Good morning. Still pretty foggy out but now we are up to 65 degrees on our way up to 82 degrees under ample sun. The dew point is expected to be quite sticky today so it really will feel like a mid July day. Cooler and possibly somewhat rainy and cloudy tomorrow but still above average temperatures around 72.
The sun will set at 6:58 pm with dusk around 7:26 pm, which is one minute and 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly clear conditions and 79 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an decrease of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a slight chance of showers after 4am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 61 degrees at 5am. 11 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 6pm. Light southeast wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies. It was sticky. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 32 occurred back in 1959.
While Saturday I did not get locked through on Lock 17 — which admittedly is the biggest lock elevation wise on the Erie Canal — I did have a lot of fun paddling along the Mohawk River along the Moss Island and down the river a ways in search of the bridge foundation for the old bridge at Finks Basin along the river. I did find it it but first overlooked it because I was expecting more of a concrete foundation for the old bridge, not hand laid stone. But then again, the original bridge across the Mohawk River had to have been quite old, and I guess for the light traffic that the one lane bridge was expected to get it was decided a formal concrete foundation was not needed. Paddling along the Mohawk River there were some big carp that jumped up. Some had to have been two feet long, in the shallows of the river. I brought a fishing pole but I didn’t toss it in, partly because I doubt I could have caught any of them from a kayak with my 10 lb test on my fishing pole.
It’s really great that Moss Island was preserved and not used for a bridge abutment for the flyover ramp to the Thruway from Little Falls. What became the Thomas Wind Bridge really is quite a beautiful, graceful bridge, and it avoided damaging the natural history and geology of Moss Island. 45 years later, I think Moss Island has to be one of Little Falls’ greatest strengths, it’s protection made things like Canal Place possible. It draws rock climbers from across the region, to say those who are interested in the beauty of gracefully carved rocks. It apparently didn’t end up costing the city much more to build the bridge some 500 feet south of the original plan, and honestly, I think the bridge is straighter and probably less congested had it connected up exactly where the old river road is now, where the statute had originally required the Thruway Connection to terminate. It would have been tragic if the natural beauty of Moss Island had been destroyed. I’m really surprised the tourism bureau in Little Falls and Herkimer County don’t do more to promote this area. I guess more use would require further development of the facilities and designated trails for people to stay on, so the little known nature does make it a lot more wild.
I was also struck by the beauty of the lands outside of Little Falls. You have the deep Mohawk Valley surrounded by the Adirondack Mountains and the Foothills. A lot of agriculture in the area just north of Little Falls, some amish, some conventional dairying, and a mix of rural households. Beautiful rolling country for sure. Lots of wind power too. Those big wind turbines not only generate renewable energy, but also jobs and revenue for farms that host them. I just love the beauty of the somewhat messy homesteads and farms, the junk people have in their yards, the rural freedom of not having a government tell rural people how they must keep their yard perfect — even if the radical environmentalist types have gotten the state to ban open burning of trash and other junk. It’s the kind of life I dream of, but obviously not in New York with the Sullivan Act (it shouldn’t be a priveledge, approved by a judge, to own a hand gun), or the SAFE Act or the complete horseshit burn ban. I would love to live outside of a place like Little Falls in the future, but not in an obnoxiously liberal and New York City dominated state like New York. I like Pennsylvania a lot but I have some concerns about the direction of that state too.
Saturday night was pretty decent, although dark without out the lights. Fortunately I had enough of a charge after hitting the low-voltage disconnect to have some light in the truck cap. After being disconnected from the load all day, the battery floated up to about 12.3 volts. Sunday afternoon, once I got home I just had to patch the exciter wire to the battery isolator — it had broken lose, and I was back in business. Things are charging once again. I also ran a switched wire — that is only hot when the engine is off to power the floor LEDs I installed in the truck cab. This way they shut off when I start the truck, so they aren’t distracting while driving at night but will come on automatically when I get to camp.
Despite not having any electric lights due to the issue with the accessory battery not charging, it was a nice with a good roaring campfire, candle light and the campfire. But it sure gets dark early in mid-September, and after a few drinks, one gets tired rather early this time of year compared to early to mid-summer when it’s really still somewhat light out until quarter to 10. I remember hiking back from Ice House Pond on the Forth of July Weekend and even though ten o’clock was rolling around it wasn’t pitch black. Mid-September is much different. And the days only get shorter going forward. The only good thing is it was so darn warm out, that it felt more summer time then September, and indeed by the campfire, even with a t-shirt just on it started to feel a bit too warm after a while.
Some high clouds meant the stars weren’t perfect when I walked out to Powley Bridge from my campsite, but I still enjoyed camping here for the first time and probably last time of the year. When I cam here in August, this site was taken, and in June the bugs were awful so I stayed away. Nice warm evening, so it was nice to just stand out on the bridge with a nice cold one. Maybe next summer it will be clearer camping at Powley Bridge.
I retired to bed around 10 pm last night but I worked on this blog post for a while. The coyotes were singing their song and I heard a screech owl a while during the night. The woods can be a bit errie at times. I’m a bit surprised that the coyote call wasn’t followed by gun fire but I guess nobody was out shooting yotes at 3 AM.
Woke up a bit hung over this morning, and it was foggy. But fortunately the orange juice helped on the hang over. I wasn’t going to have eggs this morning until I decided I’d rather have them instead of muffins, and I would avoid having to set up the Coleman Oven. Already a remarkably warm morning for mid-September — actually September 17th to be exact.
I knew I had to head back early to Albany today because I have a lot of things to do when I get back home. I thought about going for a paddle on the East Branch of the Canada Creek but decided against that so I would have time to visit the Potholers one more time on this warm day. I like paddling the East Canada Creek but it’s a pain to take down and retire up the kayak, and I’ve done the East Canada Creek many times in the past. Rather enjoy the East Canada Creek one more time while I’m still able to with the warm weather. I don’t expect to be back up here until the end June 2018 now, especially not swimming. So I figured enjoy the Potholers while I still can. They weren’t too cold, and the flow was nice, for mid-September. The horse flies though at times were pretty bad.
I left the Potholers at noon, drove back home by 1:30 PM via the Thruway and Johnstown/Amsterdam. Sunday afternoon was busy with a long list to do: unpack the truck, run into the city, buy stuff for Sunday dinner, figure out why the accessory battery is not charging and be out to my parents house by 5:30 PM. Cooked burgers with dad, they were good. It sure was a busy day, but it all got done. Sunday was nice late summer day, all things considered. Maybe even a bit hot back here in the city.
I am definitely really digging this Bluetooth keyboard. It just makes typing blog posts on my phone so much easier and natural, compared to hunting and pecking on the cellphone. I just set the phone in front of keyboard, laid up against something, and then type my post. I am actually thinking of looking on EBay for some kind of easy and inexpensive plastic cradle from China so I can prop up my phone where ever I go, in front of my Bluetooth keyboard for typing. Also thinking of getting an inexpensive Bluetooth mouse to use with my phone. After first I wasn’t that comfortable using the Bluetooth keyboard with my phone but once I got used to using the keyboard and doing a lot of typing on it, I’ve gotten quite proficient and fast typing it on it, and I think I much prefer typing blog posts using the keyboard then on the phone itself.
Looking ahead to autumn, next Monday is More Night Then Day in Albany when the sun will be setting at 6:46 pm with dusk at 7:14 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 67 and 38 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 68 degrees. We hit a record high of 89 back in 1970.