Search Results for: photo north in the woods

They’re taking about frost in the North Country this morning πŸ‚

You can taste the fresh silage on the air and you know it won’t be long before the leaves will be full of color in the North Country. Up at five o’clock cooking down split pea soup to have with homemade bread.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. A cold start, you might need the choke on your motor. Mostly clear, the sun is rising and 47 degrees in Delmar, NY. πŸŒ… Calm wind.

Up a little after five to cook 🍳 and get started on my day. Needed to run to the rest room and then I needed to have coffee β˜• and get that pea soup cooking down. A half pound of spinach, onions, stir fry vegetables, a crust of whole wheat flour and water plus two eggs, a bit of milk and corn starch topped with a bit of Parmesan was breakfast. Dinner last night was pizza πŸ• but not that American crap way. A simple whole wheat flour and water crust, several paste and other tomatoes that were starting to mold a bit run through the food processor with a garlic clove and a bunch of spices with flour to harden, topped with chopped onions and spinach and a bit of Parmesan. πŸ₯¦ I do eat a lot of spinach, I like fiber. Fills your stomach up fully without many calories.

Lately I’ve been a been a little nostalgic 🎢 and listening to a lot of country music from the early 2000s like back in college. Not that I’d ever want to go back to those days with all those trials and tribulations of youth and far less money but life was good before inflation kind of ruined everything. I think it’s September 11th and just the autumn weather that takes me back to the first year back at Hudson Valley Community College, my first experience with much urban life, and being on my own, having a car, being able to go up to the woods whenever I wanted to. πŸŽ„

Out walking around 6:45 AM this morning. 🚢‍♀️ Definitely a beautiful morning for the walk, should be a great ride down through the gorge to work. 🚲 I tasted some of that pea soup, it’s delicious, I’ll bring some for work and probably have some more for dinner. Might end up freezing the rest so I can have it later in the weekend, obviously with some fresh bread. 🍡 Might be a good way to end Saturday after riding trail most of the day up at Thacher Park. 🚡‍♀️ I am starting to run low on bananas, 🍌 I might stop and get just them at Hannaford during the evening commute home. Other then that my pantry is pretty solid.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 70 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 26th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 6pm. Calm wind becoming north around 6 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 76 degrees. The record high of 95 was set in 1895.

I called the General yesterday 🚚 and guess what I’m on call back list regarding when they can do the passenger airbag inflator recall work. I figured with all the notices and social media ads I’ve gotten about replacing the airbag inflator, they’d have a ton in stock at this point and I could just drop the truck off in a week or two and have it back the next day. Nope, they took down my information but couldn’t promise me an appointment at this time.

Called back the doctor, πŸ“ž and after a bit of phone tag πŸ‘©‍βš•οΈ they want to do some more testing about my pissing problem.  Didn’t catch it right away, as my phone is set up to automatically go to voice mail. πŸ“¨ Heck of it is since I’ve not been eating so many zucchini and overnight oatmeal, I’ve not had such a pissing problem.🚽  I kind of don’t want to spend more money getting tests, as I think it’s mostly in my head at this point, to blame on my diet, but they said some of the initial rounds of test were inclusive. πŸ“‹They can’t schedule me until another two weeks, so at that point I’ll re-evaluate if I find myself needing to piss too much. I really think the key is stay away from coffee and overnight oatmeal before road trips, especially my October trip if I’m thinking West Virginia.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:49 pm with sun having an altitude of 48.2° from the due south horizon (-22.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour πŸ… starts at 6:20 pm with the sun in the west (266°). πŸ“Έ The sunset is in the west (272°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:57 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:23 pm, which is one minute and 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. πŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter πŸŒ“ Moon in the south-southwest (198°) at an altitude of 18° from the horizon, 233,527 miles away. πŸš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 7:58 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies πŸŒ„ and temperatures around 66 degrees. The dew point will be 50 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday, I went for an evening walk 🚢‍♀️ and went through my dresser and pulled out most the XXL clothes and put them away in the crawl space, and started to go through the hand-me-downs I got from the late John W. Some are XXL unfortunately, I only meant to get XL but I’ll try them on. πŸ‘• Going to wash them though before putting them with the other clothes, as some of them have a bit of an old man smell to them. The pizza I had was good πŸ•, very filling, didn’t really need a desert. Lights were out before 8:15 PM though I did listen to a podcast or two on my phone before getting fully asleep but that’s fine, I’m usually up by 5 AM most mornings to start cooking and getting a jump start on my morning.

