Search Results for “photo time to take down that campsite ”

My urge for camping 🏕 got the best of me ☃

You know I’m happier in the woods than in any city, next to the fire burning things and having a good ol time. I knew last night was gonna be cold but it turned out not that bad though today will be cooler. Worked out good bar some issues with the camp stove last night and forgetting salt for the icy campsite and I’m glad to get away even if it’s just one night.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Mostly cloudy with some snow flurries and 30 degrees at the Rensselaerville State Forest. ☁ There is a south breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 22.

I decided to take option 3 and do a quick overnight trip to Rennselearville State Forest. ⛺ I think I’m going to take down camp soon and then head home before the front comes through and brings snow squals with strong winds and it’s cold enough the roads will ice up. I kind of wanted to do two ✌️ nights but I decided it’s not that far if it ends up being one night. It is probably my best chance to get away a bit, next weekend I’m busy with the Reszin documentary and it looks even colder. ❄ Winter has arrived as we enter the coldest part of the year. Little worried too that I’m starting to get a bit of a chest cough, you know the one that’s been going around. I’m hoping it’s just a breathed in too much smoke last night.

But first a second pot of coffee ☕. Few snow 🌨 flurries around and I shouldn’t procrastinate but the morning turned out nicer than I had expected with blue skies and a fairly slack wind. Enjoyed the last of the Mariaville Farm Bacon 🥓 from local hogs on sale by Farmer Alice at For the Love of Bacon with the eggs 🥚 and veggies this morning. 🌅 It’s a treat with camping. Wasn’t sure if I was going to get the camp stove working, regulator is giving me trouble again. Wasn’t working at all last night. I slept with it to keep it warm last night and fiddled with the connection and dipped in rubbing alcohol and now it’s working again. Going to add a propane line filter and maybe pick up a second regulator to avoid problems in the future 🔮.

Today will snow showers likely, mainly after noon. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 35 degrees at 9am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 9th. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 14 mph becoming southwest 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. A year ago, we had light snow. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1932. 9.0 inches of snow fell back in 1999.❄

The wind is what concerns me. Some forecasts are talking about windchills especially tonight around 0 degrees. I am not sure I want to be camping out in, plus my camp stove has been acting up in the cold. I’m having issues again with the campstove regulator getting jelled up and plugged with dirt and condensate. I think when I can get home this week, I am going to order a second regulator for the campstove, plus another Big Buddy filter. My other propane stove, whose burners ultimately burnt out a second time, had a few issues with this occassionally but this new stove I got last summer has constant issues now that it’s cold, though oddly not all on the Christmas trip to Madison County, though I stored it in the warmth of my truck. Though if the Big Buddy filter works like it does with the Big Buddy Heater and the lantern, I expect smooth sailing going forward. It’s good to have back ups.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:06 pm with sun having an altitude of 26.1° from the due south horizon (-44.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:03 pm with the sun in the southwest (234°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:47 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 18 seconds with dusk around 5:18 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the southwest (216°) at an altitude of 29° from the horizon, 226,294 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:53 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 29 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 16. ☃️ Breezy, 22 mph breeze ⛅ from the west with gusts up to 44mph. Today will have 9 hours and 26 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 33 seconds over yesterday.

I am worried enough about the possibility of white out conditions driving home that I want to be on the road by 11 AM. I am going to sip my coffee, then take my campsite down before it gets too late. I could for a walk, and the road is hard enough for a bike ride now, but I think I’d rather just head home and avoid the risk of driving on snow-covered roads. Its not like I am on the other side of the earth — it’s a 21 mile drive that takes roughly a half hour, as most of the road is 55 MPH bar Clarksville and Rensselearville. I’m right on a plowed dirt road, and 1,000 feet from asphalt so I’m not worried about being snowed in, but driving home on those hills in snow and ice, could be kind of miserable.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 17 degrees at 4am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 11th. Maximum wind chill around 9 at 3am; Breezy, with a southwest wind 17 to 22 mph decreasing to 9 to 14 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph. Other weather reports are calling for a wind chill closer to 0. I don’t mind such cold when I’m in the truck protected from the wind, but during the evening next to campfire that would be downright cold, I’m afraid. Wind worries me more then cold, as it sucks the heat away from your body. That said, my gear is really good for camping down to about 10-15 degrees, much colder then that at night in my unhreated truck cap it gets cold. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1957.

