Tompkins County

Tompkins County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, and comprises the whole of the Ithaca metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 101,564. The county seat is Ithaca, and the county is home to Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland Community College.

Tompkins County is in the west central part of New York State, south of Syracuse and northwest of Binghamton. It is usually geographically grouped with the Finger Lakes region, but some locals consider themselves to be part of Central New York or the Southern Tier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_County,_New_York

Pony Hollow on NY 13

Pony Hollow along NY 13 outside of Newfield is one of my favorite drives. I enjoy looking at the mountains and hills along the valley.

December 15, 2018 Morning

Good morning! Happy Bill of Rights Day 📜! Next Saturday the Days will be Getting Longer Again β˜€οΈ. Nice, the first day of winter is next Friday. Cloudy and 39 degrees in Finger Lakes National Forest. ☁ Calm wind. Only a few patches of snow left on the ground after yesterday’s mild temperatures.

I’m packing up and finishing up breakfast now. β˜• I’m thinking I’ll be on the road by eleven o’clock, but I may stop a few places on the way home. I’m not in a real rush although I would like to be home by dusk and I figure four hours until home. Not totally sure which route I’ll take, I’m leaning towards 79 and 206. That’s actually usually the shortest route and I’m ready to get home and washed up.

Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 41 degrees at 7am. Five degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around December 3rd. Calm wind becoming north around 6 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 22 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 2015. 8.2 inches of snow fell back in 1968.❄

It’s been a good but seemingly short trip, but everything now is turning to mud now that it’s warmed up. πŸ˜• I’m ready to go home and get the mud washed up. The week went by so fast but I think it was a good week although I wish I could have seen more and harvested more in the woods. The cold gray skies seemed to leave the woods free of wildlife. Plus there was a lot of hunters putting pressure on the land up here. 🌲But there are more adventures to come, I might head back out later this month.

The sun will set at 4:35 pm with dusk around 5:07 pm, which is 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ andtemperatures around 39 degrees. There will be a north-northeast breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 26 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of rain between midnight and 2am, then a chance of freezing rain and sleet. Mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 29 degrees at 4am. Eight degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around November 26th. Northeast wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no sleet accumulation expected. In 2017, we had cloudy skies, clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 11 degrees. The record low of -11 occurred back in 1917.

As previously noted, next Saturday the Days are Getting Longer β˜€οΈ when the sun will be setting at 4:38 pm with dusk at 5:10 pm. On that day in 2017, we had rain, drizzle, freezing rain, freezing drizzle, snow, sleet, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 25 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 1990.

Pond

Earlier today hiked back to Lucifer Falls at Robert Robert H. Treman State ParkRobert H. Treman State Park Treman State Park.

Earlier today hiked back to Lucifer Falls at Robert Robert H. Treman State ParkRobert H. Treman State Park Treman State Park. Also hiked the CCC trail. Then drove one of my favorite stretches of highway, NY 13 through the Newfield Valley. I just like the wide valley, nice looking hills. Poked around Montour Falls, hiked up the bridge, then did the north rim trail at Watkins Glen. Many of those photos were shot with my camera so I’ll post them later. Sitting now on the jetty at the Watkins Glen village park out on Seneca Lake, thinking about heading back into town, killing time at the library on the internet then heading back to Montour Falls to see the lights at dusk as it looks really decked out for the holidays. I’ll head back to camp around 5:30, then cook dinner and start a fire, so I can enjoy the final night of the December road trip. Between the sun and driving I should have sufficient power for tonight. Tomorrow morning I’ll take down camp and start head back home, hopefully by dusk.

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