Seneca Lake

Seneca Lake stands as the largest among the glacial Finger Lakes within the state of New York. Renowned for its substantial size and depth, it remains entirely contained within the state’s borders. The lake has earned distinction as the preeminent locale for lake trout angling, exemplified by its role as the host of the esteemed National Lake Trout Derby. Positioned at the northern terminus of Seneca Lake, the city of Geneva, New York, commands attention, serving as the domicile for Hobart and William Smith Colleges, along with housing the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, a constituent entity of Cornell University. Conversely, the village of Watkins Glen, situated at the southern extremity of the lake, boasts a notable reputation due to its association with motorsport, primarily due to the presence of Watkins Glen International racetrack, as well as its picturesque cascades.

Seneca Lake possesses an uncommon macroclimate that has bestowed it with the distinction of nurturing over 50 wineries, predominantly characterized as farm wineries. Its geographical attributes have led to the designation of the Seneca Lake American Viticultural Area (AVA), solidifying its reputation within oenophilic circles.

In terms of dimensions, Seneca Lake stretches across a length of approximately 38 miles, securing its position as the second longest Finger Lake. Remarkably voluminous, it is estimated to contain an impressive 3.81 cubic miles (15.9 km³) of water, accounting for nearly half of the cumulative water volume across all the Finger Lakes. The lake’s profundity is notable, averaging 291 feet, while plunging to a maximum depth of 618 feet. The expansive water body covers a surface area of approximately 66.9 square miles (173 km²).

After this week being so cold and icy, everything now is turning to mud.

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After this week being so cold and icy, everything now is turning to mud. The road near the campsite has a section that was all ice a day ago, now it’s turned to a deep mud puddle. Fortunately the other direction doesn’t seem so bad as it’s sloped. While there was six inches of snow here last weekend, the ground never froze below the snow and ice, and now that the weather has gotten well above freezing its all turned to mush. While I was careful to leave Big Red parked on a gravel lot, the once snow and ice covered campsite by tomorrow certainly will be all mud. But I plan to leave pretty early tomorrow and I’ll try to minimize my trips trampling the ground.

Overlooking the Pond

December 14, 2018 Morning

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Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Next Friday is First Day of Winter ☃️. Partly cloudy and 34 degrees in Hector. ⛅ There is a south breeze at 15 mph. 🍃. At times you can really hear the wind whipping around, but its really quite mild this morning.

Today is my final full day in the Finger Lakes, tomorrow I plan to take down camp fairly early in the morning and head home.🏡 It’s remarkable to think a week has come and gone so quickly. Now that it’s finally warmed up, I expect everything to be melting away quickly.💧

Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 43 degrees at 2pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around November 28th. South wind 14 to 16 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 23 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1901. 12.5 inches of snow fell back in 1956.❄

Today I’m thinking about hiking back to Lucifer Falls then visiting Montour Falls and Watkins Glen and possibly doing some of the rim trail,🏃 although with the warmer temperatures and the normal humidity in the glen I doubt it will look like a winter wonderland.

The sun will set at 4:34 pm with dusk around 5:06 pm, which is 14 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ andtemperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 14 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 after 8pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 37 degrees at 1am. 16 degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around October 26th. Southwest wind 8 to 13 mph becoming light after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies, clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 7 degrees. The record low of -8 occurred back in 1874.

As previously noted, next Friday is First Day of Winter ☃️ when the sun will be setting at 4:37 pm with dusk at 5:09 pm. On that day in 2017, we had snow, mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 32 and 21 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1957.

Pond

With the snow today I decided to stay around camp today, making baked garlic chicken tenders for lunch then reading for a few hours.

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With the snow today I decided to stay around camp today, making baked garlic chicken tenders for lunch then reading for a few hours. I thought the snow had stopped but it picked up again. It was pretty thorough. I didn’t want to drive on snow covered roads as all of the roads around Watkins Glen are very steep both going down and up.

Later on I went for a 5 mile evening / night walk along the Interlaken Trail, stopping several times for like 10 minutes to just sit and observe the woods, and followed some fresh and rabbit tracks until I came to the barbed wire of one of pastures and turned back to the trail. Hiked back after dark along Potomac Road which was very icy from the days 1-2 inches snow being compacted by car tires. I’m kind of glad I didn’t drive anywhere. Going to finally get above freezing tomorrow and I’m sure the town will sand the road by morning, like they did today before the snow squalls. I made pizza and cookies in the camp oven then had hot coca next to the fire until retiring to bed around nine.

Photo.2012.12.04 15.30.33