Illion

Illion

I always find driving the part of the Thruway around Illion to be the most fascinating. It's an interesting mix of geologies as you rise from the end of the Mohawk Valley into the Onieda Lake plains - the mucky farm country with many a swamp and arces of fertile black dirt. 

Condon Hollow Trail – Halcott Mountain Lean To

 Condon Hollow Trail - Halcott Mountain Lean To

The Condon Hollow Trail follows an old mountain pass that runs between South Vly Mountain and Sleeping Lion in the Hallcott Mountain Wild Forest. The lean-to is located 2.0 miles west of of the Condon Hollow Parking Area, or 1/2 mile east of the Turk Hollow Road. The col between the mountains is 2,860 elevation, an ascent of 800 feet from Condon Hollow Parking Area. The lean-to is at 2,380 feet, which roughly 300 ascent from the end of Turk Hollow Road or 400 feet below the col. Tailhead parking at: 42.21852779311055,-74.42673587591332

More information on this forest can be found on DEC website: https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/28314.html

Then it got cooler this Thursday …

I woke up during the middle of the night when that cold front pushed through, the wind pushed up and it got cooler in my bedroom. Still, yesterday was a beautiful day and today is cooler but not exactly cold. Definately though this morning reminds us we are well into the second half of October. It was dark and I got a late start into the office.

More clouds this morning and cooler. ☁️ I greased up my chain and headed in, packing the last of the brown rice made so creamy and delicous by cooking down with red lentils, turmeric and a bit of salt. 🍲 To beef it up I added some veggies. That also was dinner and lunch yesterday. It reminds me a lot of those processed-rice dishes you can get like Rice-a-Roni, though with the red lentils and brown rice, it is much healthier of an option. πŸ›Œ It was hard to get out of bed this morning.

I decided to do my own oil change this weekend, πŸ”§ so i don’t have to worry about getting that done with it so hard to get an appointment, having to take time off from work, etc. Then I’ll have them rotate the tires in December when I have state inspection done. πŸ”Ž πŸ›» I might do a trip out to Cazenovia next weekend, though I’m thinking the following weekend — Veterans Day Weekend — might be better, possibly tagging a few extra days on it. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about remote work, I could be fully off the grid.

I might instead camp Veterans Day Weekend along the East Branch of Deerfield River in Vermont. πŸ• Then I’m thinking Black Friday through that Monday, camping off of NY 8 and East Branch. Come December after Big Game Season, as I’ll probably have time to use, I’m thinking that would be a good time to camp in Cazenovia or Brookfield, and maybe do more of the Canalway outside of Utica/Rome. 🚴Figure best to plan any further away trips after the state inspection, as they could find defects in the suspension, etc. that would be worthwhile to fix before I have a breakdown on the roadside. πŸš›