Balsam Swamp is a sprawling state forest that stretches almost 5.5 miles east-west across 4 towns. The area is very rural, and the landscape surrounding the State Forest is predominantly forested. Balsam Swamp State Forest is comprised of a mix of native hardwood forests, hemlock swamps, and conifer plantations. There are no designated recreational trails on the forest, but there is ample opportunity for self-guided day hikes to explore the diversity of habitats represented on this State Forest. Additionally, the western section of Balsam Swamp State Forest is adjacent to Five Streams State Forest to the south.
The main attraction of this forest is Balsam Pond. The impoundment is approximately 152 acres and is a popular destination for fishing and paddle boat sports. Balsam Pond is a warm water fishery that contains a mix of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, chain pickerel, yellow perch, brown bullhead and sunfish. Tiger muskellunge have been stocked in the past with the last stocking occurring in 1995. However, there have been very few reports of anglers catching any of the adult tiger muskies. A shallow gravel boat launch is suitable for launching small fishing boats.
A small rustic camp ground is also located at Balsam Pond. Camping spaces are available at no cost on a first-come, first-serve basis and there is no running water or electricity. A fire ring, outhouse, and picnic table are provided for each camping space. A sign on Balsam-Tyler Road in Pharsalia designates the entrance to the boat launch and camping facility. This is a carry-in carry-out facility. Please do not litter.
It’s been such a wet and cloudy year this year, especially on the weekends. Bad luck I guess and it’s only expected to get wetter come the weekend into next week. I’m going to see if I can untake off next week and cancel my October vacation at least for now.
Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. Rain showers and 48 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear around 1 pm.
Out for my morning walk 🚶 it’s kind of cold and damp 🌧️ though it’s not raining like it was earlier. Yesterday I skipped both my morning and evening walks, I wasn’t feeling it but rode back and forth to work. 🚲 Going to be another dark and shadowy day, I’m glad I have those bright new lights on bicycle I’ll certainly use them. I love how I can charge them right on the bike using a USB charger. 🔋
Breakfast today was oatmeal – banana pancakes with shredded carrots 🥕 added to the mix. I like the additional fiber, almost adds a crispiness to the pancakes 🥞 much like oil did back before I got into healthy eating. I made whole wheat garlic bread 🍞 in the oven topped with everything bagel seasoning which is quite good especially dipped in balsamic vinegar. Pea soup with carrots and onions and lots of spices are cooking down in the kitchen 🧑🍳, I need to run to Stewart’s and get milk 🐮 and have a second cup of coffee ☕ before laddling out soup and bread for lunch, showering and riding my bike 🚲 to work. Then climb the 18 flights of stairs and it’s off to work. I have a stack of cap grants to review. 📄
Today will start out with showers then mostly cloudy 🌞, with a high of 64 degrees at 2pm. Typical for today. Maximum dew point of 47 at 5pm. South wind 5 to 9 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with sunny skies in the afternoon. The high last year was 65 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1949. There was a dusting of snow in 1987.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:43 pm with sun having an altitude of 40.4° from the due south horizon (-30.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:44 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (255°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (261°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:22 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:48 pm, which is one minute and 41 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:23 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 59 degrees. The dew point will be 47 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over today.
I got the address verification approved which is the last step to collecting ad revenue on the blog 📺. It looks like if I maintain my current level of traffic and revenue I’ll get my first payment of around $140 come around Thanksgiving. That will help me defray a lot of the operating costs 💵 and inspire me to come up with useful content and update maps. Plus my new data management system makes it much easier to update old maps. 🗺
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 43 degrees at 6am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 10th. Light and variable wind. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 41 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1964.
While I found enough socks for today, 🧦 today I either need to go to Walmart and get more socks for the rest of the week or the laundromat. Probably get socks as I am low on socks regardless, and maybe boxers too as most of the pairs I have are getting pretty worn, fit poorly as I’ve loss so much weight, and then there is a lot of kitchen staples I need that I was putting off debating if I would take off next week or not for vacation. 🛒 But with the forecast for Thomas WV next week I think today I will put the kibosh on next week’s vacation. 😞 Maybe next week.
