There are those who object to me spending weeks in the wilderness, rambling around, smoking and days spent giggling listening to the loons, gobble of the turkeys and calls of bucks. They say, why don’t you grow up and buy a house and spend your time working on it and paying for the weekly garbage service and high-speed internet in every room.
But it always hits me hard to know these days won’t last forever. I figure it’s best to see America and enjoy the life before I’m too old and other responsibilities for my land. While I don’t think I’d ever own a dog, eventually when I have a home and homestead, I am sure that will livestock to feed and a million different fixer-up-projects and other things to do which will make travel difficult. Who knows how long – indeed my parents are getting up there in years, and I’ll probably end up with their 5-acre homestead with the dog.
So in the mean time, I have to think it’s best to travel and experience as much as I still am relatively free of commitment. That’s why I am planning out a trip to Michigan next year with a new truck, and this summer and autumn I’ve tried to extend my vacations as long as possible.
After a rather rainy and gray few days, followed by a sunny but cold and breezy day those tease words from years ago – puts a grin on my face. Somebody, a much less rugged invididual – posted that comment in response to my pictures of a post-Thanksgiving hot tent camping trip to the North Country.
Truth is I find hotels and motels to be most tasteless nasty places to stay. They remind me too much of travel for work, too much like home, the city, the place I’m trying to get away from. I’d much rather have some cold, some discomfort in the woods – days unshaven and unshowered – rather then spend a lot of money to travel somewhere in a way that I just do at home.
The other day I was writing how much I truly dislike recreational vehicles. There is something so much simpler and rustic about a camper shell on a pickup then even a pickup-truck camper much less an RV. I don’t like all that padding, the enclosed stove or bathroom. I’m quite happy with my plastic table, camp stove and shitting in a bucket outdoors. Sitting by the propane heater is though nice when I’m not having a fire on a cold day like this.
I make good money, and people are like aren’t you going to buy one of those suburban houses, own a couch and a television. High speed internet in every room, weekly garbage pickup. A lawn mow and maintaince free until discard vinyl siding and asphalt roofing. And all those plastic fixings. Don’t you know that’s a normal and responsible thing to do with your money?
Get a room. A motel, a house. Indeed, I was walking down the Adirondack Railway line this morning with a brief thought in my head about some year in the future taking the scenic railine from Utica to Tupper and back. 216 miles as they note, a full day trip. It’s not that expensive for a full day of scenic enjoyment, still I don’t know, it’s so much of the same canned entertainment that I so despise. I’d much rather be in woods, have my freedom, walk, ride and paddle as I want rather then some canned entertainment on a train for a few houses.
Though not completely unexpected, yesterday was a pretty dreary and cold day with fog and drizzle most of the day on and off. No sun really at all, which left the batteries fairly depleted – I started up and idled Red for a while, not that I exactly prefer to do that as it wastes gas, encourages the engine to burn oil and knock a bit. And at idle I in cold, I find it hard to get the engine fully warmed up unless I idle it for quite a while, just to top off the starting and accessory batteries.
I can’t argue it’s been the best weather days the past few days, with the rain and drizzle but it also was not a wash out. This morning is cloudy and cold, 🌥️ but I keep seeing blue in the skies and have hope the sun will come out and it will be decent enough at least by afternoon to paddle either Horseshoe Lake or maybe Bog River Flow. 🛶 I’d really like to do the later, and it would be good for the truck to charge up the batteries to drive that two miles or so. But first I want sun.
Yesterday, I rode out to Pine Pond to the end of that road, 🚲 and then out Otterbrook Road which becomes Town Line and ultimately Massawepie Lake Road as you head through the Conifir – Emporium Conservation Easement. Certainly the logged area with the young timberlands, mostly hardwood, is much more rich with wildlife and color compared to much older Forest Preserve lands. Then in the afternoon I came back, had lunch, pounded a beer or two, smoked some more pot, laid back in the hammock for a while until some dude in an RV and electric motor bikes asked if I was planning to stay for a while as he really wanted my campsite. 🏕️ I pointed out several other campsites were avaliable, though it seemed like he wanted a larger site on the lake – he said he had more family coming. I don’t know I just thought it was rude, even if he complemented me for my flags and being a good patriot. While I’m hardly a tent 🎪 camper, RVs kind of annoy me, they’re too soft and suburban for my tastes with padding and appliances like at home.
Rode over to Bog River Flow – the Lows Lower Dam, and got a flat front tire. 😲 Fortunately, it took air and the fix-a-flat in the tube re-sealed it up on the second inflation. Both of the tires are shot on my bike, full of cracks and holes, so it seems especially on stone dust roads, it’s prone to losing air. I do carry a spare tube, air pump and other tools at all times. I re-inflated the tire, and I was off again. Rode back down to Horseshoe Lake, sat at the fishing dock for a while, then rode out along NY 421 to the hill where it leaves the lake. 🏞️ NY 421 is not just rough as fuck on you’re big jacked up truck, it’s pretty damn rough on my mountain bike too, especially as I needed to get that front tire even harder.