Still I’m glad I got away for one day. Just a night in the woods puts a smile on my face. Despite the woods being wet from rain we’ve had, it was cold enough up here in the State Forest that ground was frozen solid and was able to have a good fire. I’ll head home, get unpacked — it’s not that much stuff for one night — and shower. Maybe go for a bike ride this afternoon or down to the library if conditions aren’t too harsh. Or maybe cook up a big pot of chicken soup, especially if I’m not feeling good. I am thinking my next trip will be Presidents Day to Moscow Hill Horse Camp in Madison County, but we’ll see. Get some nice weather, and maybe I’ll head back to the wilderness sooner for a weekend trip, like during my 41st birthday weekend, though winter is tough. Next weekend will be too cold it appears, plus the Reszin documentary.

Looking ahead, next Sunday starts the Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 when the sun will be setting at 4:57 pm with dusk at 5:26 pm. Martin Luther King 👑 weekend is early this year. On that day in 2023, we had snow showers, cloudy and temperatures between 33 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2006.

Places I Camped in 2023

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.

Martin Luther Kings Day – January 14-16 (2 nights)

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.

40th Birthday – January 27-29 (2 nights)

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.

Presidents Day – February 17-19 (2 nights)

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.

Easter Weekend – April 7-9 (2 nights)

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.

Duck Pond Trip – May 5-7 (2 nights)

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.

Overnight at Cole Hill – May 13-14 (1 night)

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.

Memorial Day Weekend at Cole Hill – May 20-22 (2 nights)

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.

Juneteenth Weekend on Piseco-Powley – June 15-20 (4 nights)

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.

Catskill Scenic Trail Trip – July 22-24 (3 nights)

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.

Finger Lakes National Forest – July 28 – August 6 (9 nights)

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.

Piseco-Powley – House Pond Campsite – August 18-20 (3 nights)

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.

Labor Day at Perkins Clearing – September 1-4 (3 nights)

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.

September Trip to Rensselearville State Forest – September 15-17 (2 nights)

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 at Rensselearville State Forest – October 8-9 (1 night)

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.

West Virginia Trip – October 21-29 (8 nights)

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.

Stoney Pond – November 4-7 (3 nights)

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.

Prospect Mountain – East Branch Sacanadaga – Buttermilk Falls/Hudson Special Management Area – November 24-28 (3 nights)

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.

Stoney Pond – Charles Baker – December 21-26 (5 nights)

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.

Decided to Try to Keep Big Red for Another Year 🛻

November 30th is a big decision day for me — to renew or not to renew the 1-year certificate of deposit that I have about $70k of cash invested in. If I renew the certificate of deposit, then I won’t be able to necessarily get a new truck next year if I need one.

But do I need a new truck?

The answer is probably not. Big Red is 12 years old, going on 13 years next October. He has about 107,000 miles on him, which by auto standards isn’t that old. For the most part he’s running pretty good. The 35 inch tires I put on Red two years ago now, are still in good shape. No signs of unsual wear or alignment issues on the truck. Red hasn’t been burning much oil lately, doesn’t have any new or unusual noises, has about as much rust as you might think of a vehicle through 12 harsh salty winters.

The usual issues for an older lifted truck — the power windows and seats don’t work perfectly, rusty wheel wells and corner panels, the one tail light leaks water and has to be emptied from time to time to keep the bulb from burning out, after I had the coolant changed the first few times I used the heater I could smell coolant thinking the flush might have caused a leak, the ball joints creek and grone when I crank the wheels tight to get into a tight spot, and the shocks and struts are pretty worn, especially noticeable in the rough country. The 5.3l engine, like most of them, has a lifter that ticks, especially when cold and left at idle speed for a prolonged time. But it’s been doing that for a decade plus now. They all do it to some extent. When the transmission is cold, the 2-3 shift can be a bit rough, a sign that the 460LE tranny is wearing out and not perfectly healthy but probably has a bit more life left in it. Also, not a brand new behavior. I had the transmission fluid changed at 50k, I could do it again, but it’s a expensive process as the pull the whole case off to get the filter, and my local mechanic doesn’t do it. I concede it ain’t going to last forever.

That’s everything I’m aware of, there are probably other issues too.

The thing is I probably can get another year out of it. The more I get out of Big Red, the more economical it will be. New trucks are so expensive, especially compared to 12 years ago. I make a lot more money these days, but still. I am not planning a West Virginia trip next year, due to my busy work schedule next year, probably the farthest I’ll get is the Finger Lakes. If I notice any new odd behaviors or noises, I’ll drop the truck off at my local mechanic to look it over carefully. It’s a risk to try to keep Big Red on the road for another year until December 2024 but with clear rewards in financial savings.