Another rainy weekend on tap. 🌧️ Saturday, rain likely, mainly after 2pm. Cloudy, with a high near 54. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Sunday, a chance of rain before 2pm, then a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.
I keep refreshing the weather page for Thomas, West Virginia 🗻 in hopes that the forecast for all of next week would move away from rain and 45 degrees for a high most of next week. 🌧️ But with no luck. If anything as the days grow nearer things get worse. I need to bite the bullet and see if I can work next week. 🔫 It’s annoying that I’ll probably miss peak autumn but I really don’t want to camp most of the week in the rain. I plan to decide some point today, to give my employer enough time to know I’ll be in the office next week. Maybe I’ll take a future week off to go to West Viriginia or do it in a series of shorter vacation.
Looking ahead but maybe not forward, there are 3 weeks until Average High is 55 🍂 when the sun will be setting at 5:50 pm with dusk at 6:18 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny, warm, mist and temperatures between 69 and 54 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 55 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 1950.
Lately every time I pass a small hunting cabin up in the woods on a trail I have to stop briefly to observe it and reflect about my future in the wilderness. A simple time, one where I can enjoy the adventures of a more natural life in a place of my own free of all the distractions and tackiness of modern living. It often spurs me to see if I can somehow find more money to save and invest.
I really enjoy working with 12 volt power on my truck and would welcome the challenge of wiring a house with a simple 12 volt system. I could use boost and buck converters to power everything from my laptop to USB power ports through out. Maybe use an inverter to power a refrigerator but I want to avoid working with potentially much more dangerous 120 volts as possible. My focus would be on minimizing my consumption of power and energy as much as possible. I could build a custom highly efficient lighting system controlled by Bluetooth using common Chinese components you can order from the internet.
What I like about the hunting cabins is they are small and simple to clean. Muddy boots aren’t a problem. No hideous carpet. I’d rather have a floor you can shovel our like a barn – but maybe a gutter track is a step too far. Gawd I hate cleaning unless of course it involves hauling stuff out back and burning it. Plan to do that with a lot of junk when I have land. Everything is always dirty and needing cleaning in my apartment. I much rather have simple things to clean and a small space.
I would want to make sure that I had a well insulated building though, and an efficient modern wood stove. I like building fires and heating with wood give me such a chance. I also would want to have hot water primarily for showers but also for dishes. Got to be able to get cleaned and washed up. Paper plates are fine but hot water really helps with pots and pans. Instant on hot water heaters that run on propane are becoming common so that’s not a big deal. Having a good water supply is important as hauling water is a lot of work, but there are many ways to collect, pump purify water.
I’m totally fine with outhouses or a composting toilet system, they work fine as long as you keep them separate from water. I can always use a bucket shitter inside during the winter and dump it out in the outhouse in the morning. Shit doesn’t scare me.
I’d have a big fire pit out back for summer evenings out back enjoying the stars and so I could burn my own trash. It would be great to sit out back all summer long with starry skies. I’d crush and save up the tin cans and beer cans for recycling, maybe get a few bucks at the scrap yard and only take a small load maybe once a year to the transfer station. I hate landfills, this way I could have no part of them and get to play with fire to boot. As a single guy who doesn’t buy much in packaging it’s not like there would be that much to burn at any rate.
I can’t imagine I would ever have internet at home but I would most certainly have a smartphone for the necessary purposes and for updating my blog. I could always use a public library to connect to the internet to upload videos after work. And no I doubt I’d ever own a television as I hate staring at a screen watching a mindless program.
I’m moving, though surprisingly dragging my ass more then I probably should be. I didn’t get up until nearly six o’clock this morning, which is late by my standards but I was at the library until almost 9 o’clock last night, and I forgot to soak the peas I got in the store yesterday, but they’re soaking today and I’ll make pea soup and bread tomorrow morning.
Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Mostly cloudy and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear around 5 pm.
I woke up this morning, and I went to the bathroom 🚽 and headed back to bed. No fancy cooking this morning, although that’s not totally true as I cooked up some quinoa, 🥣 shredded some apples, 🍏 added a bunch of cinnamon and ginger, and made a decently healthy breakfast. Plus some more of that apple bread 🍞 which I can’t say much good about but it’s still relatively nutritious as it’s just carbs and sugars (whole wheat flour, water, yeast, apples, cinnamon and ginger), as I forgot salt as I got distracted and meant to add it at the end of the needing ✊ process. Still have a bit left of that loaf, I’ll probably finish it up tonight as a dessert. 🐠 I took salmon out of the freezer, I’ll have it with the remaining sweet corn 🌽 I left at home and forgot about before camping, some onions 🧅 and spinach. 🥦
Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 62 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 14th. South wind 6 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 62 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1939. 0.8 inches of snow fell back in 1925.❄
It got late and I decided it was too late to do my morning walk after breakfast. 😴 Mornings are so dark these days. So I rode my bicycle to work. 🚲 I usually don’t like carrying my laptop to work on my bicycle, but I figured if I wrapped my laptop bag in a towel and road carefully I would be fine. Worked out good and I got to avoid riding the bus.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:43 pm with sun having an altitude of 40.8° from the due south horizon (-30° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:45 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (255°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (262°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:23 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:50 pm, which is one minute and 40 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:24 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 57 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌌, with a low of 41 degrees at 3am. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 15th. South wind 3 to 5 mph. In 2022, we had shallow fog in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 36 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1943.
Still looking like a wet one to start out vacation. 🌧 Saturday, rain likely, mainly after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Sunday, rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 56. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees. I really don’t know what I am going to do about vacation at this point. I really do want to go to West Virginia next week, but it looks like the Appalachians might be socked in cold weather with clouds rain showers through at least Thursday, not exactly great for camping. 🌧 Makes me want to reconsider my plans. 🤷 I could postpone vacation another week, but then it’s getting late in October, with shorter days and the leaves mostly gone. I kind of frustrated about it all, this week turned out to be a nice one in West Virginia, but I wanted to avoid the Columbus Day Weekend crowds, and autumn seemed quite late this year. 😠
Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until Halloween 🎃 when the sun will be setting at 5:51 pm with dusk at 6:19 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 64 and 37 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 56 degrees. We hit a record high of 75 back in 2019.
I signed the contract and paid my blog host the $540 and my blog will be up and running for three more years through October 23, 2026.
In the grand scheme of things, that seems like a lot of money and three years goes by so quickly these days but ultimately on a daily basis it’s not that much money – 50¢ a day, and since I started running ads two weeks ago I’ve already made $35 in as revenue which isn’t bad for just telling my story and sharing maps and content that interest me.
I expect my first ad payout around Thanksgiving and if ad revenue remains as strong as it’s been the first two weeks, that will likely be $140 deposit in my checking account. Won’t make me rich but it will buy me a beer or a gallon of gas for Big Red from time to time.
Really that’s been my thought walking and biking around Partridge Run WMA today. No color, all green then all the leaves are gone, faded into a sea of browns and grays. Some of it was the heavy rain and wind on Saturday but it’s also a reminder of how fleeting the season of color can be.
Up bright and early as often is the case in the morning. Coffee and eggs just enjoying the quiet over the land as the sun rises. In the distance is the roar of an ATV as I sit warming my hands over the propane heater.
Good morning! Happy Columbus Day. ⛵🍂Mostly clear and 43 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 5 mph. 🍃.
Five o’clock I rose as always 🛏 and it was dark in the woods. I don’t mind, I like an early start and a good breakfast. 🍳 Annoyed I left the sweet corn 🌽 and onions 🧅 home but I had plenty of other good things to use in my eggs – I packed the jalapeño I had plus canned 🥫 olives and chopped tomatoes. Kind of getting past the farm fresh tomato 🍅 time of year.
