Happy August. To start out the month we are at 71 degrees at Rim Rock in the Allegheny National Forest. Partly cloudy, 80 degrees later.

Yesterday I was at Presque Isle State Park, swimming and exploring. It’s a pretty good drive from Allegheny National Forest, something I had kind of forgotten because last time I camped I was at Chautauqua Gorge which is practically at the state line. To get there from Pennsylvania, the GPS suggested one cut through the tip of New York. I think part of Erie is actually north of the 42nd parallel, which normally is the divider between the two states.

The traffic through Erie was bad with lots of construction. I took I-90 to bypass the city, and was shocked that it only was two lanes wide in both directions despite city traffic and all the through traffic from I-86 and I-90. Then I hit congestion at the end of I-79 due to construction closing the ramp to NY 5 and Presque Isle Boulevard. The park entrance was congested with all the beach goers but the park has 11 beaches of varying quality and lots of picnic areas, marshes, trails, and activities, so once there never seemed too crowded. Didn’t hike out to Gull Point as part of the trail was flooded due to the high lake levels. If the lake levels were another foot higher, they would have been above the rip rap and seawalls, inudating parts of the park. 

It was fun swimming in Lake Erie. There were some pretty good waves and for except one beach, there was very little undertow. That was the beach with a health advisory, I didn’t spend much time there. I stayed until after 6 PM as I wanted to avoid city traffic leaving.

Last night was a good night, although by the time I got back to camp and switched on the lights, it was 9:30. I got lost trying to find the back way up Forest Road 160 in the dark. I think I was on the right road, but then again, it looked like an oil well road. I was retired to bed by 11 pm – later than recent but it was a long drive back from Erie. Fell asleep listening to Kinzua Country, the local country station in Warren PA.

Acorns from Oak Trees have been falling all week. Kind of noisy. At first it kind of creeped me out, hitting the roof, but then I got used to the noise. Totally harmless though.