I am not in the place where I would be stranded without a vehicle, as I live in the city. There are towing and repair costs should Big Red break down on a road trip, and costs to rent a car or finding lodging. Though if I am only going out to the Finger Lakes at the farthest, the truth is I could always rent a car for the a few days and if necessary camp in a tent or stay at a motel somewhere. All cheaper then buying a new vehicle. There is no guarantee that my old truck is going to break down on a trip, indeed probably the odds are against that. I had a wonderful trip down to West Virginia followed by Madison County with no issues at all whatever.

The thing to is that breaking a one-year certificate of deposit isn’t that costly should for some reason Big Red break have to be replaced. The only way you end up losing some principal is if you break the CD between the end of the grace period and first quarter of the CD. Beyond the first quarter, you only really risk losing a portion of the accumulated interest over the most recent few months. But the thing about breaking a CD, according to the terms, is you only loose what you pull from the CD — you don’t have to cash out the full CD and only are penalized on what you remove prior the maturity date. And that 5% interest rate on one-year CD is quite attractive, even if it’s not that much over the high-interest savings account I also have with that firm. I wouldn’t have to break the even much of that CD, as I have nearly $40k in high-interest savings, and maybe not even touch it at all with the trade in on Big Red and choosing a smaller, more affordable truck or even car. Another option would be to cash in savings bonds or even sell stock, although the later option is likely a last resort, even though the markets have been up.

Committing to keep Big Red on the for another year, is a bit of a leap of faith that he’ll keep pushing on but compared to situation a lot of people are in when it comes to cars, I can’t be that worried or upset. I won’t need to get an auto loan most likely, and the worse that would happen is I loose a couple hundred bucks of interest by choosing to renew the certificate of deposit. I like Big Red and I’d loathe to give him up at this point, even if he is a bit expensive to operate and long in the tooth. Plus I am not totally sure I would want to replace Big Red with — do I want to get an electric car, a smaller pickup like a Toyota Tacoma that is fuel efficient and easier to get in and out of campsites and truck trails, or do I want the room of a 3/4 ton long bed truck? And moving to that new office in suburbs, I could decide to start driving to work to avoid transferring buses, so I might want a fuel efficient or electric vehicle for such a trip.

Honestly, I don’t know.

I think for now I am committed to Big Red. He’s taken me on a lot of good adventures. I concede he won’t last forever, but I should enjoy the good times while they still roll along. Keeping Red on the road is the most economical option, even if it comes with risks, like with any older vehicle. Repair is better then discard and replace it. If he doesn’t make it another year, I have options, breaking a CD isn’t the worse thing ever, especially if I don’t have to break the full value of CD to tap it to cover additional costs beyond what I keep in savings for replacing Red.

Trips to End The Year 🏕 ☃ 🎇

Seven weeks remain until New Years Day.

My vacation time is rapidly getting depleted for the year, the nights are long, but I want to do a few more trips, probably tacked onto holiday weekends so to minimize the time burned up of my remaining vacation. Much could change between then in now, the weather is definitely a wildcard with extreme cold, snow and rain potentially requiring changes to the plans. There are other weekends I could tack time onto to take off, but it gets difficult with family celebrations and other things happening during the month of December.

East Branch Sacandaga River – Black Friday through Cyber Monday

I am thinking I will likely head up to the East Branch Sacandaga River come the day after Thanksgiving. By then hunting season will be winding down in the Northern Zone, and being off of NY 8 I won’t have to worry about snow or bad road conditions, though if the snow is deep I might want to reconsider. It’s been a few years since I’ve camped up that way, and while I don’t enjoy the road noise, there is always a lot to explore up that way and it could be pared with a hike in Lake George or Warrensburg-area. I’ve never been up Prospect Mountain, and it might be a fun hike before heading up to camp for the balance of the week through that Monday, which I would have to take off from work.

Charles Baker State Forest – Friday December 22nd through Christmas Day

I am thinking of taking a three-night trip on days leading up to Christmas to Charles Baker State Forest in Brookfield Madison County. While off-road trails are closed to mountain biking during the winter months, I could ride some of the forest roads or hike or ski. Also go down and spend time at the Rogers Nature Center in Sherburne, hike or bike the Chenango Canal Trail and other roads nearby. Probably camp at the Horse Camp as that’s lower elevation and not so cold — and the risk of snowy and icy roads is less compared to Cherry Ridge. While Cherry Ridge is plowed most of the way to campground, that road is only plowed for emergency vehicles and is quite steep unlike that of the Horse Camp which is a blacktop county highway. But certainly plans could change based on the weather.

