Burnt-Rossman State Forest

Burnt-Rossman Hills State Forest, spanning an impressive 10,588 acres, proudly holds the distinction of being Schoharie County’s largest state forest. This natural haven has garnered immense popularity among enthusiasts of outdoor pursuits such as hiking, camping, and various recreational activities.

Traversing a segment of this expansive landscape is the Long Path, a trail adorned with aqua blazes, stretching over 350 miles. Within this forest, the Eminence Lean To stands as a notable point of interest along the Long Path, positioned roughly 0.5 miles to the east of Old Cemetery Road. A crossing of Old Cemetery Road can be spotted just to the south of an ancient burial ground.

Among the captivating features of the forest are the campsites discreetly nestled along Betty Brook Road, as well as the inviting spots found at Duck Pond, situated along Burnt Hill Road.

For those with a penchant for angling and boating, Looking Glass Pond, located along Rossman Hill Road, offers an inviting prospect. This charming pond not only facilitates fishing and boating but also boasts well-maintained fishing platforms courtesy of the Fulton Fish and Game Club.

I drove over a nail on Burnt Hill Road 🛻

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I know, Duck Me. 🦆

Must be a beautiful day on the Catskill Scenic Trail. Darn nail I ran over this morning on Burnt Hill Road. Fortunately I was able to reinflate the tire to make it home, slow leak and I have a full size spare I’m installing safely from home rather than on the shoulder of the road from the driver side.

Fortunately I have a full size 35 inch spare that has similar wear to the other tires and I’m 90% sure the other tire can be plugged. It’s those dang BFG KO All Terrains, had the same problem 15 years ago with the last set I ran. But it’s all I could get during the pandemic.

Those 35s are mad heavy to lift and bolt to the wheel. I was worried the spare tire holder would be rusted up but the spare came off with ease. And YES, SAFETY POLICE, 🚨 I support the weight of my truck on a 4×6 block of wood to raise the bottle jack under the axle. It works fine, it has sufficient compressive strength I’m not climbing under the truck or jacking it that high. I did not die yet.

I forgot how heavy 35s are to lift! I lifted with my knees but wow did it truck take a try or two to get it up in the bed. But I’m tired now, I’m kind of glad I didn’t change my tire on the roadside, even if it ultimately went smoothly after getting home. I really needed an hour to rest after the hour of wrangling the tire. Ultimately I did at 7 1/2 mile hike to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center and Meads Lane in the evening.

I was afraid that the spare tire holder would be completely rusted up and I wouldn’t be able to get the tire down or the lug nuts would be on super tight and I couldn’t break them free or the wood block I use to extend the bottle jack to the axle on my lifted truck would have rotted and cracked under the weight. Maybe it was catastrophizing but I don’t think ultimately I would have gotten hiking on the Catskill Scenic Trail even after the tire change. It’s fine, it got cloudy by evening and I like hiking at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center.

Woodstoves are NOT Banned under the All-Electric Buildings Act

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I was listening to the Assembly debate over the state budget last week and they were debating the All Electric Buildings Act included in the budget. Some Republicans, grasping at straws were claiming that All Electric Buildings would interfere with the religious liberty of the Amish and make it hard for people to have off grid cabins and homes Upstate because wood stoves would be banned.

The thing is that wood is not a fossil fuel.

Wood is not by any means banned under a ban on new homes heated by fossil fuels.

Article 1 of the State Energy Law defines a fossil fuel. Wood in state law is not a fossil fuel. Even if you aren’t aware of the provisions of the state energy law, the ordinary meaning of the words and common law makes it pretty clear that wood is not a fossil fuel.

7. “Fossil fuel” shall mean coal, petroleum products and fuel gases

…..

3. “Coal” shall include bituminuous coal, anthracite coal, and
lignite.
8. “Fuel gases” shall include but not be limited to methane, natural
gas, liquefied natural gas, and manufactured fuel gases.
11. “Petroleum products” shall include all products refined or
rerefined from synthetic or crude oil or oil extracted from other
sources, including natural gas liquids.

You can read the All Electric Buildings Act in thePart RR of ELFA Budget Bill S.4006-D, which adds this new language to the State Energy Law:

17 (b) In addition to the foregoing, to support the goal of zero on-site
18 greenhouse gas emissions and help achieve the state’s clean energy and
19 climate agenda, including but not limited to greenhouse gas reduction
20 requirements set forth within chapter one hundred six of the laws of two
21 thousand nineteen, also known as the New York state climate leadership
22 and community protection act, the code shall prohibit the installation
23 of fossil-fuel equipment and building systems, in any new building not
24 more than seven stories in height, except for a new commercial or indus-
25 trial building greater than one hundred thousand square feet in condi-
26 tioned floor area, on or after December thirty-first, two thousand twen-
27 ty-five, and the code shall prohibit the installation of fossil-fuel
28 equipment and building systems, in all new buildings after December
29 thirty-first, two thousand twenty-eight.
30 7. (a) The provisions set forth in paragraph (b) of subdivision six of
31 this section shall not be construed as applying to buildings existing
32 prior to the effective date of the applicable prohibition, including to:
33 (i) the repair, alteration, addition, relocation, or change of occu-
34 pancy or use of such buildings; and
35 (ii) the installation or continued use and maintenance of fossil-fuel
36 equipment and building systems, including as related to cooking equip-
37 ment, in any such buildings.
38 (b) In addition, in effectuating the provisions set forth in paragraph
39 (b) of subdivision six of this section the code shall include exemptions
40 for the purposes of allowing the installation and use of fossil-fuel
41 equipment and building systems where such are installed and used:
42 (i) for generation of emergency back-up power and standby power
43 systems;
1 agricultural buildings as defined by the council, such exemption shall
2 include provisions that, to the fullest extent feasible, limit the use
3 of fossil-fuel equipment and building systems to the system and area of
4 the building for which a prohibition on fossil-fuel equipment and build-
5 ing systems is infeasible; require the area or service within a new
6 building where fossil-fuel equipment and building systems are installed
7 be electrification ready, except with respect to servicing manufacturing
8 or industrial processes; and minimize emissions from the fossil-fuel
9 equipment and building systems that are allowed to be used, provided
10 that the provisions set forth in this paragraph do not adversely affect
11 health, safety, security, or fire protection. Financial considerations
12 shall not be sufficient basis to determine physical or technical infea-
13 sibility.
14 (d) Exemptions included in the code pursuant to this subdivision shall
15 be periodically reviewed by the state fire prevention and building code
16 council to assure that they continue to effectuate the purposes of
17 subdivision six of this section to the fullest extent feasible.
18 (e) The code shall allow for exemption of a new building construction
19 project that requires an application for new or expanded electric
20 service, pursuant to subdivision one of section thirty-one of the public
21 service law and/or section twelve of the transportation corporations
22 law, when electric service cannot be reasonably provided by the grid as
23 operated by the local electric corporation or municipality pursuant to
24 subdivision one of section sixty-five of the public service law;
25 provided, however, that the public service commission shall determine
26 reasonableness for purposes of this exemption. For the purposes of this
27 paragraph, “grid” shall have the same meaning as electric plant, as
28 defined in subdivision twelve of section two of the public service law.
29 8. For the purposes of this section:
30 (a) “Fossil-fuel equipment and building systems” shall mean (i) equip-
31 ment, as such term is defined in section 11-102 of this article, that
32 uses fossil-fuel for combustion; or (ii) systems, other than items
33 supporting an industrial or commercial process as referred to in the
34 definition of equipment in section 11-102 of the energy law, associated
35 with a building that will be used for or to support the supply, distrib-
36 ution, or delivery of fossil-fuel for any purpose, other than for use by
37 motor vehicles.
38 (b) “Electrification ready” means the new building or portion thereof
39 where fossil-fuel equipment and building systems are allowed to be used
40 which contains electrical systems and designs that provide sufficient
41 capacity for a future replacement of such fossil-fuel equipment and
42 building systems with electric-powered equipment, including but not
43 limited to sufficient space, drainage, electrical conductors or race-
44 ways, bus bar capacity, and overcurrent protective devices for such
45 electric-powered equipment.

Great Spring Day

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The Albany Pine Bush on a clear spring day, really is one of the best places to be within the city limits, with birds chirping, beautiful views of the mountains, lupine blooming and butterflies flying around. This is the view off of Overlook Dune, near the Discovery Center.

Taken on Saturday May 18, 2019 at Burnt-Rossman State Forest.

May 7, 2023 Morning

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The somewhat accidental campfire breakfast 🍳

I knew I would be low on propane by the end of the weekend but I decided to not get propane on Thursday when I shopped. Come this morning I ran out and cooked breakfast over a bed of coals. It was pretty good, especially now that I’ve been learning to cook and was full of delicious spinach, tofu, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and onions topped with feta. No more kids meals for me with greasy sausage and cheddar cheese. Everything tastes better with the smoke of a fire. Plus it gave me a chance to warm by the fire, cooked up the remaining chicken and rice with onions and peppers to make a lunchtime wrap which I will bring on my Catskill Scenic Trail walk from Grand Gorge to Stamford this afternoon.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. ⛪ Mostly sunny and 43 degrees at the Burnt-Rossman State Forest. There is a west-southwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃.

Today is warming up quickly as I lay back in the hammock. 😴 It’s not nearly as breezy as yesterday morning so that helps. Plus it’s a nice sunny morning though I’m not sure how long that will last. I guess it’s a good excuse to hike the Catskill Scenic Trail earlier rather than later. 👣 I’ve done most of it in the autumn, it would be interesting to see how much different it is in the spring. 🌺

Today will have increasing clouds ☀ 👉 ☁, with a high of 66 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 1st. West wind 5 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 59 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1930. 0.2 inches of snow fell back in 1967.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 64.3° from the due south horizon (-6.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:25 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (287°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (294°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:04 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 10 seconds with dusk around 8:35 pm, which is one minute and 6 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:14 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 58 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 21 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday I hiked 10.7 miles. Kind of a big loop from Burnt Hill Road to the Long Path, past the waterfalls I uploaded the photo 📸 from yesterday, around Looking Glass Pond 🎣 down to Betty Brook, out to CCC Road 2 snowmobile trail 🚶 back up Burnt Hill then back to camp. I didn’t get a real early start yesterday as I wanted to stay out of the woods until after Spring Turkey 🦃 closed for the day at noontime. Plus climbing some of those hills around here can be tiring.

Tonight will rain, mainly between 10pm and 5am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 45 degrees at 6am. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 6th. West wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Alas it’s probably best I’m heading home after hiking. In 2022, we had partly cloudy 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 26 occurred back in 1968.

Looking ahead, next Sunday is Mothers Day 👩‍ when the sun will be setting at 8:12 pm with dusk at 8:43 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy, warm, rain showers and temperatures between 84 and 66 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 71 degrees. We hit a record high of 93 back in 1900.

White Tulips