Notes

Rocking into Labor Day 🎧

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Cream’s White Room is a pretty good song as I look at the clouds as the sparkles of yesterday float away as a good memory. It was fun day, riding over twenty miles in Perkins Clearing and then hiking back to Spruce Lake in the West Canada Lake Wilderness.

If I didn’t have to work tomorrow 🌤️ and I was starting a new employee and had meetings downtown I would be like this is such a nice day to look at the clouds from my hammock and notice all the shapes and shadows. Cool morning but beautiful. Eggs 🥚 for breakfast this morning and reheated some coffee ☕. Already need to think about taking down camp as I want to get to Speculator to ride the Speculator Tree Farm short loop before heading home.

It was an amazing sunset 🌇 last night after I got back to camp 🏕 after my day full of adventure and riding, and probably the last time floating in the tube ⭕ for the year. I figure it’s going to get cool quickly especially the way September is starting out. Hard to imagine it’s already Labor Day and the second day of the month. School 🚸 traffic returns this week but hopefully by riding the bike 🚲 to work I’ll miss the worse of the traffic. Cars might crowd the roads but they won’t crowd the bike trail. That said on nice mornings the trail gets congested, especially nice autumn mornings. 🍂

It’s hard to imagine it’s now September and autumn. 🍁 Silage chopping season I’m sure is underway in the high country. 🚜 I’m thinking about autumn camping at Rennselaerville State Forest and friday’s remote working from there. Also thinking about a trip to Madison County as that is a fun place to go in the autumn. 🏕 I think it would be fun to ride road and maybe trail at the horse 🐴 camp as a stoned poney on my mountain bike 🚵 during peak colors.

Just got to do it!

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That was the advice of Homesteady’s Off Grid project. You’re never going to do it before you take the first step and follow the determined course no matter what setbacks you might face. Just do it, you don’t have forever.

Such simple words. But I want to be prepared. I want to have the necessary skills, the funds, and everything else before I step off the curb knowing that I can never go back. Truth is that is easier said then done.

The best place to find a lot of people is a wilderness area

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That generally is my experience with wilderness areas – the designation brings in the masses who search for wilderness and assume with such a classification it must offer something greater and better than parts of the Adirondacks not officially designated as wilderness.

They looked quite worried 😯

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How are you feeling they asked. I didn’t bring a day sack, I had left the water and banana back at my bicycle some three miles back at the wilderness boundary. I had just my keys, wallet, cigarette lighter and cellphone on me. It’s fine, if I had to spend the night in the woods I’d be fine. Drank plenty of water before the three mile hike back to Spruce Lake.

I took a decent but not overpowering hit of cannabis before I left camp, riding my mountain bike ten miles to the wilderness boundary on Jessup River Road. My eyes were a bit blood shot but the woods was amazing with the rich colors. Safety advocates and the Forest Rangers would likely cuss me out for being irresponsible but I knew the trail back here would be well established and marked and it was only 3 relatively flat miles. Deep blue skies, the sparkles on lake were so pretty. I did wear an orange safety vest, mostly for riding but also some hunting seasons are now open, it’s September. Best to be seen!