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.
Cool and maybe more clouds up north but on the whole not too bad. And lots of sunshine and mild today.
Today. Feels like …
September 17th.
Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny.
Calm wind.
and
74 degrees
,57 max dew point,
6:29
sunset.
Tonight. Feels like …
September 14th.
A slight chance of showers after 2am. Increasing clouds.
Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
and
53 degrees
,
6:58
sunrise.
Friday. Feels like …
September 28th.
A chance of showers, mainly between 1pm and 4pm. Mostly sunny.
Light and variable wind becoming northwest 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
and
69 degrees
,57 max dew point,
6:28
sunset.
Friday Night. Feels like …
October 28th.
Partly cloudy.
Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
The sun is starting to rise and it’s kind of cool, I should have worn more layers for the walk today.
Mostly sunny 🌞 with fog around and 42 degreesin Delmar, NY. Calm wind.
Tomorrow at this time I should be on my way north ⛺ so I can get set up and down to remote work for the long weekend. Autumn is a bit late this year, I think the foliage will still be good.
First though tonight I need to return cans ♻ and get groceries for camp. My propane tank still is fairly full, it’s going to be a a fairly cool holiday weekend but should be good for hiking. I’m thinking about driving up Indian Lake and doing some hiking in the Essex Chain Lakes area. Probably though stay away from the crowds at the waterfalls. 👪
Finally got to the laundromat 👖 so I have clean jeans to wear for work. And clothes for camp. Big Red is runner well now, should be a good trip. With my work load I’m not sure how many more trips I will be able to do before November and the Cazenovia trip I’ve been planning.
Good morning! The air smells like corn silage and the sun is peaking through the clouds 🌽
Another fairly darkmorning although there because we are losing so much daylight these days with autumn kicking down herd. Six thirty sunset in the evening is just around the corner.
Clouds 🌥 and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear tomorrow around 3 pm.
We might get rain ☔ in a bit though I bet the farmer down the way wishes not as he still has hay on the ground. 🚜 Hard to say there are showers to the west but there is a strong high pressure to east that is resisting the low from Ian. 🌀
No snow today 🌨 but it seems like it might hit Cazenovia and the Syracuse area with lake effect rain and snow showers come this weekend. But who knows. I’m heading up to the Adirondacks on Friday rather than Cazenovia as it looks drier but colder. It might not reach fifty come Saturday. 🍃
Got Big Red back from the shop. 🛠 They checked for any loose components and the wear on things but didn’t recommend any repairs at this time. 🛻 Shocks and struts are pretty much shot harming ride quality but didn’t recommend repairs for it as nothing is perfect and it’s an eleven year old lifted truck. I feel better knowing everything has been inspected and the ball joints and tie rods aren’t in immediate danger of falling.
Went to Walmart yesterday and got groceries. 🛒 Lots of little things I needed though I forgot coffee ☕. I will probably run to the store 🏬 on Thursday. Tonight I got to go to the laundromat 👚 👖 after running to the bank 🏦 today and getting a bunch of one dollar bills.
Got cold quickly. What can I say. Summer seemed like it would last forever until it broke. We could see some warm days but I don’t see it happening. But it will help speed the colors up in the mountains. Few colors in Delmar but the Heldebergs are turning and my social media feed is full of color from the Adirondacks last week.
Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. 👨🔧
Mostly cloudy and 38 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear around 7 am.
Cold and gray start to the Monday morning 😎 but it will warm up and sun will be out later. It’s October so one can’t expect the sun to be rising too early. The time change in four weeks will be nice as it will mean sunlight in the morning and easier getting up for work — well for a while before deep and dark December pushes in. But then things get brighter come January, and even more so as spring approaches.
This morning I have to limp the truck 👩🔧 to the mechanic, and get fixed whatever is broken. It’s bad, I am not going to get much past the mechanic’s shop. ⛽ I gassed up the truck yesterday but skipped going to the store as I don’t think I have more then a few miles left before the broken part snaps and the wheel falls off. Went downhill so quickly. 🌁 Fortunately I haven’t been driving it all week and the shop is a little over a mile away. I think I’ll make it driving there carefully. 😮 Otherwise, I guess I’ll have to get towed but it won’t be a big towing bill. It is what it is. 🚚 Lifted truck life — fun when you are young but I certainly wouldn’t do it again. But would I advise you against it? Well, you got to do certain things when your young. 🤩 Tomorrow I plan to work from home so I can pick my truck up when it’s ready.
I went to Five Rivers yesterday for a nice hike. 🐦 Also did Van Dyke Preserve and Meads Road, 🐮 most of the cows were in the lower pasture. Farmers out trying to get a third cut this late of hay because it’s been such a dry summer until it wasn’t anymore. Kind of a cool and gray afternoon 🌥 which turned out to beautiful red sunset 🌇 at the end of the day.
I wasn’t wrong in my thinking that it wouldn’t be the nicest weekend ever weather wise. 🌥 It was just cloudy and cool for most of the weekend that was. I heard the leaves were good up north this past weekend but I wasn’t going to get out of town t with the truck situation.
Been working on updating the map template I use for outdoors hiking and camping map. 🗺 I use a fair amount of Python code to automate the creation of the hiking and camping maps that make up a fair amount of the blog. But a lot of that code is a decade old now and ported over to QGIS 3 often doing things like adjusting the tick marks and scale bars in code rather than using variables in the template. Plus I keep larding up maps with unnecessary details like town lines or property ownership which while interesting isn’t useful for most people and is too much details for a map printed on 8×11 paper. 📄
Friday morning before work I am leaning towards heading north. 🏕 Probably will be past peak for the leaves, 🍂 but it’s easier to work from Spectulator and I’d rather camp ⛺ where I can have space to listen to music 🎶 have a big fire 🔥 and just relax. Looks like it could be cold up north but I have the propane heater and warm clothes. Later in the month I’ll do Brookfield and maybe Cazenovia. 🌨 They might get snow next weekend already from lake effect. I noticed my blogs internal snow tracker is back up now that it’s October.
Night before dawn is 6 hours and 23 minutes, Dawn starts at 6:23 am and runs for 26 minutes, Sunrise is at 6:50 am which is 5 hours and 9 minutes before noon, High noon, the transit of the sun, is at 12:45 pm, From twelve noon to the sunset at 6:40 pm is 6 hours and 40 minutes, Dusk lasts for 33 minutes concluding at 7:06 pm, Leaving 4 hours and 53 minutes until midnight.
