Saratoga

Ownership of Saratoga County historic site may finally be clarified

Ownership of Saratoga County historic site may finally be clarified

NORTHUMBERLAND — Stark’s Knob is a 170-foot high promontory overlooking the Hudson River known for two things: Its role in the Revolutionary War and its unique geological features.

There’s a lot of history connected with the land that juts out over the river both in geological terms and in the context of the American Revolution. There have also been longstanding questions about who actually owns the Knob – a question that may have just been solved.

Saratoga Springs – Full Market Value of Properties

If you have to ask about the cost of a home in Saratoga Springs, you probably can't afford it. Things have really turned around the city, compared to the mid-1960s, when horse racing was a quaint activity but hardly something to sustain a modern city.

One of the latest projects I’ve been working on πŸ—Ί

One of the latest projects I’ve been working on πŸ—Ί

One of the latest projects I’ve been working on is viewshed analysis is viewshed analysis from peaks and fire towers. Basically I am working on developing a few different products:

  • Maps that show viewable locations from the mountain summit such as major peaks and lakes
  • KML Google Maps that show viewable locations from summits
  • Lists of peaks and lakes viewable from the summit including compass direction, height and angle.

While running the viewshed is relatively easy in R using gdal_viewshed what has proven more complicated is designing an attractive map without too much detail or clutter and limiting the view window to adjust for ledges with views in one direction. Plus fully automating the process in R. It can be done but just mastering it takes some practice.

Weather Update – September 4, 2022

Rain for Labor Day β˜”

Before bed tonight I plan to down take down the screen tent and flags and anything else that I don’t want wet. But hopefully before then the thousands of mosquitoes will disappear. They are bad with the heat and humidity tonight since dusk. But no rain today but it was hot.

Tonight.
Feels like …
September 9th.

Chance of Showers

A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy.

Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

and

55 degrees , 6:24
sunrise.
Labor Day.
Feels like …
October 5th.

Showers is likely

Showers likely, mainly after 9am. Cloudy.

Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

and

66 degrees , 60 max dew point, 7:27
sunset.
Monday Night.
Feels like …
September 9th.

Chance of Showers

A chance of showers. Cloudy.

Light northeast wind. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

and

55 degrees , 6:25
sunrise.
Tuesday.
Feels like …
October 3rd.

Slight Chance of Showers

A slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy.

East wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

and

67 degrees , 58 max dew point, 7:25
sunset.
Tuesday Night.
Feels like …
September 17th.

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly cloudy.

East wind 3 to 5 mph.

and

52 degrees , 6:26
sunrise.
Wednesday.
Feels like …
September 17th.

Mostly Sunny

Mostly sunny.

and

74 degrees , 56 max dew point, 7:24
sunset.
Wednesday Night.
Feels like …
September 17th.

Partly Cloudy

Partly cloudy.

and

52 degrees , 6:28
sunrise.
Thursday.
Feels like …
September 14th.

Sunny

Sunny.

and

75 degrees , 55 max dew point, 7:22
sunset.
Thursday Night.
Feels like …
September 14th.

Mostly Clear

Mostly clear.

and

53 degrees , 6:29
sunrise.
Friday.
Feels like …
September 8th.

Sunny

Sunny.

and

77 degrees , 55 max dew point, 7:20
sunset.
Friday Night.
Feels like …
September 9th.

Mostly Clear

Mostly clear.

and

55 degrees , 6:30
sunrise.
Saturday.
Feels like …
September 8th.

Mostly Sunny

Mostly sunny.

and

77 degrees , 58 max dew point, 7:18
sunset.
Saturday Night.
Feels like …
September 3rd.

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly cloudy.

and

57 degrees , 6:31
sunrise.

Daily Update – September 4, 2022

Good evening! Evening before Labor Day. πŸ‘·

Bugs are bad tonight but at least we didn’t get any rain this weekend. Tomorrow though will be wet so I plan to take down a lot of camp before bed.

Mostly cloudy and 66 degrees at the Perkins Clearing. ☁ Calm wind. The dew point is 65 degrees. The skies will clear Tuesday around 4 pm.

I have to admit this weekend was a lot less inspired than I had imagined. β›Ί Maybe it was all the shrimp 🦐 and clams πŸ¦ͺ and sweet corn 🌽 boiled and drank with beer. 🍻 Or the fact I ultimately decided against hiking Pillsbury to see the Firetower lighting because it wasn’t scheduled until 9 o’clock and would have made a very long night by the time I hiked down the mountain in two hours and drove a half hour over rough roads in pitch black.

Maybe it would have been a nice evening ✨ but it would have been a long very dark hike back – nearly three miles with Military Turnpike closed at Jessup River Road due to damage from the 2019 storm. Plus it’s such a rough road and Big Red’s suspension doesn’t do much to smooth out the bumps these days.

Instead I spent the bulk of the weekend around camp β›Ί, with on Sunday doing a ten mile hike down Mud Pond Road and then the gated part that’s just a snowmobile trail. Some bird 🐦 hunters around, I saw a black bear 🐻 and some cubs along the road in a tree but it was pretty quiet. Not a lot of good views around the road but not a bad place for watching nature it was very quiet.

All weekend was remarkably hot β˜€ which isn’t surprising as this campsite has minimal shade midday. Good for solar not good for staying cool. No rain there but just to the east it looks like there was a lot of thunderstorms β›ˆ. I reinflated my tube β­• which is fully patched now but did not end up driving down to the Jessup River to float because today I was sure by the time I got there it would be a roaring thunderstorms and yesterday after all those clams and shrimp in the beer I didn’t think driving was a good idea plus it gets dark so early this time of year. It’s only 8:30 and pitch black with the clouds tonight.

So instead I spent a lot of time reading πŸ“– a book about the algorithms and hardware that make up modern computers and then a lot of study from YouTube and various websites about Saga GIS and GRASS GIS and how I can integrate those advanced algorithms into my R Programming projects. Also there was just a lot of miscellaneous things I got reading about – and various work emails πŸ“§ and projects needing addressing.

I didn’t think I would have a fire πŸ”₯ tonight with the earlier forecast that called for rain β˜” but all we got was humidity. Had to get more firewood from the woods and didn’t save paper to start the fire. Last night was the best one when it came the stars ✨ though the moonlight made them fainter. Friday night I did a Zoom call with John Wolcott and Friends after which I waited until late then had a rip roaring fire until eleven or so. Had a lot of burnables to oxidize.

It’s been a fairly quiet weekend ☺️ but truth be told I really don’t enjoy camping like I once did. The beer 🍻 and unhealthy camp food isn’t as much fun as when I was younger. Plus the time goes by so fast and I have fewer and fewer new places to explore. I’ve camped at this same site at Perkins Clearing many times before.

As through November all weekends will be working weekends πŸ‚πŸ I may be back up here in three or four weekends to camp where I have cell service πŸ“± and remote work πŸ’». Maybe closer to Mason Lake so I can paddle. πŸ›Ά In retrospect, if I had thought about it more I would have kayak that lake to see the Snowy Mountain Fire Tower on the night it was lit.

But tomorrow looks quite wet, πŸ’¦ so I will probably take camp down early, and head home early. Though maybe not a wash out. I was sure this afternoon and evening was going to a soaker and was going to head home today but that would have been a mistake – most of the day was nice but so humid. β˜€