North South Lake

North-South Lake is the biggest and most popular state campground in the Catskill Forest Preserve, offering extraordinary scenic beauty, and historical sites, such as: Alligator Rock, Kaaterskill Falls, and the former site of the Catskill Mountain House.

An abrupt change in elevation occurs from about 540 feet above sea level at the base of the escarpment to approximately 2,250 feet at the site of the former Catskill Mountain House. The provinces around the lakes have long provided visitors with exceptional views of the surrounding countryside. It is said that on a clear day, five states can be viewed from the escarpment.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/24487.html

Kaaterskill Clove At Dusk.

Driving back home, my dash board camera made this video of the twisty, narrow NY 23A heading down the Kaaterskill Clove from Haines Falls/Hunter to Palenville.

December 20, 2016 Evening

It turned out to be a pretty nice afternoon exploring the new Kaaterskill Falls Overlook and trail down to the falls. I also hiked a few miles of the rail trail. While I missed the sun setting behind the mountains I am watching the colors of dusk and increasingly gray skies. The temperature is 19 degrees under calm wind. Not too bad, I thought it would be much cooler but I’m dressed in layers. 

Tonight will be cloudy with a low of 20 degrees at 5am. One degrees below normal. Breezy, with a southwest wind 16 to 21 mph. In 2015, it got down to 33 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1942.
The Last Quarter Moon is tonight at 1:56 am. The moon will rise around 10:42 pm. 

Lots of sun for the first day of winter tomorrow, with a high of 33 degrees at 2pm. Typical for temperatures for the first day of winter. West wind 10 to 15 mph. A year ago, we had rain and a high of 48 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1957. 6.6 inches of snow fell back in 2008.

In four weeks on January 17 the sun will be setting at 4:52 pm, which is 25 minutes later then today. In 2016 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 34 and 28 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 62 degrees was set back in 1889.