Cole Hill State Forest

I guess it’s official that the unofficial start of summer has begun. That said, my summer really doesn’t kick off until legislative session is done though I expect next weekend not to be super busy so I will be able to get out of town. I’m just looking forward to a long quiet weekend totally off-grid with no work concerns to think about or address.

Good morning! Talk about a beautiful Memorial Day. Sunny and 68 degrees at the Cole Hill State Forest. 🌞 There is a east breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 47 degrees.

I have to say it’s been nice hammock camping up at Cole Hill State Forest. ⛺ Only sixteen miles, two traffic lights and speed zones, 22 minutes to home. Sure beats fighting traffic on NY 30 to get home and unpacked. Very few black flies, a nice breeze and good meals 🍴 cooked over the campfire. 🔥 I liked the simplicity of it all and the taste of the meals. Since I’ve gotten into healthy eating, the quality of food has improved enormously and I don’t mind the lack of hang overs at all.

Memorial Day will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 78 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around June 9th. Maximum dew point of 48 at 11am. East wind around 7 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 80 degrees. The record high of 93 was set in 1931.

Not rushing to take down camp 🎒 that said I don’t have that much gear to take down. I do want to have time to go for a stroll around the forest before heading home, unpacking and showering 🚿 before seeing my folks for Memorial Day. In the evening I might do a quick hike up Bennett Hill before heading home for the night. 🌃 Then three session days this week, with only one likely late night on Wednesday and obviously the work picnic at six tomorrow. 🧺 I also have my doctors appointment for my yearly physical in the morning at 8:30 on the morning, I plan to leave by 7:45 am so excited can walk 🚶 there.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 68.8° from the due south horizon (-1.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:44 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (294°). 📸

I stayed up until after 11 pm last night 🌃 but it was such a nice evening last night and I figured I could sleep in. Chicken, rice, onions, lentils, tomatoes in a wrap was dinner last night cooked over the fire. 🔥 As you might have guessed, it was amazing. Lots of moonlight followed by stars ✨. Hiked 10 miles yesterday along the Long Path and truck trails, along with trips back and forth carrying food and supplies back and forth to the truck. 🛻

The sunset is in the west-northwest (301°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:26 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 8:59 pm, which is 52 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south (183°) at an altitude of 47° from the horizon, 246,793 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:43 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 70 degrees. The dew point will be 49 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 29 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 45 degrees at 5am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 7th. Southeast wind around 10 mph. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 55 degrees. The record low of 33 occurred back in 1967.

The beautiful weather keeps rolling into the weekend. ☀ Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 76. Maximum dew point of 54 at 6am. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 78. Maximum dew point of 51 at 8pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 76 degrees. Fantastic. Not sure if it warrants a trip to the Adirondacks but I definitely want to be camping 🏕 and hiking somewhere fun and nice. Water temperature is still real cold. Truck cap camping again I’m planning on. It’s certainly more convenient that way.

Looking ahead, next Monday is 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ with dusk at 9:05 pm. Nice! On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 77 and 47 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 77 degrees. We hit a record high of 97 back in 1925. Before my time.

While it would have been nice to get out of town for the Memorial Day Weekend, I’m enjoying the light breeze camping in the back country of Cole Hill, eating good healthy and delicious meals cooked over the fire and enjoying the light of a fire, the moon and candles in the evening. I’m sure if I had gone to the Adirondacks I would have been dealing with a lot more black flies to say nothing of the long drive, traffic and probably not getting my dream campsite. Onwards to Juneteenth Weekend, lol.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Sunny and 68 degrees at the Cole Hill State Forest. 🌞 Calm wind. The dew point is 46 degrees. Warming up quickly after a somewhat cool night. I probably could have used another blanket for hammock camping last night.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 82 degrees at 4pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around June 24th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 11am. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. That breeze is nice and it’s not expected to be real humid. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 80 degrees. The record high of 93 was set in 2016. I think that year I was camping in the Green Mountain National Forest and spending much of the day at the beach at Grout Pond. There was a dusting of snow in 1902.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 68.8° from the due south horizon (-2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:43 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (294°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (301°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 8:57 pm, which is 52 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southwest (199°) at an altitude of 51° from the horizon, 248,997 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:41 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 71 degrees. The dew point will be 51 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 30 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 51 degrees at 4am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 26th. Maximum dew point of 51 at 8pm. Northwest wind around 7 mph. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 51 degrees. The record low of 34 occurred back in 1956.

I took my bike to Downtube and they told me that they didn’t think it warranted a professional rebuild 🚲 due to numerous components needing replacement to get it up and running well. They were more than happy to show me the latest 2023 models which run about $800 after tax and destination charges, but suggested my bicycle might still be a fun project to rebuild myself even if there are some components – namely the gas suspension which is bad and will fail catastrophically at some point in the future. They pointed me in the direction of the Albany Bicycle Rescue which offers free classes on bicycle repair on Tuesday.

Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until the Gas Up Day 2 🚜 when the sun will be setting at 8:35 pm with dusk at 9:08 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 78 and 50 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 78 degrees. We hit a record high of 94 back in 1947.