Totally getting sold on going down to Canaan Heights West Virginia sometime after Columbus Day Weekend πŸ‚ to mountain bike, hike, camp and see the sights. I mean I’m not 100% on this and it could change, but it would be fun. Probably start the week up Wellsboro PA-area to ride some of the Pine Creek Gorge Trail. Not sure how much farther south I’d go in West Viriginia, maybe Dolly Sods, but I would rather focus on Canaan Heights, Blackwater Falls State Park and the Canaan Wildlife Refuge as I haven’t spent nearly enough time up that way.

Tonight will be mostly clear πŸŒƒ, with a low of 46 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 1st. Light northwest wind. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 51 degrees. The record low of 31 occurred back in 1962.

I’ve been starting to look more deeply into the future of the blog. πŸ“ I can bitch about the cost of running it but it won’t make it go away. I kind of would miss not doing it, so it’s probably worth the money to me. I do want to re-work the data structure, make things more efficient and maybe remove more of the custom code and try to make it use as much of built-in WordPress code as possible. πŸ‘¨‍πŸ’» I could bring my laptop home and work on this over the weekend, especially if it’s going to be rainy. The big difficulty might be the transition — taking down the old data structure and replacing it with the new one, and getting all the URL rewrites perfected before going live. I don’t know any way to do this completely without taking at least part of the blog offline to do the change over. 🀷‍♂️ I might also look at implementing Google AdSense, so I can get some advertising revenue, to cover the costs of doing the blog. I don’t love that idea — there is too much advertising pollution already, but I get tired of ever inflating costs, even if it really is a smaller part of the budget that that I’m making more money at work. πŸ’Έ

A chance of showers throughout the weekend with more sun on Sunday. 🌦 Saturday, a chance of showers, mainly after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. East wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Maximum dew point of 52 at 10am. Sunday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 68. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 56 at 1pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 72 degrees.

I won’t say it’s a banner weekend this weekend, 🌦 but maybe not a wash out. Still will be good enough to do the Nature Bus to Thacher Park. Saves some money and it’s a fun day, plus I went out camping last weekend. πŸ• Maybe next weekend I’ll get out again, though the very long-range forecast doesn’t look all that great in all honestly. Columbus Day Weekend, which is two weeks from Saturday might be better. β›΅ πŸ‚ Only time will tell, though it seems like autumn will be late this year.

South Along Lake George

Below is a list of lean-tos, campsites, parking areas, and other assets along the Northville – Placid Trail

Below is a list of lean-tos, campsites, parking areas, and other points of interest along the Northville – Placid Trail. See this Interactive Map of the Northville Placid Trail.