Columbus Day will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 60 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 19th. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 83 was set in 1949. There was a dusting of snow in 2000.❄
Cold this morning with the breeze 🌬️ but should get nicer as the day progreses. Going to ride Blackie 🚵 around Rennselearville State Forest on some roads and trails, have lunch 🍲 and then head over to Partridge Run WMA for biking along the Switzkill and other gravel rides for the balance of the day. Hopefully it will warm up. Yesterday was kind of cool and wet at times, I retired to bed at nine o’clock as it started to rain as I sat by the fire 🔥. At least my only time limitation today is getting home by dusk.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:43 pm with sun having an altitude of 41.2° from the due south horizon (-29.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:47 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (256°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (262°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:25 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 6:51 pm, which is one minute and 42 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:26 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 55 degrees. There will be a southwest breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over today.
Today is the big blog renewal day. 📄 I’m going to bite the bullet and get it done. I like blogging and telling my story. Plus the ad revenue has been pretty good, looking forward to that first check come November. And in a few months time I should be mostly made whole, when I don’t count my time. ⌚ But it’s something I like doing. Kind of like my vacation next week.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 39 degrees at 4am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 21st. South wind around 6 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 40 degrees. The record low of 25 occurred back in 1980.
That new bicycle lights are awesome. 🔦 Super bright for riding at night, no worries about hitting potholes or missing something on the road or trail riding after dark. I was so impressed doing a little bit of night riding on CCC Road last night. 🛒 While it might be dusk 🌆 riding home from the grocery store tonight I should be good with that nice bright light. Plus I’ll have plenty of good fruits and vegetables to eat for the week to come. Still will need to visit Walmart probably on Tuesday for socks 🧦 and other supplies.
Yesterday I totally fell off the health wagon 🍻 having a few beers, eating too many carbs 🍞 and even maybe sneaking in a dart or two 🚬 around the campfire. 🔥 Big portion of couscous, chicken, celery and spices for dinner. I don’t smoke or drink except by the fire sometimes. 🍏 Way too many apples and Greek yogurt. So bad! Got to have some fun, tonight it will be back to rice and lentils I think. 🤔 I need to get to the supermarket 🛒 and get more fresh produce tonight as I will have finished off the carrots 🥕 and celery along with apples 🍏 and bananas 🍌 by the end of the day and I need them to eat at work tomorrow.
Rainy weekend on tap to start theOctober Vacation. 🌧️ Saturday, rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 55. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Sunday, rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 55. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.
What a bummer. 😔 I’m really watching next weekend to see how my October vacation is going to go. I really don’t want to postpone it due to rapidly dropping daylight, leaves and temperature. I can live with a rainy weekend as I drive south to West Virginia 🗻 but not a week of rain and high temperatures in the mid 40s. I might have to reconsider my trip – cancel it, postpone it or choose another location closer to home. I don’t know, going to watch the forecast for Thomas WV as it draws closer, the 8-14 day outlook suggests cool but dry which I’m good with if not too windy. 🤷♂️
Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Average Night Below Freezing 🌌 when the sun will be setting at 4:36 pm with dusk at 5:05 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 49 and 36 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 50 degrees. We hit a record high of 69 back in 1964. Those days are coming much too quickly and I’ll eventually need to turn back on the heat and plug air leaks in my apartment.
Much of this year has been shrowded in clouds of smoke, rain and just generally bad weather. Some of its climate change and some is just bad luck. Driving out to Rensselaerville State Forest and seeing all the bare trees on the way out reminds me what a raw deal a lot of this year has been weather wise. While the sun came out for a while, things were soaked up at the state forest from water logged campsite to trails saturated from yesterday’s heavy rain that washed out local roads.
Somehow I was hoping for better this autumn. Today turned out somewhat better than earlier expected and I’m blessed I got out one night but I had hoped it would be a bit nicer with more color.
