Nestled in upstate New York, the Finger Lakes National Forest spans 16,000 acres of diverse terrain, combining lush woodlands with expansive pasture land. Encompassing woodlands, grasslands, and glacial lakes, its picturesque landscapes and well-maintained trails attract outdoor enthusiasts, offering opportunities for hiking, birdwatching, mountain biking, and horseback riding. The forest’s five distinctive trails wind through the scenery, revealing stunning views of gorges, waterfalls, and panoramic vistas. The forest is also home to the celebrated Finger Lakes Trail, a long-distance hiking trail extending over 580 miles. Limited free primitive and roadside camping opportunities along the roads add to the allure, providing a chance to immerse in the natural beauty for longer periods. As the only national forest in New York State, it provides a unique space for relaxation, exploration, and immersion in the captivating landscapes of the Finger Lakes region.
How fast summer vacation comes and goes. Some of it is the more relaxed pace this year. Some of it just is time is going by faster as I get older.
Partly cloudy and 72 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. ⛅ Calm wind. The dew point is 69 degrees. The skies will clear around 9 am.
So yesterday I decided to head to Watkins Glen before the thunderstorms came. ⛈ They arrived, just a few crackles of thunder and the pool was closed. Looked at the radar, the only a few small thunder cells, figured they’d pass by shortly.
Decided in the meantime to hike the Finger Lakes Trail. ☔ The thunder and rain picked up and I hurried to an old CCC built picnic pavilion. Pretty crazy thunderstorm that kind of popped out from nowhere though this 90 year old picnic pavilion is a very substantial structure, super heavy built out of massive timber beams.
With the rain and thunderstorms here never got much above eighty. 🌡️But based on the frying pan on the table we got half and inch of rain after about 3 hours of rain and thunder this afternoon. Spent like two of them hiding out in the Punch Bowl Shelter on the Finger Lakes Trail. It was wet for a while, ended up completely soaked walking back after two hours of sheltering from the loud, repeated cracks of thunder and driving rain. Hiked through the gorge there after 🚶 and it was fairly empty but damp.
I wanted to go to the pool 🏊♂️ but by 5 pm it’s opening seemed unlikely. I had some work stuff to do and I wanted to figure out the plotKML library so I went down to the Watkins Glen library. 📊 I hung out there until about ten minutes before closing and then decided to skip ice cream and head back to camp. ⛺
This morning I’m thinking about bringing my kayak 🛶 down to Watkins Glen and doing some paddling on Seneca Lake. I’ve noticed in the morning it’s often the calmest, if not I can explore the Bad Indian Swamp with the kayak. I’ll probably leave it on my truck for the remainder of the week, paddling Taughannock and Cayuga Lake tomorrow. 🏊♂️ Hope to get some swimming in later at the state park, depends on how stormy it gets later.
More unstable weather, heat and humidity ahead. But alas it’s summer and sometimes it is just sultry out. I am sure it will be much nicer here in the Finger Lakes though then back home.
Tonight. Muggy !
Mostly clear.
South wind 3 to 8 mph.
and
72 degrees
,66 max dew point,
6:01
sunrise.
Thursday. Muggy !
A chance of showers before 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 2pm and 5pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 5pm. Increasing clouds and hot.
Heat index values as high as 98. South wind 6 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
and
93 degrees
,71 max dew point,
8:25
sunset.
Thursday Night. Muggy !
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly between 8pm and 9pm. Mostly cloudy.
Light south wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
and
69 degrees
,71 max dew point,
6:02
sunrise.
Friday. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Mostly cloudy.
Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
85 degrees
,72 max dew point,
8:24
sunset.
Friday Night. Muggy !
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 8pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy.
Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
69 degrees
,72 max dew point,
6:03
sunrise.
Saturday. Muggy !
A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly sunny.
Chance of precipitation is 40%.
and
89 degrees
,73 max dew point,
8:23
sunset.
Saturday Night. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm. Mostly clear.
Chance of precipitation is 30%.
and
70 degrees
,72 max dew point,
6:04
sunrise.
Sunday. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny and hot.
Chance of precipitation is 30%.
and
92 degrees
,74 max dew point,
8:21
sunset.
Sunday Night. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm, then a chance of showers after 2am. Partly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 30%.
and
71 degrees
,71 max dew point,
6:06
sunrise.
