Cat Tails
Along the Labrador Pond Board Walk.
A New Road Trip
I had a perfect 👌 road trip figured out until things changed. ☔🔥
The rain got stronger in the forecast and the drought worse in West Viriginia 💦 — there is a fire ban in the Monongahela National Forest, making me think maybe I don’t want to camp in 40 degrees weather in October without a rip roaring fire 🔥 even with the heater and some cold beer and something good cooking in the camp oven 🍻. Then I was thinking about starting vacation in Allegheny National Forest and taking US 219 maybe on Tuesday to Canaan Heights (even if it means a night or two camping without a fire) but that’s a long trip out of the way, although both Maryland High Point and Mount Davis (Highest Point in PA) are on that way. Some of the neat old coal towns are along that way too, always fun to poke around after hoping off US 219. ⛏
But I want to get down to West Virignia by Monday at the latest, as I want to drive down to the New River Gorge on Tuesday. 🌉 So ain’t going to work necessarily well. So option 2 would be to first camp at County Bridge Campground in Pennsylvania, take Interstate 99 and US 220 and camp at Camp Run which is in the George Washington National Forest, which has had a little more rain and there is no campfire ban there.🔥🌧
But then it looks like Monday will be fairly wet, and I was a bit concerned about flooding on the road to Camp Run, as the campground is a ways above a Flood Control dam. Plus no radio or cellphone reception down there — so if I’m But now I don’t think it’s going to be quite as wet, so that’s the route I’ll take. Worse comes to worse, I might get stuck there a few extra days, but it’s unlikely. 🏕 It’s probably the shortest route, then on Monday or Tuesday, I’ll drive to New River Gorge, stay there one or probably two nights, then head back north. And heck, I might take US 219 and end my vacation in the Allegheny National Forest — and hit Mount Davis and Hoye Crest up that way.
I don’t know, I think I will choose the Allegheny National Forest option to start out the week.🌲🌲 I’ve been there a lot but not in the autumn for a number of years. Then I could decide either to go to West Virginia via the US 219 or head north to New York. There might be very good color in Allegany and Cattaragaus County this week, and beautiful weather to boot. Small game hunting opportunities too. I wouldn’t mind a nice autumn hike back to Zoar Valley, Allegany State Park, Little Rock City, Letchworth State Park, and maybe even the Finger Lakes.
Dead End Gorge Trail Stablized
Person Halfway Up Kaaterskill Falls
DEC asks federal officials to declare Tahawus rail line as ‘interim trail’ | News, Sports, Jobs – Adirondack Daily Enterprise
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has asked the federal government to declare a section of railroad from North Creek to the former mining hamlet of Tahawus as an “interim trail” while it is determined whether the rails should be considered abandoned.
The DEC filed a request Monday with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board seeking a “certificate of interim trail use” for the 30-mile stretch of rails owned by Saratoga & North Creek Railway, which pulled up local stakes nearly two years ago. The DEC has been seeking to have the rail line, which ends at the hamlet of Tahawus in the town of Newcomb, declared “abandoned” after a dispute over SNCR’s decision to store old tanker cars on the line.
October 4, 2019 Morning
Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Tomorrow starts the autumn road trip, 🍂 which was perfectly planned until it wasn’t. I guess you can over plan life. It’s really silly 😋 to get all stressed out by a plan. I can just drive and I’ll end up somewhere in Pennsylvania or West Virginia or Western NY. Four weeks to November 🥧. Partly cloudy and 50 degrees in Bethlehem, NY. ⛅ There is a northwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃.
I am really struggling on the trip plan, but after reviewing the evidence, I’ll probably go out to Allegheny National Forest for the weekend, and then either head north to Cattaragaus County and small-game hunt 🐿️ and hike up there, or maybe go down to West Virginia for a few days, if they get some rain and the drought weakens.🔥 I guess I don’t really need to have a fire when I’m down there, but the dust on the dirt roads might not be nice, 🌪 especially when your trying to drink coffee in camp. ☕ But while I’m in the Alleghany National Forest, especially when it’s raining, going to have some nice fires. And I’ll figure it out one day at a time.
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 57 degrees at 4pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 22nd. Maximum dew point of 46 at 8am. North wind 9 to 15 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. It became humid as the day progressed. The high last year was 72 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1891. 6.5 inches of snow fell back in 1987.❄
The sun will set at 6:32 pm with dusk around 7:00 pm, which is one minute and 44 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 54 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 36 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have areas of frost after 5am. Otherwise, mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 34 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 4th. North wind 3 to 8 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 46 degrees. The record low of 26 occurred back in 1965.
Tomorrow will have areas of frost before 9am. Otherwise, sunny 🌞, with a high of 60 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 15th. Light and variable wind. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. It became humid as the day progressed. The high last year was 61 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 1941.
Looking ahead to Sunday, a chance of showers, mainly after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65. South wind 8 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. ☔ Maximum dew point of 56 at 9pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 64 degrees.
Tonight I will go to the laundromat 👕 and then maybe to Delmar hardware to see if I can get a small shovel to use as a good shovel for burying poop and other organic waste up at camp. 🥄 I don’t want something too big, but I need a better camp shovel then my trowel, so I can get my poop 💩 dug deeper and be able to do more camp projects — I might want to dig a few places for the rain to drain out, as it’s going to pretty wet at camp on Sunday into Monday. 🌧 I so hate finding toilet paper in the woods, 🧻 the only thing worse is finding broken glass. 🥃
I also need to stop somewhere and get more lantern mantles. 🏮 Probably Walmart in Oneonta is the easier thing for that. I also need firewood,🎋 I’ll get the bagged stuff, especially if I’m driving all the way to Allegheny National Forest after visiting some state parks, being October, it will probably be close to dark by the time I set up camp, if not already dark.🌃
Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until November 🥧 when the sun will be setting at 5:48 pm with dusk at 6:17 pm. On that day in 2018, we had rain showers, mostly cloudy and temperatures between 59 and 48 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 54 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 1950.