Type Name Description Coordinates
Hand Launch Ceder River Flow Boat Ramp Hand Carry Launch, Ramp 43.725826369700904, -74.47289916126694
Lean-To Beaver Pond (Aka Cedar Lakes Lean-To #2)   43.625969396804386, -74.54927150370021
Lean-To Carry Lean-To   43.67874488347091, -74.49549821879448
Lean-To Catlin Bay #1 Lean-To   43.99801269269887, -74.39278456108421
Lean-To Cedar Lakes #1 Lean-To   43.628125665037935, -74.54047323992656
Lean-To Cold River #2 Lean-To   44.14251664317184, -74.13035824291548
Lean-To Cold River #3 Lean-To   44.091459278051204, -74.25764175084498
Lean-To Cold River #4 Lean-To   44.09139025333258, -74.25573480252505
Lean-To Cold River Lean-To #1 Lean-To   44.14272737628489, -74.12984021065587
Lean-To Duck Hole #1 Lean-To   44.14162687400988, -74.10693734676616
Lean-To Duck Hole #2 Lean-To   44.14167686466829, -74.10654354672256
Lean-To Hamilton Lake Stream #1 Lean-To   43.39741359517532, -74.45529759002217
Lean-To Hidden Cove Lean-To   44.00265528819394, -74.38648026325164
Lean-To Kelly Point #1 Lean-To   44.02880023617087, -74.36730798599064
Lean-To Kelly Point #2 Lean-To   44.02870256717196, -74.36713034867948
Lean-To Moose Pond Lean-To   44.182843382402666, -74.07364102375995
Lean-To Mud Lake Lean-To   43.342671073157994, -74.45629078563864
Lean-To O’neill Flow Lean-To   43.875596840936154, -74.36642623697053
Lean-To Ouluska Pass Brook Lean-To   44.120221281603584, -74.18744717390932
Lean-To Plumley Point #2 Lean-To   44.06559891610762, -74.32761224546002
Lean-To Rodney Point #1 Lean-To   44.04140938489936, -74.35014909639557
Lean-To Rodney Point #2 Lean-To   44.042976745412616, -74.34933464753136
Lean-To Seward Lean-To   44.106244137686204, -74.2091536427719
Lean-To Silver Lake Lean-To   43.29193545679836, -74.4237351676776
Lean-To South Lake Lean-To   43.58724480971, -74.62157883837274
Lean-To Spruce Lake #1 Lean-To   43.52728411257782, -74.6099246975027
Lean-To Spruce Lake #2 Lean-To   43.53463062983387, -74.60808580306896
Lean-To Spruce Lake #3 Lean-To   43.53712972792447, -74.60820962802477
Lean-To Stephens Pond Lean-To   43.818673668554965, -74.42052487172707
Lean-To Tirrel Pond North Lean-To   43.887344477557306, -74.37880062606054
Lean-To West Canada Creek Lean-To   43.58698761405157, -74.61399797100106
Lean-To West Lake #1 Lean-To   43.59316222884976, -74.62688668431306
Lean-To West Stony Creek Lean-To   43.22474428954461, -74.26933345717664
Paved Parking Lot Lake Durant Northville Placid Trail Parking Lot Paved, 12 Vehicle Capacity 43.84219550506574, -74.3862742856788
Paved Parking Lot Northville Lake Placid Trail Parking Lot Paved, Good Condition 43.84213270187873, -74.38656792328511
Primitive Tent Site Canary Pond Campsite   43.30513256312245, -74.4472062440692
Primitive Tent Site Cedar Lake Dam 1   43.62894580965635, -74.53639939387939
Primitive Tent Site Cedar Lake Dam Tentsite   43.62937624507422, -74.53679785644344
Primitive Tent Site Cedar River Flow Tentsite   43.70292480315104, -74.48713041165333
Primitive Tent Site Fall Stream Tentsites   43.49661052800474, -74.53713112743992
Primitive Tent Site Jessup River Tentsites   43.51246207852797, -74.57229710138834
Primitive Tent Site Kelly Point Tentsites   44.02910364406153, -74.36670207204214
Primitive Tent Site Moose Pond Tentsites   44.18274441156179, -74.07408240028583
Primitive Tent Site Moose River Plains Campsite 01 Live 43.72667672123972, -74.47410026642402
Primitive Tent Site Moose River Plains Campsite 02 Live 43.72665150100841, -74.47331107300782
Primitive Tent Site Moose River Plains Campsite 03 Live 43.725959512295866, -74.47389996564202
Primitive Tent Site Moose River Plains Campsite 04 Live 43.726067692208126, -74.47423264719026
Primitive Tent Site Moose River Plains Campsite 05 Live 43.725563790898704, -74.47417512282912
Primitive Tent Site Moose River Plains Campsite 06 Live 43.72522313374867, -74.47458303719159
Primitive Tent Site Mud Lake Tentsites   43.59647433847274, -74.61354076182431
Primitive Tent Site O’neill Flow Tentsite   43.87567135918534, -74.3666467203306
Primitive Tent Site Rock Lake Campsite   43.265591839994535, -74.41543516012669
Primitive Tent Site Salmon River Tentsites   43.907925071619914, -74.38530801916977
Primitive Tent Site Shattuck Clearing Tentsites   44.08679657756681, -74.26368397541134
Primitive Tent Site Silver Lake Tent Site   43.29112770008321, -74.4240469986026
Primitive Tent Site Spruce Lake Tentsite   43.53695545329776, -74.60818912022354
Primitive Tent Site Tirrell Pond North Tentsites   43.88594343639596, -74.37834897628142
Primitive Tent Site Trailside Campsite   43.2716741112023, -74.43107546264162
Primitive Tent Site Wanika Falls Tentsites   44.19944690357389, -74.05663862305364
Primitive Tent Site West Lake Former Caretaker Clearing Tentsites   43.59389874347195, -74.62560220247346
Primitive Tent Site Whitehouse Campsite   43.373430193527696, -74.43578942968477
Primitive Tent Site Whitehouse Campsite   43.37406302094423, -74.43516794694158
Primitive Tent Site Woods Lake Campsite #2 Fire Pit, Water Front Campsite 43.25071034607129, -74.31177480398298
Primitive Tent Site Woods Lake Campsite #3 Fire Ring, Water Front Tentsite, Scenic View 43.250888826581715, -74.31104030228295
Primitive Tent Site Woods Lake Campsite #4 Fire Place, Water Front Campsite, Nice View 43.251811433787196, -74.3092782205918
Unpaved Parking Lot Benson Road Parking Area 8 Vehicle Capacity 43.24745928673895, -74.31187044250609
Unpaved Parking Lot Chubb River Bridge   44.2628824981147, -74.01364844250504
Unpaved Parking Lot Moose River Recrieation Area Northville-Placid And Cedar River Trails 43.726457025366315, -74.47386984656715
Unpaved Parking Lot Norhtville Placid Parking-Haskells Rd   43.45841038153893, -74.52201705350714
Unpaved Parking Lot Northville Placid Trail Parking Area 6 Car Interior Parking Area 43.21330828950083, -74.2083824784703
Unpaved Parking Lot Northville Placid Trail Route 28n Parking Lot   43.97584466308438, -74.39296138679799
Unpaved Parking Lot Tarbell Road Shoulder Parking Lot   43.984346733793245, -74.39813014848872
Unpaved Parking Lot Wakely Dam   43.72640808237045, -74.47425964611213
Unpaved Parking Lot Wakely Mountain Trailhead Parking Lot 1250 Sq Feet 43.732197733217824, -74.47253968128065
Unpaved Parking Lot Wakely Pond Accessible Fishing Dock   43.737643556916666, -74.46542853470272
Unpaved Parking Lot Wakely Pond Accessible Launch   43.738042554833534, -74.46399313053813

