Acra Point

A mountain with excellent views of Big Hollow, the Blackhead Mountains, Burnt Knob, and surrounding lands. There are also views to the north-east of Greenville, the Alcove Reservoir, the Hudson River, Coeymans, and Albany on a clear day.

A popular route is to take Burnt Knob Trail to the Long Path, then south on the Long Path across Acra Point, then winding through the woods for two miles with only one view of Catskill Roundtop. You then descend the mountain via the Batavia Kill trail, pass the Batavia Kill Lean-To.

http://www.catskillmountaineer.com/WB-acraloop.html

When are you going to move back to the hills, you must have plenty of money at this point

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When are you going to move back to the hills, you must have plenty of money at this point ? 🐐 🚜 🏡

I was being a bit of a troll on one of my high school colleagues Facebook and he came back on me with such a biting sting on my days leading up to age forty.

I’ve been this weekend hiking and skiing Rennselearville State Forest going up and down the hills and hollows. I’d sure love to set down roots in such a place but I wouldn’t want any nearby neighbors to complain if I make a little too much smoke or noise.

I concede I could probably live within the limits of New York State and all the work arounds basically every rural resident has to put up with. Lots of stupid shit, taxes and permits. I could get a pistol permit and I really don’t need to burn a lot of noxious plastic shit – I can always bring trash to the transfer station and pay the fee. Nobody is going to care if your way out in the country, attending to your fires and you burn paper or even a few plastic wrappers in a hot fire. I could find a wife and settle down. Have goats and other livestock. That’s still legal, although I’m sure animal rights activists will he spying from the road to make sure my livestock complies with their ideas of animal rights.

But I work in the city and it sure is nice to be able to just hop on the bus and he to work in a few minutes. My apartment is cheap and there are plenty of places I can walk to. For my desire to be back in the hills and mountains there is camping in the wilderness. I have plenty of fires up in the woods and burn lots of shit. It’s fun. Meat in styrofoam packaging is easy, burns down to nothing. And I’ve been able to work with things as they are today, while saving and building a secure future with many options open in more free states in the future where things aren’t a bad in New York.

You can live in the hills and the hollers of New York but it’s still kind of a neutered existence.

January 29, 2023 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Fortieth Birthday to Me. 🎂 I’m not telling anyone on Facebook, we’ll see if anyone notices, lol. 😂 Getting up and starting breakfast shortly. Then taking down camp and heading out for a walk. Later on depending on my mood I might go to Rennselearville Falls and hike there though it’s a cloudy day and I doubt there will be much ice this year due to being so mild. Come next weekend might be a different story though it’s going to be frigid then and I doubt I’ll be camping then.

Mostly cloudy and 33 degrees in Rennselearville State Forest. ☁ There is a south breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ The warmth and sun was tough on the snow yesterday and it will be warmer today for just one more day. ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 5 am. ☃️

Yesterday was a beautiful day for skiing 🎿. Lots of blue skies and sun ☀ and not much wind. Still the morning was cold enough the snow was good though midday it got a bit tacky by melting and a few bare patches. But much better than the initial forecast. I did a lot of skiing last night. 🎿

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after 1pm. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 41 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 3rd. South wind 7 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 14 degrees. The record high of 54 was set in 2002. 8.3 inches of snow fell back in 1990.❄

Does forty feel much different than 39? 👴🏻 Not really. I don’t think I’m much more gray than yesterday. But it’s still both an exciting and somewhat scary time as things are bound to change at an accelerating rate. But I’m ready to embrace it and take the necessary steps to make my 50th birthday in ten years especially special. There are so many things I want to do but there are steps in the mean time to follow. 🔮

Sunset tonight is at 5:06 pm with dusk 🌆 around 5:37. 9 hours and 56 minutes of daylight an increase of two minutes over yesterday. Cloudy breezy and 36 at sunset with a chance of rain showers. And then cold for mid week into next weekend. Cold then even by January standards, though Wednesday starts February and the Ground Hog reports to duty on Thursday. He’ll see his shadow and it will be cold ❄ for a while.

Later on today, going out to my parents house 🏡 for Sunday dinner and to spend the evening with them. Than back to work next week. A real five day work week. 🏢 Like everything it will go by quickly. Not planning any more trips in the near future as it’s going to be cold but maybe if it warms up for President’s Day Week I’ll plan a long weekend somewhere to be decided. Maybe Five Rivers next Saturday though it will be cold or maybe I’ll go up to see John Wolcott and his wife. I guess I could always mall walk if it’s truly frigid with the muzzle on. 😷

Since the start of December I’ve camped eight nights ⛺ only two of them in the heated tent the rest in my truck cap. 🛻 I actually prefer to sleep in an unheated place, I sleep better 😴 although even the heated tent isn’t heated while I sleep for obvious safety reasons. While the trip to Rennselearville State Forest wasn’t as invigorating as Madison County with all the farms and rural landscapes 🐮 its nice to get away from the city 🏙 for a few nights. 🌲

End of the Day