Finger Lakes National Forest

Good evening! Mostly clear and 76 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. 🌌There is a north breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 60 degrees.

It was a nice day hiking the Catherine Valley Rail Trail 🚂. Not the most exciting trail ever but a nice walk through some well managed and scenic woods. A lot of it was timber country that is leased to a local hunting club. 🦌🦃🦆 Some road noise from NY 14 but it ran pretty high above the valley on dirt viaducts cut into the mountainside.

In the afternoon I went for a swim at Watkins Glen State Park. 🏊🏻‍♂️ I thought the pool was too crowded for social distancing at four o’clock so I hopped out and by five it had thinned out so then I hopped in the pool. One thing nice about the Finger Lakes is the swimming areas are all open until 7 pm. ☺

I thought about swimming at Enfield Gorge or at the Cayuga Lake beach 🏖 at Taughannock State Park but I feel like those bathrooms 🚿 are more cramped and less clean, and the natural water is not chlorinated so I’m hesitant. Plus the beach areas are smaller and cramped making social distancing more difficult.

I got ice cream one more time at Glen Dairy Bar 🍧this time an apple sundae. 🍏I think this will be the last one for this trip, I’m kind of tired 😴 of eating so much ice cream. It’s been fun while it lasted during this trip. I told myself ice cream 🍦nearly there would be my special little treat.

Watched the sunset 🌇 from off Ball Diamond Road in the National Forest pasture again tonight. Another nice sunset, always pretty watching the sun set over the hills of the Finger Lakes and Seneca Lake.

Walked down to Foster Pond and watched the stars ✨ for a while. Saw four shooting stars 🌠including one that was really bright and lit up the sky. Ended up falling asleep and was awoken by a bunch of drunk kids rafting in plastic blow up rafts on Foster Pond. 🛥️ One of them offered me a partially drink can of white claw, during the pandemic. 🍻 I declined and walked back to camp.

Running low on drinking water 💦 and wanting something sweet I packed apple 🍏 juice for hiking today. That was fine until I cross threaded the canteen and it leaked over my backpack. Fortunately I decided to leave the binoculars and camera 📸 in the truck. A bee was attracted to the backpack got stung in the arm. 🐝 That hurt. The backpack was washed in the shower 🚿 and is drying now. Drank too much apple juice today and now I have the runs a bit. 💩 Hello bucket shitter! Getting full, going to emptied and buried ⚰ tomorrow when I break camp.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 63 degrees at 5am. Three degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 62 at 9pm. North wind around 6 mph becoming calm after midnight. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 62 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1964.

Tonight will have a Waining Crescent 🌘 Moon with 19% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 1:13 am, followed by dawn at 5:44 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:14 am in the east-northeast (70°) and last for 3 minutes and 4 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:53 am with sun in the east-northeast (76°). Tonight will have 10 hours and 5 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 31 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 81 degrees at 2pm. Typical for Tomorrow. Maximum dew point of 63 at 7am. South wind 3 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 83 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1959. One thing to watch is clouds may push in fairly early tomorrow afternoon. ☁️

I am going to take a wait and see approach tomorrow. ⛅ I am afraid it might be quite choppy on Seneca Lake by afternoon to paddle. 🛶 If it’s kind of gray and dark out I might stay at camp. Although there are some additional marsh trails in Watkins Glen that I was reading 📖 about I’m thinking 💭 about exploring.

In four weeks on September 11 the sun will be setting in the west (276°) at 7:23 pm,🌄 which is 46 minutes and 6 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had hot and humid weather that was partly sunny and temperatures between 87 and 66 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 74 and 54 degrees. The record high of 98 degrees was set back in 1931.

Looking ahead, Labor Day Weekend Begins 👨‍🏭 in 3 weeks, September 11th 🇸 is in 4 weeks, 7 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 5 weeks, Average High is 65 🍂 is in 7 weeks, Average Night Below Freezing 🌌 is in 13 weeks, Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ is in 15 weeks, Average High is 40 🌨 is in 16 weeks, Bake Cookies Day 🍪 is in 18 weeks, Christmas 🎅 is in 19 weeks, New Years Day 2020 🎉 is in 20 weeks, Bubble Bath Day 🧼 is in 21 weeks, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 5 months, my 38th Birthday 🎉 is in 24 weeks and Valentines Day ❤️ is in 6 months.