 Whitehouse Suspension Bridge

I continue to look with much interest in the oft-advertised Northwoods Mapping on Facebook

I continue to look with much interest in the oft-advertised Northwoods Mapping on Facebook. This business makes custom farm, hunting, and property maps, printed and sells them over the internet. All of them pretty much use public, copyright-free data, namely state or federal (NAIP) orthophoto aerial imagery, and USGS 3D elevation program LIDAR bare earth data. I don’t know if they use a commercial ERSI product or the fully-open source QGIS program to make the maps, but there is nothing couldn’t be done with free software.

Their prices are quite reasonable – they might seem high at first glance – but it would actually be hard to undercut if you want to make any money for your time designing, laying out and printing maps. Large-format, full-color printing is expensive for small runs. I know I have printed a few large-scale maps, and the printing can easily set you back $50 or more. Add in the cost of high-quality paper and lamination and it really adds up. For example, the 24″ x 36″ HD Laminated Map that they charge $89 for probably nearly half the cost is printing and lamination. Maybe a little less, especially if you do a lot of business with your printer — but custom print jobs are expensive.

So that leaves you with $45 for everything else. As a small business, there are a lot of costs including taxes, marketing, web hosting, and possibly trying to recover some of your cost of using the computer, internet, and so forth. That ignores benefits or other expenses – they probably rely on a regular job for that. Then figure an hour of labor, and you can figure out the cost. Yes, it’s a job you can do from home, and basically anywhere you have an internet connection. But hardly free, despite the data and software free to use and put together.

It doesn’t take long to make a map with QGIS, especially with using Web Mapping Services, that automatically download the imagery for the scene you need into your QGIS client. But no one map is exactly the same, and while you can save the layout, often it requires fine tweaking to get a quality map out of every scene. Labels often require manual placement, the contrast and saturation of map adjusted for that perfect look. Adjustments to scale, additional data to hand-digitize. Plus time going back and forth with the customer to get them a product they are happy with before it goes to print shop. Probably an hour or more time, to get something that is really good quality, that somebody would pay for. It takes years of knowledge working with maps to build really good quality products.

