Rattlesnake Hill WMA

The Rattlesnake Hill Wildlife Management Area is a 5,100 acre upland tract, situated approximately eight miles west of Dansville, New York. Roughly two-thirds of the area lies in southern Livingston County, while the remaining third lies in northern Allegany County. The tract was purchased in the 1930’s under the Federal Resettlement Administration and is one of several such areas turned over to DEC for development as a wildlife management area.

The area is appropriately named after the Timber Rattlesnake, which may be occasionally found in the more remote sections of the “Hill”.

The area offers an interesting blend of upland habitats such as mature woodland, overgrown fields, conifer plantations, old growth apple orchards and open meadows.

The area is inhabited by a variety of game species and is open to public hunting. The white-tailed deer, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, grey squirrel, cottontail rabbit and woodcock are found on the area. An occasional snowshoe hare may be observed adjacent to thick creek bottom brush or conifer plantation habitats.

A number of small marsh units have been developed and provide limited hunting for waterfowl. Some of the area’s furbearing species such as mink, beaver and raccoon may be occasionally viewed at these marsh units.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/24443.html

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Don’t feed the anxiety monster πŸ‘Ή

How to become more anxious about something 101:

  • Think about it.
  • Think about how truly bad it will be should it play out.
  • Then try to avoid thinking about it as it’s making you anxious.

Things could go terribly wrong, but chances are they won’t. Sometimes they do but those are the exceptions not the rule.

Reasoning with anxiety works in your more rational moments but during an anxiety attack, it’s a terrible idea as your not being rational in the moment. Set the problem aside and move on to other things for now.

Dewelling on the problem in your mind is only going to make it worse, even if you are trying to suppress the thought. Take deep breath, accept it for what it is, and just move on. When you are anxious you aren’t paying attention to other important things and your more likely to overlook other critical things – that could cause actual harm or problems.

They say, your problems are all in your head. And many of them are. It’s that simple and you focus on other things you can make your life better.

Think !

Be aware of misleading graphs and statistics, especially when people are appealing to science.

Nice lady called about my car warranty. πŸ€”

I was like, oh, it’s time already to throw away my car – with so many expensive problems certain to happen shortly! I asked if I just take my old car to the landfill? And do I get to push it over the edge? She’s like no, no, this about your warranty. I’m like but if my warranty is about to expire, I need to get rid of my car at the landfill so I’m not held financially responsible. She is like we can help you with your repairs if you sign up today. No, I’m just concerned with the high cost of landfill tipping fees – my car is nearly 3 tons. Can they recycle cars – I’ve heard they charge less at the landfill for recycling. She hung up.

Doesn’t she understand how our throwaway society works? You buy, you use, you throw away shortly thereafter. Nobody repairs anything anymore. Must not be a Real American.

Struggling with the changes of getting older

At age 35, I often struggle to figure out what is better to do today versus wait for tomorrow.👴 Every year as a mature and get older, options close, roads not taken are forever closed off to me. If you overshoot your exit, you can’t back up on the highway. There is no turning around the clock of time. ⏳I will never be as young as I currently am, I will become less physically able to do certain things that🏃 I once had the potential to do while I was younger.

Time per se is not a bad thing. A little money saved each week over time adds up 📈and compounds both as an investment and with interest.💰 Money opens up options, and buying with cash is always much cheaper and flexible than credit. Cash just goes so much farther.💵

While by no means should I take the first exit on the highway,🚧 I should be a thoughtful observer of every exit that I pass on by. A some point the highway of life may come to an abrupt end – accidents, cancer, heart attacks – sometimes strike people much too young.🐍 But honestly I know it’s worth the risk as their are better exits ahead on the straight and narrow highway, 🌻and just because a sign is shiny and new doesn’t mean that is the exit you want to your ultimate destination.

My conservative estimate is that I will likely live until age 70. Maybe longer, maybe less. 😯In ten years from now I’ll have 20 years in with the state, fifteen it will be 25. I’m generally happy with my course, I have a great job, a beautiful office with million dollar views of the mountains.🗻 I think I’m fairly good at my job. So even if I decide at age 45 or 50 to do something else, I’ll have many options still ahead of me. But I should really pay attention to what’s coming up on the highway of life, 🎰and give every passing exit another thought before leaving it forever in the rear view mirror.🔰

Political Paranoia and Dead Turtles

The other day I was reading a light-hearted post on Facebook about the dangers that turtles face while crossing highways and that people can help them by avoiding hitting them. Then of course there had to be a completely irrational animal rights extremist on that post, who had to warn people about those who would go out an intentionally hit turtles on the road, because apparently there are a lot of turtle haters in the world who have leak-proof steel tires and ultra-durable suspensions on their cars. I do not recommend hitting turtles, bricks, tin cans, glass bottles, large rocks, and other debris on the road – and certainly not intentionally. You can damage your suspension of your car, not to mention dent a rim or get a flat tire.

