Homeless in the wilderness 🐺
You’re not homeless when you choose to keep your heat at fifty degrees or lower all winter or take your big jacked up truck to the wilderness to spend a few cold nights winter camping. I can’t argue with these points but I still don’t feel like my rundown apartment that I ride my mountain bike to work from most days is really my home. It’s an apartment, a month by month deal, an interim place until I find a real home.
Winter camping can be harsh at times. The nights are long, and when the wind picks up it can be cold. You’re literally living outside, my truck cap is unheated. But it’s about as close as I can be to my real home, as it’s not in the city with all it’s advertising and plastic. The fake political fights, the angry news headlines, the endless reminders that cops have rifles aimed up your ass and you’re a rent payment away from being out oun the street. People are like, don’t you just want another plastic house with a big payment, and a commute in an SUV in traffic to your suburban office building next to old city garbage dump?
Maybe I have too many ideas, and not enough direction. Certainly there are many books I’ve read and thought about homesteading and permaculture. I am well aware of climate crisis, the poverty all around me, the tyrants petty and elsewise that rule are government. But it seems like the only alternative to plastic is playing woke and putting your plastic in blue bin. I recycle plastic, drive an electric car to the suburbanite office building and don’t burn my trash, aren’t I so morally virtuous the smug liberal says. I just want some more nights in wilderness, listening to coyotes scream in the distance and owls hoot, as I hunch over the smoldering camp fire in snow burning wet woods as I sip on the beer and smoke some more of the joint as I watch that discarded plastic bottle melt and burn up. It is probably madness, when I could be at home, warm, not sitting in the pitch black, here in wilderness.
Books not social media 📚
The other day I was increasingly alarmed by my use of Facebook. I found myself endlessly scrolling through the feed, mostly of good ol’ boys and farmers doing hillbilly shit, slinging manure, wrenching around with their pickups.
But also I found myself getting angry at Alexandria Fabulso, the anti-solar activist and so many others who oppose renewable energy development. Facebook algorithms seems to encourage the same three commenters on every post and it seems to only lead to flame wars.
And then there is the ads that lead your mind down creepy rat holes, like you mention your preference of metal roofs and wooden-siding over the plastic and asphalt crap, and you’re literally assaulted with ads for homeowners, and a every five minute reminder that you’re a failure as a renter.
I realized I don’t want any part of it. Or if I do want to go on Facebook, I should limit my daily use to no more 30 minutes. Other social media sites aren’t quite as bad – maybe because I use Bravepipe to avoid seeing YouTube ads – and things like Instagram and TikTok don’t prominently feature comments or flame wars, still it’s a lot of crap. Just show me the hillbilly shit. Or other interesting stuff.
But I realize none of it is particularly healthy for my mind. What is a far better option is to just read a book. It’s never been easier when the whole library is on your phone, you can take out many different books at once, read at your leisure, free of advertising. There is much that can be learned by just sitting back and reading, and with your phone you have it everywhere, you can read in the dark or under the covers.
There is a lot you can learn from YouTube, Wikipedia, and many web sites. But reading a full book gives you a much more in depth view on an issue or topic. It also allows your mind to flow more freely, use your imagination. I am often oft-put by the hokiness of homesteaders videos on the Internet, or bicycle repair videos, but if you read it in a book, you can use your own imagination and your own vision.
Books give you a lot more freedom to create your own images and add your personal spin while learning and being taken to an often unfamiliar world. They don’t have a set speed for reading unlike a movie or audio book, which can often either drag on for too long or skip over something that is truly interesting and remarkable.
Safe Release of Non Target Species
David Canterbury of the Pathfinder School shows how trappers release non-target species.
Power Plants In NYS
This interactive map shows all of the operable power plants in New York State. Not all of them ran in 2016 or some only ran occasionally, but they could be brought online at least part of the year to generate electricity.
Data Source: EIA Form 860. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860/
Back At It After the Long Weekend in the Snow 🌨️
Apparently I brought the snow back with me. Literally in some cases, I was sweeping snow out of my truck and off my gear as I unpacked. And now it’s snowing more this morning, or at least will be shortly if the forecast is to be believed. I decided against driving my big jacked up truck to work or riding my mountain bike.
Every single warning sign was on the way driving back from Boreas Ponds reading, “Snow Expected Tomorrow – Visibility Likely Reduced” 
or as I headed farther south and out of Adirondacks, “Snow Expected Tomorrow – Avoid Travel”. Sounds dramatic, though maybe we’ll get a half foot of snow, maybe more. It seems like its all over the map. I would ride in but I don’t love bringing my laptop on the bike, plus this afternoon it will be snowy by 5 PM. Tonight assuming that the meeting isn’t cancelled, there is a Save the Pine Bush Meeting to attend. 
I got home around 6 PM last night, 
but with the snow coming, being low on groceries after camping and my truck encrusted with salt, I headed over to the car wash 
and gave Big Red a bath, and stocked up at Wally World. That is after I got unpacked, had some dinner and took a quick shower, and then by the time I kneaded the bread 
and got to bed it was 9:30 – 10 PM. This morning, baking bread and acorn squash was a bit of a rush, as I wanted to catch the earlier bus downtown, so I could be in the office and catch up on work from the past week. It was a nice trip, but I have so much catching up to do. The snow isn”t helping.
