing with blog updates. I’ve been busy and cell service is so patchy. I was surprised that even in the village of Davis I have only one or two bars off service and it’s not reliable for uploads. 👆
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:40 pm with sun having an altitude of 35.4° from the due south horizon (-35.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:50 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (248°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (254°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:29 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 1 seconds with dusk around 6:57 pm, which is one minute and 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-southeast (115°) at an altitude of 19° from the horizon, 227,069 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:01 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 68 degrees. The dew point will be 55 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 8 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 38 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 40 seconds over today.
Yesterday rode all around Blackwater State Park, the Blackwater River single track from WV 32 to the park, looped back through the village and did the part of Camp 70 Road not in the Little Canaan WMA. 🚲 While Camp 70 Road is closed to bikes for the season, due to hunting season. Lots of great views l my other camera. Colors are faded but the views from the park 🏞 and Lindy Point was great. 📸 Sat down at the river front park, and then got a few supplies and head back to camp ⛺.
The only grocery shopping options within 35 miles of Davis is Shop and Save Express and Dollar General 🏪 – that is roads with many hairpin turns, no matter which direction you go – Keyser WV, Oakland MD and Elkins WV are the nearest towns with a full size supermarket each about equidistant from Davis. Surprisingly though Shop and Save Express may be small by modern standards 🛒 (1/3rd size of the Greenville Tops) but it’s clean, modern, decent selection with lots of produce and reasonable prices. In general, groceries are a fair bit cheaper in West Virginia then the same in New York. Certainly much better than what you would find in the Adirondacks. 🐮 Got the milk, ice, paper towels and coffee ☕ I needed so so I wouldn’t run out before the trip is done.
Last night was a beautiful moon lit evening. 🌃 Rode about 7 miles round trip on gravel then back another 1/2 miles on the Allegheny Trail to one of the sods, 🚲 turned off the light and looked at the stars for a while. ✨ It was a great evening, stayed up to half past ten 🔟 which is super late for me but the mornings are super dark in West Virginia.
When I got back I fried up pumpkin – oatmeal biscuits with lots of pumpkin spice and ginger 🎃 which was a nice treat to end the day. 🍪 Laid back for a while in the hammock before retiring to sleep for the night.
Tonight will be mostly clesr 🌥, with a low of 46 degrees at 6am. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 16th. Maximum dew point of 54 at 6pm. South wind around 6 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 58 degrees. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1952.
In 1962, in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Adlai Stevenson shows photos at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council proving that Soviet missiles are installed in Cuba. 🚀 Sounds like scary times.
I tell you all day yesterday with all that garlic and onion rice 💩 I was blowing up bathrooms left and right. I kind of overdid the spices on that one but it tasted so good when I was tired and hungry 😋 last night after drinking 🍻 a beer. Oh well I’m on vacation. I sought out porta potties rather than inside toilets 🚻 for just that reason. It was fine and now I’m over it.
Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, rain showers in the morning then becoming sunnier sunny, with a high near 69. Maximum dew point of 62 at 11am. Sunday, showers likely, mainly after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Chance of precipitation is 60%. But by then I’ll be back in Penna on my way back home. Typical average high for the weekend is 57 degrees.
I am thinking Asaph Run campground on Saturday night ⛺ and then riding as much of the Pine Creek Rail Trail 🚵 I can before I have to leave, probably by around two. Which will become three. 3⃣ But the thing is I will be tired 😴 by then and with the early sunset and deer 🦌 in rut I don’t want to drive too much in the pitch black. I have clothes set out for work on Monday so I should be good on that front. Of course it depends on how wet Sunday turns out to be. ☔ I’m fine with driving in the rain but biking in the rain is less fun. Plus driving in the rain 🛻 after dark is something I would like to avoid.
Looking ahead, next Wednesday is Average High is 55 🍂 when the sun will be setting at 5:50 pm with dusk at 6:18 pm. Not many more days of riding the bike 🚲 home from work. 🏢 On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny skies, and quite warm, with mist in the morning and temperatures between 69 and 54 degrees. Albany hit a record high of 78 back in 1950.
Morning started out cold and so was the evening but tons of sunshine by midday and beautiful deep blue skies with temperatures in the low sixties by afternoon.