Rensselaerville State Forest – Friday December 29th through New Years Day

I am going to be sole director in my unit on that final Friday of December, so I can’t take that day off, however I am hoping I can leave the office early at 2 PM for a three-day weekend at Rensselearville State Forest that isn’t too far from my office — only about a half hour and get set up before it’s too dark out. Worse comes to worse, I can set up on Saturday morning.

But the idea is if I camp there it’s not far from home, but I can have some nice winter nights camping, assuming it’s not too cold or wet. If it’s snowy that’s fine, the road is plowed year round and I can dig out the campsite that is unlikely to be in high demand. And it would be fun to wish away the old year, and ring in the new one camping up in the wilderness, with a good fire waiting for mid-night to roll around.

To ride the Erie Canalway in Madison County today 🚲

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.

I’m tuckered out 🛏

Good day but a busy one with all that driving down from County Bridge Campground in Blossburg Penna to Cumberland Maryland, riding bike for 23 miles of the Chesapeake and Ohio Trail along with part of the Great Allegheny Passage then finally heading down to Canaan Heights WV. What a day, and there was still some daylight to set up camp too though

Good evening from West Virginia! Mostly clear and 43 degrees in Canaan Heights, WV. 🌠 Breezy, ️16 mph breeze from the northwest 🌬 .

Got to camp around 6:30 pm in West Virginia, was a bit worried as the first few campsites I drove by where taken and I noticed a new sign on the way in that said camping at Designated Sites Only. ⛺ That said all of the old sites are still in service and have been improved a bit by the forest service and new sites added. It was a cold Sunday night, I had plenty of choices in the other eight or nine unoccupied sites. The nearest campsite to where I am id more than a third of a mile away.

Totally my fault, lol, 😂 I wanted to maximize my time riding bike 🚲 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Trail and the Great Allegheny Passage Trails before heading down to Keyser to get supplies and ultimately head to camp. Didn’t help though that Waze had the wrong address programmed into it for Tractor Supply. 🚜 I wanted to make sure I had a full propane tank for the next six nights as especially tonight I’m working the heater hard to stay warm – too late to find wood for camp, plus I’m dog 🐶 tired. Probably will retire to bed shortly in my truck though honestly I don’t want to sleep too soon as it’s going to be a long night and the sun rises late in West Virginia this time of year. 7:30 am tomorrow.

Tonight will be clear with a low of 27 degrees at 4 am. 🌉 Winds will die down as the night progreses. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1969.

Tonight will have a First Quarter 🌓 Moon with 61% illuminated. At 8 PM, the moon was in the south (181°) at an altitude of 25° from the horizon, some 226,951 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 11^th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Hunter 🏹 Moon is on Saturday, October 28. The darkest hour is at 12:41 am, followed by dawn at 6:59 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:30 am in the east-southeast (104°) and last for 2 minutes and 59 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:56 am with sun in the east-southeast (111°). Tonight will have 13 hours and 12 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 44 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny ☀ with a high of 59 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 1st. Northwest wind 9 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 1947. 0.5 inches of snow fell back in 2002.❄

Looks like I picked an excellent week for vacation. ⛺ The director was jokingly giving me a hard time for once again canceling a vacation day and then taking another one off, but it was worth it looking at the forecast. I just kind of wished I had packed more then three or four t-shirts as they may be what I’m wearing with the warm weather. Almost bought a West Virginia t-shirt at Walmart earlier today.

It wasn’t perfect on Saturday though. Day one, the drive down to Pennsylvania was rainy the first part of the trip, ☔ maybe more misty and drizzle not difficult driving, lots of color along many parts of Interstate 88, Warren Anderson’s expressway. 🍂 Some places were past peak but others had excellent color.

Got Cider Doughnuts 🍩 🍏, apple cider and apples at Aunnoto’s in Oneonta. The doughnuts while not quite warm where still very fresh and exceptionally good, especially the first one I had fresh in the parking lot. Maybe it’s because I’m not used to all that sugar and fats in doughnuts but I felt like it had an out of this world taste. 😋 The cider was decent but more tart than I had imagined. Probably the breed of apples pressed. The apples I got where quite good I’ll be enjoying them throughout the trip.

