October 12, 2019 Night

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Good evening! Mostly clear under the full Hunter Moon 🎑 and 39 degrees at the Monongahela National Forest. There is a west breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 am. ☃️

That breeze plus the cold clear skies made me decide to put out the fire cold early, go for a short moonlit hike to look at the stars ✨ and then retire to the heated tent. I was going to read 📖 for a while but I don’t know, I’m pretty tired. The tent is comfortable now, shortly I think I’ll cut the lights and heat and get comfortable under the covers.

Before the front came through it was a fairly nice morning. ⛅ Clouds with sun. Then I went to get changed and played with my phone for a while and it started to rain ☔. I crawled back into the tent with the heater, read 📖 for a few hours, finishing book three and starting on four. Then around 4 pm it cleared out and I went to Blackwater Falls for a while, but it was frigid with the wind so I didn’t stay long. I kind of slipped multiple times on the slick leaf covered, rain soaked stairway. I started to head over to the Cannan Refuge but I turned back with the wind 🍃 and cold ❄. Plus the road was rough and didn’t want to risk damaging my truck. I mean I have 500 plus miles to drive before I am home. Then I went for a short half hour walk in Cannan Heights before gathering some firewood, starting a fire and cooking pizza 🍕 with random left overs in the camp oven on the gas stove. Put the fire in the fire 🔥 out cold around 8 pm, went for a walk under the moonlight and then retired to the hot tent as I was cold. I guess I could have put on more layers but everything is so cold and damp out with the breeze and I knew how nice and warm it would be in the tent. Breeze and dampness is worse than lack of mercury in the thermometer in my experience. 🍃

I totally admit that I’m tired 😴 after a week of camping. Even though it’s not hard backpacking and my hikes have been fairly short, it’s been a lot of chopping wood, setting up and taking down camp ⛺. Beautiful country in West Virginia – I wish I had gotten down here sooner – but all this travel makes me crave home and the ease of sleeping in my regular bed, taking the bus to work every day. 🚍

Tonight will have patchy frost after 11pm. Otherwise, mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 29 degrees at 5am. 11 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 24th. West wind 5 to 9 mph. Already a cold night, will be even colder by day break here in the mountains. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 41 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1981.

Tonight is the Hunter Moon. 🌕 Certainly nice and clear but bitterly cold with the wind for enjoying the moon tonight. The sun will rise at 7:24 am with the first light at 6:57 am, which is one minute later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 12 hours and 41 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 60 degrees at 2pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 15th. Maximum dew point of 46 at 5pm. South wind 5 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 55 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 1930. There was a dusting of snow in 1934.❄

While it feels like I just got to West Virginia, tomorrow it’s back north to Pennsylvania ⬆ (after doing some bird watching 🐦 in the Cannan Refuge). Stop at the massive Mount Storm Coal Plant / Lake to stick my toes in the lake that’s always 75 degrees due to thermal pollution, 🏭and Mount Pisgah State Park. 📷 Overnight at County Bridge State Park outside Troy, Penna then back to New York Columbus Day ⛺.

In four weeks on November 9 the sun will be setting at 5:09 pm in West Virginia (Standard Time),🌄 which is one hour, 35 minutes and 8 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had rain showers, partly sunny and temperatures between 42 and 28 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 51 and 33 degrees. The record high of 71 degrees was set back in 1975.

Looking ahead, Northern Zone Regular Season 🦌 is in 1 weeks, Small Business Saturday 🛍️ is in 7 weeks, First Day of Winter ☃️ is in 10 weeks, 4:30 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 11 weeks, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is in 14 weeks and 5 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 15 weeks.

South from Ledge

Didn’t make it to Camp Run

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I am a bit sad I didn’t make it to Camp Run Campground this year, as much as I don’t like campground camping. A free campground, the US Forest Servicedescribes this campground as:

“Nestled along a Shenandoah Mountain drainage in Pendleton County, WV, Camp Run provides an opportunity for primitive 1950’s style camping that is popular with hunters.”

Only the most fun people in the world know about it. If you haven’t drunk cheap whiskey in plastic cups with folks eating sardines, crackers and off brand cheese in a can, with bros that address you by the title,” Good Buddy”, with a deep southern accent you haven’t lived.

And while not high country, the Sweedlin Valley, an agricultural Valley along the South Branch of the Potomac bordered by Shenandoah Mountain and North Fork Mountain is super scenic. It’s in the National Quiet Zone. No cellphones or even radio stations.

October 12, 2019 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Saturday. Last full day in West Virginia. 🌲🍂🍃But it’s been a nice road trip, and Sunday night I’ll camp in Pennsylvania before heading home on Columbus Day. Next Saturday is Northern Zone Regular Season 🦌. Clouds with a few breaks of blue sky and 56 degrees at the Monongahela National Forest. ⛅ Seems like a There is a west breeze at 11 mph. 🍃 with gusts up to 22 mph 💨💨💨. The dew point is 50 degrees. Not real cold, no need for the heater but I can hear the wind gust around. The skies will clear around 4 pm.

Made up eggs 🍳 with all the fixings this morning. Should be a good breakfast that will keep me going all day. I am going to go for a hike up in Cannan Heights on one of the trails up here in a bit then will drive down to Blackwater Falls State Park later. ⛲ Today is my last full day in West Virginia but I’m far enough north that if I get a reasonably early start tomorrow, I can poke around the Canaan Wildlife Refuge 🐦 for a while.

Today will have showers likely, mainly before 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 48 by 4pm. ⛅ West wind 11 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. 🍃 Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Fortunately, my campsite is well protected from the wind by the mountain laurel. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 61 degrees. The record high of 85 was set in 1954. There was a dusting of snow in 1904.❄

The sun will set at 6:44 pm with dusk around 7:11 pm, which is one minute and 29 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 29 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have patchy frost after 11pm. Otherwise, mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 36 degrees at 1am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 27th. West wind 3 to 8 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 41 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1981.

Jetpack said my blog was down for a few hours yesterday. 👇 Seems to be working fine today now. Maybe click refresh? I guess it doesn’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things.

Despite washing up using rinse free cleaner along with wet wipes and a wash cloth, sure starting to feel a bit dirty going a week without a shower 🚿. I did shave well and trim my goatee 🐐. Put on lots of deodorant and I’ll shower again come Columbus Day. 🛁 I guess I really am a dirty hick. Certainly my blaze orange hoodie is more brown than orange at this point from the mud. 👃

I figure I smell probably no worse than that guy I saw spreading cow 🐮 manure 💩 in Maryland with an open cab tractor 🚜. I guess you farm with the equipment that you have. Old timers did it that way for many years.

As previously noted, next Saturday is Northern Zone Regular Season 🦌 when the sun will be setting at 6:34 pm with dusk at 7:01 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 60 and 29 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 59 degrees. We hit a record high of 79 back in 1963.

Paddlng Along the Cedar River