I spent four days camping off NY 28N at Boreas River Campsite 1. 
Friday was cold up north and so was Saturday morning. But as the day progressed, the sun came out and the wind died down. I wasn’t really sure if this trip was going to be more than a one night trip but after reviewing the weather forecast I headed back down to the Boreas River and NY 28 to camp for two more nights. It was so nice to be away from it all, rode some trail, had some fires, cooked some good meals, smoked some grass and drunk some beer, wandered around the wilderness with a camera. 
Driving up on Friday wasn’t bad until I got north of Saratoga and had to slog through icy snow on the Northway until I got off at South Glens Falls to fuel up 
with my tank nearly empty. It’s been a while since I’ve done much winter driving. Back on the Northway a few more miles of icy driving then slush and I stopped at Stewart’s for milk. 
Then the rest of the way north I was beyond the snow squall and it was smooth driving. I was up to camp by 10:30 AM and spent the midday 
setting up camp 
then riding up the hill on NY 28N to the Standard Lead Railroad tracks, realizing that driveway on the top of the hill I went past was the entrance to the unmarked Roosevelt Truck Trail. I rode the Roosevelt Truck Trail for two miles are so, basically to where the Vanderwhacker Brook crosses it. The Roosevelt Truck Trail is great on the mountain bike, and there wasn’t too much snow on it. 
That said, into the evening, it was still pretty cold with the wind whipping around. Had a nice fire, 
though the wood was wet, the burnables help get that fire burning hot. 
As predicted, the battery in the broke smoke detector that was driving me nuts, made a nice bang when it burnt up. And burned with a brilliant bright flame.
Saturday also started out cool but as the day progressed the sun came out, 
and the wind died down. I hiked back to Hewitt Eddy Loop Trail 
then drove up to Newcomb and was going to ride from Camp Santoni back to Newcomb Lake, but as I got about 4 miles out there, I got a flat tire on the rear, and had to swap the tube. 
I wasn’t going to risk being broke down, and the snow was getting deeper, so I rode back to the Main Farm at Santoni, poked around the historic buildings, 
and rode back to my truck. Stopped for a while at Newcomb Overlook 
but as the day progressed the wind only picked up 
and was kind of unpleasant. I decided based on the forecast Sunday would be okay to camp, so I would stay through Monday. For a while, I wasn’t sure, as they were calling for high winds and blowing snow, possibly a foot or more. Fortunately, none of that came to a pass.
Instead, Sunday was snowy but in a nice kind of way without a lot of wind. Hiked back along Moose Club Way to the Vanderwhacker Brook and the railroad tracks, which I followed south along the Vanderwhacker Brook and then along the Boreas River. 
It was a nice quiet afternoon walk, probably went about 10 miles round trip, though with the insulated overalls and hunting boots, my pace was not quick. But it was enjoyable watchingt he snow come down. Came back to camp, made a big pot of chicken noodle – rice soup with lots of vegtables, mostly canned but also some frozen I brought from home, beans, and the last of the onions I had. Made a big old fire up, smoked some grass, and enjoyed watching the snow fall as I read Power on the Hudson: Storm King Mountain and the Emergence of Modern American Environmentalism by Robert D. Lifset on Libby. I am glad I had that book electronically, free from the library, as the print book is $72. I much prefer Libby and Hoopla, as they are much more convenient then getting books in person, and you don’t have to haul around books or worry about them getting wet. 
I can bring like 5 or 10 books, plus audio books on my phone, and it doesn’t weight anything. And at least time both my Libby and Hoopla books worked well without cell reception, though Libby traditionally has been finicky off-the-network, though making sure I had network access turned off on my phone may have helped stopped corruption of the files. 
I liked being away from the Internet and social media for four days, even though at times I could get signal when I was out hiking or on Saturday when I went up to Newcomb to check out the weather.
Monday I took down camp pretty early, and drove over snow-covered Blue Ridges Road slowly, and hiked back to Boreas Pond, which took most of the day, because it’s about 13 miles round trip from the outer lot. I could have driven all the way to the parking lot at LeBeir Flow, but there was 3-4 inches of snow, and a bit of ice, and being an unfamiiar road, I wasn’t going to try it and lest my big jacked up truck slip off the road. 🛻 It was a nice hike, didn’t see anybody except one deer hunter 
who was out driving the roads listening and watching for deer sign. 
Boreas Pond is very scenic but I cringe at the though of being there on a beautiful summer or autumn day, with the crowds. They only allow parking in number spaces, and no road-side parking, and I can only imagine the crowds and enforcement on a summer day. Hell, you couldn’t pay me to go there on a day with the drooling woke granola eaters, 
with their Honda SUVs and Subarus and Sierra Club backpacks. Most of it would be a good bike ride, but without the tube patched, though the first part of the hill is a bit steep.
California emissions standards don’t make sense everywhere. 🏭
Areas with non attainment have emissions inspections but other areas often emissions equipment is clunky and works rather poorly. Automakers lobby for one standard but the problem is that one standard wastes fuel, reliability and performance in areas when the equipment is not neccesary.