Monday. Muggy !
A chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Mostly sunny.
Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
89 degrees
,72 max dew point,
8:20
sunset.
Monday Night. Muggy !
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy.
Good evening! A nice evening after a hot day swimming. 🏊♂️
Sitting by Foster Pond for a while, saw two shooting stars but also a fair amount of haze around.
Partly clear and 77 degrees at the Town of Hector. ✨ Moderate breeze, sometimes humid sometimes cool and refreshing. Seems to be mixing of the air currents between the lakes. The dew point is 62 degrees.
Spent the bulk of the day at Enfield Glen 🏊♂️ hiking in the morning through the Glen and the Lucifer Falls Loop and exploring the Grist Mill followed by spending the bulk of the day swimming in the gorge. Refilled my propane tank and camp back to camp, bought sweet corn 🌽 and made burgers 🍔 on the grill and then read 📖 until around 9:15.
It was kind of a nice day but hot by afternoon. 🏖 The swimming was nice but it was hot especially when I had to stay out of the water 💦 for a while for a work conference call. 📞 I think I might have picked up swimmers itch from the water but the stuff I use on my feet can be sprayed on my balls ⚽ to address that. 😂
Yesterday was a quieter day at camp ⛺, cloudy ⛅ but rain free and quiet. Dusty though when cars went by from it being so dry. Got through two books, 📚 took a nice afternoon nap after some fishing 🎣 and wildlife observation at Potomac Ponds. Kind of hot and dry, did a fair bit of drinking 🍻. I kind of enjoy the more relaxed pace this year.
Somebody emailed 📧 yesterday about making some KML Google Maps up and it sent me down the long journey of thinking 💭 how I could do it in R in an automated way. I had previously been doing it by exporting the geopackages from R into QGIS but I want more control and automation over the process.
A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11am, then a slight chance of showers between 11am and noon. Mostly sunny.
Northwest wind 10 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
and
79 degrees
,66 max dew point,
8:27 sunset.
Tonight. Feels like … August 13th.
Mostly clear.
Northwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming calm in the evening.
and
61 degrees
,62 max dew point,
5:59 sunrise.
Wednesday. Hot !
Sunny.
Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the morning.
and
86 degrees
,61 max dew point,
8:25 sunset.
Wednesday Night. Muggy !
A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2am. Partly cloudy.
South wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
and
73 degrees
,66 max dew point,
6:00 sunrise.
Thursday. Muggy !
A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Mostly sunny.
South wind 6 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
91 degrees
,72 max dew point,
8:24 sunset.
Thursday Night. Muggy !
Showers and thunderstorms likely before 11pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 11pm and 2am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2am. Mostly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
71 degrees
,71 max dew point,
6:01 sunrise.
Friday. Feels like … August 22nd.
Showers likely.
Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
81 degrees
,71 max dew point,
8:23 sunset.
Friday Night. Muggy !
A chance of thunderstorms before 8pm. Mostly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 30%.
and
70 degrees
,70 max dew point,
6:02 sunrise.
Saturday. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny.
Chance of precipitation is 30%.
and
86 degrees
,71 max dew point,
8:22 sunset.
Saturday Night. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm. Partly cloudy.
More clouds this morning but still a nice morning. The breeze makes it pleasantly cool, when the sun dips under the clouds, it actually feel quite cool.
Partly cloudy and 74 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. ⛅ There is a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 66 degrees. The skies will clear around 10 am.
Yesterday, I headed into town at worked down at the library for a couple of hours. 🏊♀️ While not so hot up here in the National Forest, down in Watkins Glen it was really hot and a library was very cold. So I ended my day at the Watkins Glen Pool, got ice cream 🍦 sat down briefly by Seneca Lake until I decided that sun was super hot and glaring, and I headed back to camp.
Today is a hang out and hike from camp day. 🎣 Do some fishing,some wildlife observation. Supposed to have more sun later on. I am continuing on the plan of spend one day around camp, and one day out and about. That said, with the exteme heat expected to bake New York State in the second half of the week, I doubt I’ll be doing much hiking — more like hitting up swimming holes. I like hanging around camp though every other day, as I don’t have to feel rushed to do things and can have some beer.
This table shows the average high, median, and low temperatures for the next year. Previous year values are shown in parenthesis. The sun angle is the maximum sun angle at solar noon for the day.
