Saturday was an action packed day but a good one. I started the day pretty early with the Save the Pine Bush Bird Hike and Neil Reilly did not disappoint. I wish I had some better glass. I got to invest in some binoculars. And a good bird book. 🐦Neil helped me learn a lot of birds but will I remember them all? I really need to learn more about the flora and fauna I’m observing in the wilderness. It would help with hunting too, especially if I eventually get into big game when I own my own land. 🔭

I bought a spatula at the Hannaford in Esperance. Forgot mine at home. $10 with tax seemed pricey but I figured hopefully this all metal one will hold up. 🍴 Then I can keep the big camp spatula for my camping supply box and use the other one at home. Unlike some of the spatulas I’ve previously owned this one is a single piece of metal so it’s less likely to break at the weld like some of the other I own. I burn a lot of food so I break a lot of spatulas scraping pans. 🍳 But now I have a camp and a home one and hopefully the home one lasts a long time.

Moss Island was fun but the colors were just changing and it’s the third time I’ve been there so it’s less interesting now. Still a nice hike, as was doing some of the Erie Canal Trail through the deep railroad cut. 🚶 Japanese Knotweed is really taking over part of the gorge though. That invasive species is everywhere these days it seems. 🌾Went out for a short paddle on the Mohawk River from Little Falls past Moss Island to the old Fink Basin Bridge foundation. 🌉 It’s hard to spot the foundation at this point because the Japanese Knotweed is all over it. Needless to say, I’m very concerned about the Japanese Knotweed taking over everything. When they were pumping out the lock, the water Goya bit choppy but I was far enough away not to be real impacted. That Lock 17 drops 40 feet so it’s a pretty big lock with a lot of water to move downstream.

Leaving the Pine Bush hike I was a bit concerned about the squeak that was coming from the rear wheel of my truck. 🚚 It sounded like a brake noise because it changed when I applied the brakes. But they’re working fine and after a few good hard applies of the brakes they’ve mostly gone away. Think it’s either mud or maybe just glaze that’s built up from last week overheating the brakes heading down through Durham. Should have used a lower gear heading down the hill. Heading towards Stratford I smelled somebody burning their garbage and thought it might be the brakes but the smell went away after driving past their farm. Hillbilly incense getting me all upset. If y’all going to burn your plastic garbage, at least burn it in a hot fire so it don’t stink. 🔥 I checked, rotators aren’t warm and aren’t dragging – and after a few hard braking the noise is mostly gone. But it’s concerning enough I scheduled an appointment to have it looked at. Pretty sure it’s just the drum brake mechanism is acting up.

Driving up to Pisceo-Powley Road from Little Falls I stopped and got some sweet corn 🌽 and tomatoes. 🍅 I then stopped at Green Acres Drive In and got Pumpkin Ice Cream 🍦🎃 which I swear the cream was a bit rancid. It was okay but I don’t think I’d get end of the season ice cream again from them.

I ended up camping at campsite five at Pisceo-Powley Road. ⛺ They cut up the tree that fell during that severe thunderstorm that came through ⚡ that mid August long weekend that I delayed my entry to avoid. I’m glad I missed that storm a lot of branches came down around this campsite but the DEC did a nice job cleaning up around the site. I like that campsite a lot because it’s remote and I can listen to music, 🎶 shoot guns 🔫 and burn whatever I want without bothering folks. 🔥Just like when I own my own land. No neighbors, no rules. 📐 But that doesn’t mean I’ll trash my own land. That said finding burnt out of aluminum cans wasn’t cool. I flattened them and will take home for recycling. It your going to burn stuff in the woods at least pack out what doesn’t burn completely. 🚯♻ Outhouse seat also seemed like somebody broke it. A shame, the outhouse is only a year old. Still works but the wood in the seat is cracked. 💺

The storm in August meant there was quite a bit of dead and down wood around camp. I had plenty for the fire. I always try to get wood a bit farther away from camp to save the close-by wood for other campers who get here late or myself for that matter. 🌲

Setting up camp went well but I discovered that I spilled bleach and water in my truck bed. Ruined another pair of jeans 👖. Ducks but I needed more jeans to wear on casual days to work. I can wear the bleached pair of jeans at home. Made some sweet sausage 🍣and mashed potatoes for dinner – along with sweet corn 🌽. I wanted to make angel hair pasta 😇 with dinner but I forgot to pack butter.

Sun sets early this time of year but I had the mess cleaned up in my truck, dinner cooked and the lights strung by dark which occurred relatively late in the woods on this very clear day. 🌇 Still it was pitch black before 7:30 which made for a long night but with the two batteries powering the lights it wasn’t a big deal. I got things done that needed to be done by then including getting a fire going. 🔥 Got cold and put the hoodie and long pants on. Even with the warm weather it gets cold at night. With the long night, I was shocked 😲 how quickly I drank the six pack I brought. 🍻 I wasn’t trying to get drunk but I made a lot of beer dissappear quickly. Oh well, I must have been thirsty and I slept it off. Minor hang over this morning.

This morning was quite nice I had eggs 🍳 and sausage along with coffee. ☕ It was a cold start but it warmed up relatively quickly. I ended up hanging out in the warm sun for a while, listening to the radio 📻 for a while and then swinging in the hammock while working on some blog posts.

Midday I went for a kayak paddle down the East Canada Creek 🚤 and it was quite colorful and quiet out on the creek. Water levels were pretty low. But I made it over the beaver dam and the leaves were nice. 🍁 Didn’t bother with the fishing pole as I’ve never had much luck fishing there. Spent a little time at the potholers but it was quite cold and the sky had clouded up and it was getting late.

I got home, unpacked and scheduled an appointment for next week to have my truck looked at.🔧 The noise seems to come and go but I think it’s getting worse so I should get it fixed. I’ll probably stay in town next week because I need to save money 💵 and I also I don’t want something to break while I am out of town.

I’ll post more photos 📷 and videos 🎥 throughout the week.