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.
Not fun but at least maybe by afternoon there will be some clouds. Rain showers on Monday but it doesn’t look like it will add up to much unfortunately.
Today. Muggy !
Mostly sunny and hot.
South wind 5 to 11 mph.
and
90 degrees
,65 max dew point,
7:49 sunset.
Tonight. Muggy !
Mostly cloudy.
South wind around 7 mph.
and
69 degrees
,66 max dew point,
6:08 sunrise.
Monday. Feels like … September 5th.
Showers likely.
Southeast wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
and
78 degrees
,67 max dew point,
7:48 sunset.
Monday Night. Muggy !
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 11pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11pm. Mostly cloudy.
Light southeast wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
and
65 degrees
,66 max dew point,
6:09 sunrise.
Tuesday. Feels like … August 22nd.
A chance of showers before 11am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 11am and 2pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Partly sunny.
South wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
81 degrees
,68 max dew point,
7:46 sunset.
Tuesday Night. Muggy !
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 8pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
With the humidity on this Sunday morning I bet the mosquitoes like it a lot. No mosquitoes for my morning walk but it’s humid. Good I’m getting out early.
Partly sunny and 65 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☀ There is a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 63 degrees.
The sun is rising on this Sunday morning. 🌅 I figured it best to get out walking 🚶 before it gets too hot and thunderstorms ⛈ come a rolling through later. I’d like to get my steps 👣 in again, it’s been difficult lately with work and the weather.
Yesterday evening I was sure I would get soaked ☔ when I was at Five Rivers ias thunderstorms beared down to the south and west but never made it up to Delmar. I had planned to just wait out one of the thunderstorms under the pavilion but it was almost seven so it would be getting dark soon had to make a run for home as I didn’t want to walk 🚶 narrow Route 443 at dusk.
Five Rivers was fine, 🦌 🐰 and there was a lot of wildlife out and about but it sure was hot and muggy by evening. I thought about going to the town pool but you never know with thunderstorms and I wanted to get my steps in without spending a lot of money.
Community solar – its the new trendy thing – and I don’t like it ☀
There are some that say these massive industrial solar facilities are necessary to battle climate change but I’m skeptical not about climate change but their impact on reducing climate emissions. Sure, they make power plants that burn coal and gas work somewhat less hard to produce electricity, therefore burning less fuel and producing less carbon but the plants are still running.
Community solar is in many ways similar to turning off the air conditioning or headlights on your car to save fuel. The gas engine is still running, it’s still burning fuel at idle. Community solar shutdowns no actual fossil power plants, they’re still running but at a slightly lower load. Despite the marketing, community solar is not carbon free electricity.
Community solar is in many ways a method for people to sell off their guilt and pay their indulgences. It outsources the environmental impact of energy production to rural areas with land intensive, industrial solar facilities. It also makes people believe they are getting clean energy when they are not.
Community solar doesn’t even lead to new solar facilities being built – they’re being built by renewable energy mandates that require large utilities to get an increasing percentage of their power from solar. Your paying money earmarked for solar but electrons are not segregated in the grid.
I do support building solar on the roofs of homes, commercial and industrial buildings. Solar there can legitimately be eliminating load on the grid, and reducing waste throughout. While solar on roofs doesn’t eliminate the spinning reserve requirements at least its paired closely with the users load and saves consumers money. Brownfield generation on toxic waste sites and landfills is worthwhile considering but it’s really just too inconsequential to make a difference.
And to be sure I’m not against solar. I use solar energy on my truck to power my campsite and when I own my own land I will have solar for my off grid home. But I’m not going to be covering hundreds of acres with solar panels – just a few kilowatts of panels to create deminis electric power. That’s a little different than powering a city with off site solar.
Action on climate change is important but the real path forward is higher prices and taxes on fossil energy, not government subsidized community solar facilities that make electricity cheap. Fossil fuel energy on the grid can be and should be expensive to encourage people to put solar panels on their home and business and buy fossil energy from the grid as a last resort. Everybody needs to learn electricity is and should be expensive so people use less, especially when they are not able to generate their own power from solar.
With an appropriate price on fossil electricity, even renters and business owners will insist on solar being on their business to save money – and there will be an aggressive effort to conserve expensive fossil energy.
It’s not trendy and nice to talk about higher energy prices but its what’s necessary to save our planet.
Honestly, I think if you feel the need to call yourself honorable then I think your a dishonorable person. 🤔
Government service isn’t honorable, putting food on your family’s table and providing for your household needs without a government hand out is honorable. If government work is how you do it, then God Bless, but don’t call yourself an honorable person just because your a government bureaucrat.
Rain showers the first half of the week and less and less daylight with autumn coming.
Today. Hot !
Sunny.
Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the afternoon.
and
89 degrees
,61 max dew point,
7:52
sunset.
Tonight. Feels like …
August 20th.
Partly cloudy.
Light and variable wind.
and
60 degrees
,
6:06
sunrise.
Saturday. Hot !
A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny and hot.
Calm wind becoming south 5 to 9 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
and
91 degrees
,62 max dew point,
7:51
sunset.
Saturday Night. Hot !
Partly cloudy.
South wind 3 to 5 mph.
and
64 degrees
,62 max dew point,
6:07
sunrise.
Sunday. Hot !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny.
South wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
88 degrees
,64 max dew point,
7:49
sunset.
Sunday Night. Hot !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
65 degrees
,64 max dew point,
6:08
sunrise.
Monday. Feels like …
August 28th.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Mostly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
80 degrees
,67 max dew point,
7:48
sunset.
Monday Night. Muggy !
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then scattered showers and thunderstorms between 8pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
64 degrees
,66 max dew point,
6:09
sunrise.
Tuesday. Feels like …
August 14th.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms after 8am. Partly sunny.
Chance of precipitation is 50%.
and
82 degrees
,68 max dew point,
7:46
sunset.
Tuesday Night. Feels like …
July 15th.
Scattered thunderstorms before 8pm. Mostly cloudy.
Partly sunny and 60 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☀ Calm wind. The dew point is 58 degrees.
Nice morning 🌅 not too hot and the sun is rising. Going to be a nice weekend though with work and inflation I’ve decided to stay in town. During these inflationary times you really have to pick and choose plus it’s a long drive for basically one full day at the Potholers, especially if I get up late up north. 🏊♂️
I am by no means giving up hope on next weekend though. ⛺ Maybe things will be calmer by then at work or I can work part of the day Friday remotely. That said, I’m kind of holding my get out of jail free card 💳 for the Friday before Labor Day Weekend and remote work from Spectulator.
The way I look at is that 2022 is kind of a bad hang over 🤮 from the fun and craziness that was 2020 and that next summer should be a lot more quiet, with hopefully lower gas prices and maybe a new car 🚙 or at least Big Red running better. Or maybe I’ll figure out something new to do then for fun. I’m tired 😴 of doing the same trips year after year.
I think it’s interesting that the NYS DEC has never had a standardized font for its signs. 🛣️
Upper case moderate weight Helvetica seems to be the most popular font, but they sometimes mix in lower case.
Older signs are Alternate (Franklin) Gothic or maybe something like FHWA Series A but they sometimes still use that. Sometimes they will patch a damaged or alternative Alternative Gothic sign with Helvetica.
Lately they’ve been using FHWA Series D with lower case and something that looks like a knockoff of NPS Rawlson.
There has been a general resistance of park agencies to use FHWA fonts, the NPS uses Rawlson and Clarendon, and while the forest service does use FHWA fonts but with they do use a stylized National Forest script logo.
