Spring

A Look Back to Past Memorial Day Weekends

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With only three weekends left to Memorial Day Weekend, I have to think about where I want to go camping during that long weekend. In recent years I’ve not gone so far from home, just because the black flies are often intense during Memorial Day Weekend, and it can be quite cold and rainy. Here is where I’ve gone in recent years.

2017 – Green Mountain National Forest

This year, I camped at Green Mountain National Forest. I ended up heading home on Sunday because it was increadibly wet and humid, 🌧 and the black flies were atrocious. 🐛 Went for a paddle on Grout Pond on Sunday.🐜

Flags

Hmm

Stratton Mountain From Grout Pond

Camp

2016 – Green Mountain National Forest

Hot but sunny this year. One morning was foggy. Did a fair bit of swimming at the beach on Grout Pond.😅 Bugs were bad but overall it was a pretty good trip, quiet because at this point Kelley Stand Road was still closed so I had to go via back way up to this campsite.🇺🇸

America

Camp. Not as messy as appears

Down by the Pond

Sure was foggy yesterday

2015 – North Lake in Atwell (Black River Wild Forest)

Camped on the North Lake Reservior this year.🛥 It was a bit crowded and hot, and the motor boats on the lake were a bit annoying at time. Met some interesting people from outside of Lowville, drunk beer with them late one evening.🍺

Towards Sugar Loaf

Sandy Beach

Flag

2014 – Cherry Ridge Campground in Brookfield

In 2014 I spent Memorial Day Weekend out in Madison County. 🎣I camped at the Cherry Ridge Campground at Charles Baker State Forest, hiked part of the Cazenovia-Canastota Trailway, and did some fishing down at Nelson swamp.🏕

Campsite 1 in the Morning

Old Railway Bed Cuts Through Gorge

Making Coffee

2013 – Moose River Plains

The first two days at Moose River Plains in Memorial Day Weekend 2013 was a frigid, cold rain. 👢It got better for the last two days, one of which I hiked up Black Bear Mountain and the other I hiked out to Ferg’s Bog. I also did some fishing in the Moose River.🏔

The Rain Lets Up

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Cascade Lake

Wet

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2012 – Piseco-Powley Road

In 2012, I spent Memorial Day Weekend camping at Piseco-Powley Road. 🌞 It was a nice weekend, not particularly muddy although hiking back to Big Alder Bed I decided to turn around, as it looked like a torrent trying to cross the East Branch right at the outflow of the Sacanadaga River.🦋

Powley Place Bridge on a Sunny Day

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West Branch of East Canada Creek

The spring peeper is a little frog with some amazing abilities

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The spring peeper is a little frog with some amazing abilities

"What the robin is to lawn and meadow, the peeper is to the wooded swamp. The first robin usually appears on a bright, though still chilly day, hopping over a bit of dry yellow grass revealed by the retreating snow. The peeper comes to us as a distant chorus on the first evening a light coat or sweatshirt will suffice, or all of a sudden when, on a night warm enough to crack a car window, we pass a bit of low ground flooded by the spring rains and snowmelt. They’re more often heard than seen. Approach them, and the song cuts off well before you can get near. Peepers are skittish. You would be too if you were very small and made a sound that could be heard a mile away. Nevertheless, they have some remarkable abilities."

Six Weeks Until Moose River Plains Opens (?)

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I was looking at the calendar and noticing that we are now seven weeks out to Memorial Day Weekend. 🇺🇸 That means it won’t be that long before I’ll be reading up on the NYS DEC Trail Conditions report to see when roads are open at the end of spring mud season, which usually happens around Memorial Day Weekend.⛺ Looking forward to some nice summer evening in the wilderness.

Photo.2013.05.26 14.41.13

Why forecasters are concerned about this storm

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Upstate NY flooding: Why forecasters are concerned about this storm

"Much of Upstate New York has had 6 inches more rain than normal April through June. Considering 3 inches a month is about normal, it's as if those areas in green had two extra months worth of rain by June 30. And that doesn't count the heavy rain that has fallen this month. A soft, soaking rain on dry ground is one thing; torrential rains on already wet ground is a recipe for flash flooding. The red oval denotes the wettest area of Upstate New York, in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley. Those areas could get hit again today and Thursday."