Came much closer to runnung out of gas then I want to admit on the way down to o Binghamton ultimately getting gas in Harpursville. ⛽ Put in over 25 gallons of gas in a truck with a 26 gallons tank. 🤯 Hoping to get gas as close to the Pennsylvania to avoid higher prices with the high Pennsylvania gas tax but it turns out gas was more expensive in the Binghamton area then the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania. $4 a gallon gas, added $100 to the vacation bill. The good news is filling up there I avoided getting gas until I reach the Mason Dixon line, actually south of Cumberland for $3.35 a gallon. ☺ Vacation costs money 💵 and my vacation is quite frugal so I shouldn’t bitch about gas prices too much.

The County Bridge Campground is still only $10 a night through New Years Eve 💰💸 when the PA DNCR is doing away with self registration honor pay in favor of online reservations with the out of state fee, reservation fee and whatever the rustic campground fee works out to be. Not such a great deal then for one night but whatever it’s not like I stay there much. Still ten dollars a night is a steal these days with inflation, especially as that’s what it cost I believe back in 2010. Obviously subsidized by all those fracking leases, though the fracking money is drying up for the commonwealth now.

In four weeks on November 19 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (244°) at 4:31 pm (Standard Time),🌄 which is one hour, 32 minutes and 59 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2022 on that day, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 39 and 21 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 48 and 31 degrees. The record high of 71 degrees was set back in 1921.

Looking ahead, 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ is in 7 weeks, Days are Getting Longer ☀️ is in 2 months and Christmas Eve 🎅 is in 9 weeks.

And then the weather improves 🌤

But maybe not my breakfast. I decided to try baking apple bread, but I didn’t use enough salt and maybe oil and I ended up with a carb loaded mess that tasted like crap. Dipping in it maple syrup and salt helped but I still ended up cooking complete junk. It happens when you experiment, at least it’s whole wheat.

Good morning! Partly cloudy and 51 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a southwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 44 degrees. The skies will clear around 10 am.

So yeah, breakfast was kind of a mess with the loaf I decided to cook. 🍞 Sometimes you just got to experiment I guess. Maybe it would have been better if I added some olive oil, stevia or salt. All those apples I thought would give it enough sweetness I really made a mistake leaving out all salt from the mix. 🤮 Kind of like dinner — I decided to make brown rice with chicken, with soy sauce but that meal needed some sugar to sweeten it up and MSG to tickle the uamani side of things. 🍚 I’m so used to cooking with loads of spices that when I first tasted that rice with no spices I was shocked how bland it was. And to think 🤔 that’s how I started my healthy eating journey.

Today will have isolated showers after 10am. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 59 degrees at 2pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 22nd. Southwest wind 7 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 54 degrees. The record high of 80 was set in 2017.

Not sure what today’s plans are going to look like. ⛺ Seems like it would be nice enough to camp but cold. I wonder how many campsites would be taken at this point during the holiday weekend though yesterday would have been a complete soaker for camping. ☔ I’m thinking about going to the Green Mountains ⛰ though that’s an awful long trip for one night 🌃 that might be super cold. 🌬️ The forecast has improved but it’s going to be still quite windy and cold. But then again it’s Columbus Day Weekend. ⛵ That said, who knows how much longer there will be much color after the heavy rain and now the wind.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:44 pm with sun having an altitude of 41.6° from the due south horizon (-29.2° vs. V6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.8 footl shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:49 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (256°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (263°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:27 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:53 pm, which is one minute and 42 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:28 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 56 degrees. There will be a southwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 27 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over yesterday.

Got the new bike 🚲 light 🔦 installed on my bicycle yesterday and it’s quite bright 🔆 from my initial before dawn testing this morning. I’m hoping if I get out today to camp I can do some night riding and see how great it really is. I love how it has USB charging built in and I can just plug in both the front and back lights for a charge while I’m home or at camp. No need to worry about batteries. 🔋

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃 , with a low of 40 degrees at 6am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 18th. South wind 7 to 9 mph. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 36 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 2001.

Might be a decent night 🌃 for camping 🏕. As who knows about next week. I keep refreshing the forecast for Thomas WV and aren’t really sure what to think 🤔 about it. Still looks very cold and wet in the long range but things could change for sure.

Andy Arthur.org

Search Results for: photo time to take down that campsite