Good evening! Clear and 45 degrees in Canaan Heights, WV. Calm wind. The skies are full of stars. ✨
It was a nice day though it started out cold ❄ with a hard frost. As the previous night it was cold and I got here late, spent the morning pitching the tent and setting up camp for the week, gathered firewood 🔥 , then a nice lunch of salmon 🐠 , broccoli 🥦 and onions. 🧅 Dinner was rice and lentils with too much garlic and some beer. But I enjoyed most of all was the many cups of coffee ☕ ☕ ☕ and eggs and vegetables. 🍳 I mean the hard boiled eggs and banana 🍌 limited piss breaks on the way down but I was all for having a real breakfast this morning.
I spent a lot of time getting camp set up for the week, ⛺ organizing gear and food. Laid back in the hammock for a while. It’s vacation, and this year I’m determined not to spend every waking hour rushing from point A to Point B. It’s not like I’m planning fewer adventures but I’m trying to explore more what is close to camp but have previously overlooked then the crowded tourist trap kind of places like Spruce Knob, Dolly Sods and Seneca Rocks. I’ve been to all those places many times before, no reason to go back. Truth is though I kind of want to go back to the Dolly Sods 🌾🌲🌳 but I don’t like the crowds or the rough steep road up there and it’s a bit out of the way. I guess I’ll decide later in the week.
Did a leisurely bike 🚲 ride along a portion of upper Canaan Loop Road and then hiked down to Blackwater Falls State Park 🏞 spending some time at the scenic overlooks before hiking back through the mountain and giant laurel lined trail. With the giant laurel so tightly growing in Canaan Heights there wasn’t much of a chance of loosing the trail.
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 30 degrees at 5am. South wind 5 to 7 mph. Colder then Albany but also tomorrow will be warmer than back home. Lots of sun too. In 2022, we had mist in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It became humid as the night progressed. It got down to 58 degrees. The record low of 19 occurred back in 1981.
I’m starting to upload photos 📸 but with spotty cell service I’m having trouble. You might have to wait until next week to see more photos of my adventures, though I might upload some to Facebook in the meantime. Plus I’d rather be out doing fun things then messing around with social media on vacation.
Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 76% illuminated. The moon will set at 4:17 pm. The Hunter 🏹 Moon is on Sunday, October 29. The darkest hour is at 12:40 am, followed by dawn at 7:01 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:33 am in the east-southeast (105°) and last for 3 minutes and 1 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 8:09 am with sun in the east-southeast (112°). Tonight will have 13 hours and 17 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 69 degrees at 3pm. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 59 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 2017. There was a dusting of snow in 1962.❄
The plan for tomorrow is to drive down to Davis 🛻 then to Blackwater Falls State Park and hike out to Lindey Point. Then poke around the village, 🏘️ and then ride Camp Seventy Road along the Black River to Canaan Wildlife Refuge. Then get milk, ice, coffee grounds and paper towels at the Stop and Shop Express or Dollar General, the only real choices you have here.
Today in 1973, President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations. 📼 Nowadays politicians rarely tape themselves in preparation for writing books in retirement 📝 though apparently George Romney’s son is a profilic journal writer.
While so far every night I’ve camped has been below freezing in the High Country, there are 3 weeks until Average Night Below Freezing back in Albany 🌌 when the sun will be setting at 5:06 pm with dusk at 5:33 pm (Standard Time) here in West Virginia. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 49 and 36 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 50 degrees. We hit a record high of 69 back in 1964.
I was up at 5:30 this morning to make breakfast and get going, and then it was dark, sat down at my computer and finally figured out how to calculate mile points along roads and trails. Doesn’t seem like a major accomplishment but the code turned out to be something I’ve been racking my brain over the past year or so, though when I finally got it to work, it was fairly simple to implement in reality.
Good afternoon! Mostly cloudy and 55 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. The dew point is 45 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 4 am. Not a real beautiful day, did see a brief break of blue sky but it’s dull and overcast again now. Not heading down to Pennsylvania or West Virginia today but those days will come, or so I tell myself.
I was up early and it was dark. 🌇 The pancakes I made up with ground oatmeal and some quinoa were good 🥞 I added a banana to the mix for sweetness 🍌 and topped with lots of frozen blueberries 💙 and sugar-free maple syrup. I might end up eventually switching back over to real maple syrup but the low calorie nature of the prior is good, and it’s much cheaper. Maybe come next spring, when it’s fresh. And maybe only as a treat. It’s good to use up the quinoa — it’s better now that I’ve started to wash it better and it cook it longer to get rid of the bitterness but it’s not my favorite breakfast food just in a mushy bowl. But it’s surprisingly good mixed into the oatmeal pancakes.