Rode back to camp, locked my bike up and hiked out along the railroad tracks to where the cross the Bog River Flow. I looked at the train schedule, 🚂 and they’re done for the year, so no risk of running into a train on the tracks. Usually run only on Sundays, with last weekend being the last one. I heard a train from Lows Ledge on Columbus Day but I’m not sure it even went north of Sabbatist. And I did that Railroad Bogie truck on the tracks mid-day Columbus Day, inspecting the tracks, but it seems they’re pretty much done for the year.
I had hoped to paddle the Bog River Flow – Hitchens Pond to Lows Lake/Grass Pond but it didn’t happen yesterday, as all day was pretty cold and gray. Mercury wise, yesterday was warmer but we saw no sun. This morning has had breaks of sun, and it’s clearing to points north and west, and it appears the blue is pushing south but it’s only been breaks of sun ☀️ so far today. Which I am okay with paddling on a 50 degree day, as long as the water is calm and sun is beating down. But maybe despite being right on Horseshoe Lake and near Bog River Flow, it won’t be good enough weather to paddle. It’s mid-October, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but last week was so warm in comparison.
Last night was the Save the Pine Bush Zoom Meeting, which went good from camp. I made a big pot of beans and rice up, and later on had a campfire 🔥 until close to 9 PM but I was pretty tired after a few more Budwisers and hits on Just Peachy. 🍻 Wasn’t a real cold night, but I just was tired, and having finished off Richard Thayler’s Nudge audio book, I didn’t have much additional to listen to, so I decided to retire to bed, in part to avoid dipping the battery too low and having the auto shutdown switch on. Still it was a nice quiet evening, and by early morning you could see the waning crescent 🌒 moon and the stars before more clouds pushed in around sunrise.
Eggs 🥚 this morning, walked along a bit more of the rail tracks, been reading, catching up on the news, 📰 and just hanging out hoping for some sun and blue skies and maybe some warm. Sitting by the heater helps but I’d rather be out and doing stuff. Even if it doesn’t get warm enough to paddle, I will ride later on and explore.
These days I often find myself walking around my parents homestead, envisioning what a stamp I could put on it should I inherit it. While I think they have a few years left in their life, and my parents assets would certainly be split evenly between me and my sister, there is a chance I will end up on their 5 acres where I grew up eventually as my sister owns a house in Saratoga and is quite content living there.
In many ways, especially in their later years, much of the homestead has been allowed to revert to woods, the buildings neglected in need of repairs. They did have their kitchen and bathroom renovated, and the garage rebuilt with tacky vinyl siding, but the grounds have reverted significantly to thicket and woods of mostly trash species, specifically black locus, though admitly that does burn well and makes excellent fence posts.
The whole neighborhood is rural residential, with homesteaders and mostly working folks around. Not a lot of the woke shit nearby, though I still would have be careful with fires and not burn anything too noxious as there are still is neighbors nearby. But certainly with goats, a chain saw, and some planning, the trash species could be cleared out, and some mowing and brush hogging, and maybe seed, the landscape made productive again. Pigs could bring in some fertility – I was thinking I could probably start a food composting collection at work and maybe also start collecting shredded paper from the data department as a source of bedding and carbon. I have no idea how much of their equipment is still working.
Certainly if I ended up with their land, one of the first things I would do is cancel to their cable and weekly trash subscriptions. I can burn burnables – within reason – compost and take the rest to the transfer station. I could bring chickens and rabbits for eggs and meat fairly quickly on the land. Build fences, get goats cleaning up some of the brush and trash species. If I decide to stay on the land for a while, I could add solar mounted on racks to backyard, along with a grid-tied inverter with on site storage. Maybe not fully off-grid but still a way to improve sustainability.
But then again, it’s still New York State, and in that sense it still kind of sucks. It’s a residential neighborhood so you have to be careful what you burn. There really isn’t enough land or distance to do much shooting there, and you have all those New York State gun restrictions including the ammo background checks to deal with which of sucks. Grid tied solar with battery isn’t terrible, but it’s still kind of woke and unreal compared to a fully off-grid-cabin in wilderness. Where you can have fires and burn whatever, and shoot guns whenever you want. I’m not sure I want to compromise.
Maybe it just becomes a place to live and improve somewhat through retirement. Then I can sell it and buy that true off-grid property in a freer state. I don’t know, I have options though I’m not sure what is right for me. I’m not willing the quick death and disappearnce of my parents – that will leave a big gap in my heart – but I know those days will come some day in the future not that far away.