Political paranoia is the greatest threat facing our country. There are too many people who have a paranoid view of the world – and believe everybody is out to get them. Animal rights extremists believe that there are people out there actively to kill turtles for nothing but the fact they are turtles, and apparently people hate turtles – and want to destroy their cars in the process. Not that there is much evidence to that fact. But the paranoid don’t want to hear that. They want to believe that there are evil forces out there, actively working to destroy their world. Such people are not helpful to our country or the process of it’s governing, because they are demeaning well meaning, hard-working individuals and are distraction to actual needed change in our country.

Turtle in the Mud

Stillwater Reservoir Camping 🚀 β›Ί

There are 46 designated campsites along the Stillwater Reservoir, along with a handful nearby or on the Moshier Reservoir.

Here are some useful maps.

 Stillwater Reservoir

 Moshier Reservior

Here is a list of coordinates for campsites along Stillwater Reservoir in the Western Adirondacks.  You can also get this list as a Google Sheet.

NameDescriptionCoordinates
Big Moose Rd Campsite43.881036000325466,-75.0457000003833
Campsite 1Kettle Hole43.91087179257541,-75.03968430112016
Campsite 2The Lagoon43.903977097671124,-75.02963748636475
Campsite 3Evergreen Landing43.904584325331804,-75.01959543839234
Campsite 4Peaked Mountain Outlet43.907127245272704,-75.00285831980182
Campsite 543.90586912218538,-75.00090074522005
Campsite 643.90632154558408,-74.99552556384639
Campsite 743.90000491925868,-74.98240129784713
Campsite 843.91144696964229,-74.98463094251615
Campsite 9North Shore43.909908730517515,-74.97942422010028
Campsite 10Island 2643.910994330529824,-74.97320721157439
Campsite 11Halstead’s43.91498978397045,-74.97239159382124
Campsite 12Popple Point43.916076986426134,-74.96536010029281
Campsite 13Rockwell Point43.917891111444156,-74.96201085648185
Campsite 14Shallow Cut43.91873673325241,-74.95782501995895
Campsite 15Smokey Bear Stump43.92345520446557,-74.95514287625957
Campsite 16Hemlock Knoll43.921880882369145,-74.95229790374844
Campsite 17Island 3343.92502189140718,-74.94091017327614
Campsite 18Deer Bay43.918124779071036,-74.94208887334926
Campsite 19High Knoll-Big Burn43.92115213629026,-74.94627140472733
Campsite 2043.90927978682487,-74.9581893230617
Campsite 2143.915417305379634,-74.9545671476461
Campsite 22North Shore Narrows43.91461838150145,-74.94828609091334
Campsite 2343.91633713940584,-74.93845492700764
Campsite 24Gun Harbor Entrance43.918481681184815,-74.93103937885131
Campsite 25North Branch43.92790650092124,-74.91060106938106
Campsite 2643.92959998697331,-74.88667838335716
Campsite 2743.91155768485678,-74.93308267712807
Campsite 2843.90518884876708,-74.94691378360277
Campsite 2943.91148146764025,-74.95521214716841
Campsite 3043.91034098059357,-74.9635958834694
Campsite 3143.90879791400817,-74.96557386780817
Campsite 3243.90496833871764,-74.96921360218568
Campsite 3343.904397767716866,-74.97387937552598
Campsite 3443.90274084237983,-74.97925711300107
Campsite 3643.89899916062253,-74.99891669724019
Campsite 3743.89685381848027,-75.00321613580694
Campsite 3843.89370907873536,-75.00748530304966
Campsite 3943.86994406600552,-74.9935282362608
Campsite 4043.87272579149077,-74.98622252146845
Campsite 4143.86392185993403,-75.00139684952404
Campsite 4243.86483657785204,-75.00400465044677
Campsite 4343.869009072028994,-75.0169657056145
Campsite 4543.87678296342001,-75.02613648057141
Campsite 4643.87803900307188,-75.03301360072118
Primitive Campsite43.9275239999265,-74.94542999990668
Primitive Campsite43.91166670228568,-75.00473046595764
Primitive Campsite43.89242065053876,-75.09779773207337
Primitive Campsite43.893221999577904,-75.0705230000813
Primitive Campsite43.89667064569648,-75.09749340678908

Stewart Landing Campsites πŸ•οΈ

The Stewart Landing Campsites are tucked on a rough and often muddy dirt road, a little ways back from Stewart Landing Road. Look for a driveway and a markers showing the route to campsites. The DEC has improved the road somewhat in recent years.

CampsiteLatitudeLongitude
Stewart Landing #143.143107567736-74.5960777933815
Stewart Landing #243.1428427379704-74.5963644011855

Untitled [Expires June 24 2024]

But still they’re not a bad place to be, especially if your planning on doing some hiking or paddling on West Canada Lake.

Lazy day

And in the spring when I was there, it was pretty quiet.

But I’m sure on a nice day like this one there would be a lot more people up there.

 Clearing At Stewart Landing