Also continuing on the oatmeal theme 🍵 (I bought more oatmeal this week), I decided to make oatmeal bread up this morning with whole wheat flour, water, yeast and a bit of salt. Also included shredded carrots 🥕 in the mix to boost fiber levels and give it more texture along with the oatmeal. I keep trying to make healthy meals, while keeping things interesting through variety. The apple bread the other week I wasn’t pleased with due to the lack of salt and fat in it, but the garlic bread I made was delicious. I topped the oatmeal bread with oatmeal and a bit more sea salt for good measure. I plan to bake tonight with spaghetti squash and sweet potatoes at the same time in a very full oven, and then reheat more pea soup — though I’ve thought about making up soup with the red lentils, salt, turmeric and other spices. That might be good, especially after my bike ride. 🚴♀️
Been reading and studying map making 🗺 in the effort to get better at GIS and make better more useful maps for the blog, make more ad revenue and expand my skill set. One of the big things I’m trying to master is label placement in QGIS. Automatic label placement often sucks, but I’m not very good at manually working with labels in QGIS. In modern versions of QGIS manual label placement isn’t hard but I find it rather confusing as I’ve never used the manual label placement options much and they aren’t always super obvious how to use them. Like how do only show desired labels using manual label positioning, rather then suppressing them? You can change one of the override settings to do that but it’s non-obvious. Plus I’ve been learning all about pinning labels, a concept I didn’t know much about until I spent some time reading and experimenting. Labels are important for quality maps but I have to admit I was very ignorant on how they all worked in QGIS.
This afternoon will be cloudy ☁, with a high of 58 degrees at 2pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 24th. Maximum dew point of 46 at 4pm. Light north wind. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 67 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 1920.
The war on mice continues. 🐁 I literally caught three more last night. I think one was that big fat sucker I tossed outside yesterday in my boxers and t shirt full of shaving cream like a girl 🧒 yesterday. He got back inside and caught again. I haven’t set up the bucket trap this year but I did do both the spring traps and the sticky traps the later which I find works well with a big glob of peanut 🥜 butter which I won’t eat anymore but I’m find using it up catch mice. Lol, I haven’t heard anymore today in the walls but I envision there are hundreds 💯 in my kitchen at night when I’m not looking. 🙀 I guess I need a barn cat for my apartment. I’m not into pets that I can’t eat 🐐🐖🐄 but I could see the utility of having a cat.
I am still thinking about going for a bike ride out to Indian Ladder Farms. 🍏 👈 🚲 I’m just not motivated with the weather today, and I’ve been playing a lot around with maps and code this morning. I am so proud that I finally figured out how to Create Mile Points from a LINESTRING or MULTILINESTRING in R. While the final code I wrote was pretty trivial, it took me a long time to figure out my way around the details, and overcome some of my coding mistakes in earlier versions. It is quite a handy little piece of code, I should not. I plan to use it for a lot of projects in the future.
Tonight will have a New 🌚 Moon with 0% illuminated. At 12 PM, the moon was in the south-southeast (169°) at an altitude of 39° from the horizon, some 247,147 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by April 19th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The moon will set in the west-southwest (258°) at 6:12 pm. The Hunter 🏹 Moon is on Sunday, October 29. The darkest hour is at 12:42 am, followed by dawn at 6:39 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:08 am in the east (100°) and last for 2 minutes and 57 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:46 am with sun in the east-southeast (107°). Tonight will have 12 hours and 50 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over last night.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy ☁️, with a low of 43 degrees at 6am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 11th. North wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 1978.
In four weeks on November 11 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (247°) at 4:38 pm (Standard Time),🌄 which is one hour, 38 minutes and 20 seconds earlier then today. I won’t be able to ride the bike home from work at that point. In 2022 on that day, we had rain and temperatures between 69 and 48 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 51 and 33 degrees. The record high of 70 degrees was set back in 2002. Those days will be here before you know it.
Looking ahead, Daylight Savings Time Ends 🛥️ in 3 weeks, Veterans Day 🇺🇸 is in 4 weeks, Average High is 50 🍂 is a month away, Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone 🦌 is in 5 weeks, Small Business Saturday 🛍️ is in 6 weeks, Average High is 40 🌨 is in 8 weeks, Earliest Sunset of the Year ⌛️ is in 8 weeks, Tea Party Day 🐍 is in 9 weeks, Festivus 🍖 is in 10 weeks, Bacon Day 🥓 is in 11 weeks.
