Good morning! Last full day of summer vacation. 🏖

Got to make the most of it as tomorrow at this time I’ll be taking down camp. All good things must end, it wouldn’t be a vacation if it lasted forever.

Partly sunny and 74 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. ☀ There is a south-southwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 69 degrees. The muggy weather ends Thursday around 3 am. 😓

Yesterday I spent the bulk of the day paddling along Seneca Lake 🛶 first from the kayak launch up to Hector Falls – about three miles under Hector Cliffs then swam and cooled off in Seneca Lake. 🏊‍♂️ Then for about two hours thunderstorms ⛈ and rain rolled through and I hung out in my truck with nothing better to do. Then when the rain stopped I paddled to the other side of the lake to the Watkins Glen marina ⛵ and explored a bit of the south and west shore before checking out the Montour Canal which seemed a lot cleaner since the new Watkins Glen sewage treatment plant 🌿 came online.

Going to be a hot one today but breezy 🌬️ so I ended up deciding against going to Taughannock State Park to swim and paddle, instead deciding on the much smaller but still choppy Cayuta Lake in Odessa. 🛶

Figure explore the marshy Cayuta Inlet 🐦 which is good for finding birds and turtles 🐢 and maybe do some catch and release fishing 🎣. Midday maybe hike a little with binoculars from Airport Road at Catharine Creek Marsh Wildlife Management Area and then the Watkins Pool 🏊‍♂️ and then one last Glen Dairy Bar ice cream 🍦before heading back to camp. 🌭 Go back to camp ⛺ watch the stars ✨ for a while at Foster Pond 🔥 then have a fire to close out the night.

Tomorrow I hope to take down camp ⛺ early and then head to Taughannock State Park. I’ll have my 🛶 with me as I’m heading home from there, so if Cayuga Lake is reasonably calm I’ll paddle it, otherwise I’ll check out the falls and do some swimming before heading home 🏡. Actually I might go to my parents house first for Sunday dinner if they are around and stay over there. Avoid the city 🌆 as long as possible. Depends on the timing but with gas prices ⛽ I will probably take the most direct route home.