Day: May 17, 2021

Good morning! Happy Pack Rat Day ! It’s hard to argue with Texas ranchers with their burn pits. Pile it up and light a match. Backfill the dead pit hole with dirt. Kind of like they do in the city without the fancy liners and shit. Remember Texas is nearly six times the size of New York, you can get away with shit out there unthinkable back east. Two weeks to Memorial Day . That officially is the kick off to summer. I think I will stay out of the Adirondacks that weekend because I don’t like crowds or black flies. I had my fill this weekend. Mostly sunny and 50 degrees at the Mason Lake. Calm wind. But so far that black flies haven’t awoken but they are coming.

Yesterday, I hiked Watch Hill (again) then walked around Lewey Lake Campground studying the birds, and taking some pictures of scenery. Still not sure what the hiking trails listed on the signs are from Lewey Lake are — I have some on my map, but I couldn’t find them. But I tell you they pack those campsites in. I drove down to Mason Lake, and while I didn’t get a campsite right on the lake like I had hoped, I did find a campsite that I didn’t visit at all last year, and it was nice smaller site. The smaller sites are easier to light. The black flies were super bad all around Perkins Clearing, but once I had the screen tent set up and I could hide out in there to dusk, it was bearable. Did some reading and scrolling through the phone for a while before doing a brief walk down to Mason Lake, which was about 3/4 mile down from the road where I camped. Virtually nobody up at Watch Hill, I passed a small group hiking up the mountain but after that I didn’t see a single other person. I didn’t dilly dally too much on Watch Hill as I heard some thunder and it looked like rain to south but it tuned out to be nothing more then a handful of rain dops.

Taking down camp and getting ready to head to Spectulator. I have a busy day ahead so I want to be there by nine . I also want things taken down before the black flies are out in force. Made some eggs and laying back in the hammock for a few minutes before I start on south. A pretty nice day, alas a work day so I’ll probably be spending most of the day at the Lake Pleasant Wi-Fi, but at least I won’t have to worry about having enough energy to keep everything charged. But alas, this evening after work I’m heading back home. I am running a bit low on supplies, and I want to work from home tomorrow so I can get ready for working in office come Wednesday. Pretty drive though down to Spectulator this morning.

Today will have a slight chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly sunny , with a high of 69 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 9th. But then again, we are comparing Speculator weather to Albany climate normals, and that’s not a perfect mix as it’s colder in mountains. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 74 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 2017.

The agenda today is pretty much work, although I hope at lunch time to have an hour to go for a walk along the Sacandaga River and maybe sit down by Lake Pleasant. At 5 PM or so I’ll head home and get unpacked. Maybe a make a few stops along away to toss in a fishing line. J do like fishing below the dam in Wells, although with the warm weather they probably will have ramped the hydro dam up and the trout are probably hiding in deep due to the heat.

Solar noon is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 65.8° from the due south horizon (-4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour starts at 7:37 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (291°). The sunset is in the west-northwest (298°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:19 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 8:51 pm, which is one minute and 3 seconds later than yesterday. At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter Moon in the west-southwest (254°) at an altitude of 49° from the horizon, 241,453 miles away. The best time to look at the stars is after 9:34 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies and temperatures around 60 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and 48 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 3 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy , with a low of 47 degrees at 3am. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 13th. Calm wind. In 2020, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 54 degrees. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1981.

This weekend will give us a hint of summer. But not really muggy. Saturday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 77. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 57 at 8am. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 56 at 8am. Typical average high for the weekend is 73 degrees. I’m considering Madison County, where there won’t be black flies, but two weekend in a row traveling can be a bit tired. I am not sure.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Memorial Day when the sun will be setting at 8:31 pm with dusk at 9:06 pm. Aren’t you looking forward to the unofficial kick-off for summer, although we get will get a taste of that this week. On that day in 2020, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 65 and 46 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 75 degrees. We hit a record high of 92 back in 2013.