The more time you can spend working on a map, the higher quality. Often revisions take a lot of time — sometimes the maps I post on the blog aren’t always the best quality, but that’s because they are done quickly and to experiment with new parts of QGIS. But it’s neat that they’re able to make a life in the great wilds of northern Minnesota, in a beautiful small town, the home of the Blue Ox, piecing together map making over the internet, and whatever else they do to sustain their family.

While I have done a handful of mapping projects for pay, I don’t really have a connection with a print shop. Most of my projects are done an as volunteer basis, continuing to learning the ins and outs of the software. Every map I put together is teaching me important skills, and I continue to learn the skills to make better and prettier maps. But I think it’s an interesting business opportunity, and if I learned more about print shops and shipping, along with all the other skills needed to operate a small business, it could offer future possibilities. People have certainly asked if I could provide them with that kind of printed map before — but I just don’t have that kind of connection with a local print or shipping shop.

View from My College Dorm Room

The first year I stayed at Plattsburgh State I had a dorm room on the ninth floor of Wilson Hall. In the foreground is Ruger Woods and the Saranac River which ran just past my dorm. Beyond it is Plattsburgh High School Football field, along with the Adirondack Mountains. The gap in the distance is between Pokomoonshine and Bigelow Mountain, where the Adirondack Northway goes past Butternut Pond and climbs into the Adirondacks.

Taken on Sunday November 5, 2006 at Plattsburgh State.

Betty Brook North Campsites

There are two campsites on the northern portion of Betty Brook Road, along the Betty Brook. They are usually accessed via Rossman Hill Road, although you can access them from southern end of Betty Brook Road where it hits West Kill Road, if you take a rough truck trail several miles.

Located on a small stream known as Betty Brook, they are located in a fairly deep valley, with private in-holdings on both sides of the valley.

Rankings: Campsites are ranked from 0 to 10, based on the described attributes.

Overall 9 Lack of Enforcement Presence 8
Scenic Beauty 8 Facilities 5
Cleanliness 8 On-Site Attractions 3
Privacy 9 Nearby Attractions 5
Layout 9 Cellphone and Data Services 0

Campsite

Location:
  • Roughly 1.3 miles south of Rossman Hill Road, Fulton, NY on Betty Brook Road.
  • When you proceed down Betty Brook Rd, hang a right at the split where the arrow signs point you away from the “Posted” driveway.
  • 15.7 miles south-east of Cobelskill
  • 6.4 miles north-west of Blenhium
  • N 42.52809 W 74.51415
Cost:
  • No charge
  • 3-nights maximum stay at this site except by FREE camping permit for up to 2-weeks which can be obtained from Forest Ranger Tom EdmundsΒ 518-827-6565, Cell: 518-505-4070 (more info).
Facilities:
  • 1 small campsite, big enough for small car and a tent
  • 1 large campsite in a field with trees, good for mid-size campers
  • Large campsite – large stone ring fireplace, Small campsite – stone fireplace
  • Stone tables at both campsite
  • No outhouses.
  • No cellphone service
  • Limited radio reception
Vehicles:
  • Large trailer or tent (southern site)
  • Tent or small truck with camper stop (north site)
Attractions on Site:
  • Betty Brook for water
Attractions Nearby:
  • Looking Glass Pond – Fishing – 3 miles north-east on Rossman Hill Road in Fulton
  • NY Power Authority Visitors Center – 8 miles south-west on NY 30 in Blenhium
  • Mine Kill State Park (fee) – 9 miles south-west on NY 30 in Blenhium
  • Mine Kill Falls (south of the park – FREE) – 10 miles south-west on NY 30 in Blenhium
  • Max Shaul Farm Market – 10 miles north-east on NY 30 in Fultonham
Sanitation:
  • Water from Betty Brook – Boil before drinking or cooking
  • No outhouses – Dig hole in woods away from creek, burn toilet paper
  • Burn combustible garbage, take cans home for recycling
  • Make sure firepits and campsite are clean before leaving
Restrictions on Use:
  • 3-nights maximum stay at this site.
  • Except by FREE camping permit for up to 2-weeks which can be obtained from Ranger Tom EdmundsΒ 518-827-6565, Cell: 518-505-4070 (more info).
  • Seasonal use road, the last 1/8 mile from Number Four Road.

Betty Brook Road

New York State Population Density