Good afternoon! Sunny and 79 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. 🌞 There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 55 degrees.

This morning was a bit more breezy than expected but that’s kind of the norm on the Hector Backbone. 🍃 Kind of a quiet and lazy morning today, I’m in no rush to get going. 💤 I kind of wanted to catch up on sleep and avoid a crazy morning rushing to get to the park before the parking lot fills and closes. That said, it seems like my fears 😱 are rather misplaced – there has been no evidence of that happening this week. Much less hot and humid.

Enjoyed a nice quiet morning in the hammock 😃 looking at the trees swaying above and just relaxing. Monday and Tuesday were too much of a rush. Vacation should be about relaxing. 💤 I really am enjoying camping 🏕 where I have no cellphone reception 🔕 as it keeps me from constantly checking social media. 📱 Facebook is nice but it sure is addictive.

I am thinking today of exploring the Caywood Point historic site 🏛️ and if there is a place to fish down there 🎣 tossing in a line. I wanted to get night crawlers 🐛 but I can get them today when I shop 🏪. I am going to leave the kayak 🛶 on the truck and I might put in at the Hector Town Park where there is supposedly a boat launch and paddle around mid lake. 🛥 In the evening I’ll probably go down to Watkins Glen for ice and groceries and maybe a brief swim 🏊🏻‍♂️ to close out the day.

This afternoon will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 82 degrees at 3pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around August 9th. Maximum dew point of 57 at 6pm. North wind around 5 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 99 was set in 1944.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:13 pm with sun having an altitude of 62.2° from the due south horizon (-8.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:35 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (285°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (291°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:14 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 5 seconds with dusk around 8:43 pm, which is one minute and 25 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:23 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 75 degrees. The dew point will be 59 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and one minute of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 29 seconds over yesterday.

It looks like the party 🎉 broke up this morning based on the number of cars going by so tonight I might hike down to Foster Pond and see if I can see more of the percid metroid showers 🌠. I am thinking it might be a nice clear night for that with less humidity for better visibility. Sitting along the pond provides a good view of the stars ✨. Hopefully the kids 🧒 🧑didn’t trash the area too much.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 62 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 8pm. Calm wind. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It was sticky. It got down to 67 degrees. The record low of 43 occurred back in 1957.

Shopping 🛒 at Wally World the other day I couldn’t get any more paper bowls 🥣 so I ended up getting Styrofoam. I always used to use Styrofoam while camping as I figured it burned better, was cheaper and didn’t involve cutting down trees 🔥 but lately I’ve been using paper products when camping because I was reading how noxious the blowing agents are for expanded polystyrene and it stinks and burns burn if you don’t have a hot fire. Paper ain’t great either – it’s plastic coated – but in some ways it’s a better. I don’t know, I use regular reusable stuff at home 🏡 but camping it’s just easier and cleaner to let the fire do the dishes. Often my water supply of potable 🚰 water is limited. When I have my off-grid homestead with the burn barrels for unlimited trash disposal 🛢️ I’ll have to decide what is the right option for me – water might be precious 💦 .

I’ve continued reading Gebe Brown’s book 📙 on Regenerative Agriculture. It one part ideological but also kind of a rethinking about orthodoxy when it comes to agriculture. 🚜 When he gets off his high horse 🐴 he actually has some interesting ideas. It really makes me think when I own my off-grid property I’ll put a premium on diversity of plants 🌿 and wildlife and work hard to remove and burn up invasive species on my land. I have no moral quams about using glyphosate or other pesticides responsibility to manage land and I do see a lot of benefits to planting milkweed 🦋 and other native species 🌻🌼 to bring in wildlife for hunting 🦌🦃🐇 and observation 🔭🔎. It’s really beautiful what things were like at that farm I visited the other week for the party 🎉 where they had irradicated nearly all invasives in favor of natives.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Maximum dew point of 64 at 9am. Sunday, a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 60 at 6am. Typical average high for the weekend is 81 degrees.

Honestly, if the weather is going to be bad 🌧️ I’d rather it happen on the day vacation ends. It seems like a busy week at work and I’m sure things will be crazy next week once I clock in. 🕒 But so it goes, I have to make money 💵 to have money to spend on vacation.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until National Dog Day 🐩 when the sun will be setting at 7:51 pm with dusk at 8:20 pm. On that day in 2019, we had sunny and temperatures between 78 and 52 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 79 degrees. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1948.