Good evening. Currently partly cloudy and 50 degrees in Delmar. Tonight will have a slight chance of showers between 1am and 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39. West wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Waxing gibbous moon that is close to full, setting at 4:54 am. Tomorrow’s sunrise will be at 6:42 am with first light at 6:14 am, which is 2 minutes and 30 seconds earlier then today.

Tomorrow will be cloudy with a slight chance of rain after 3pm. A high near 43. West wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

It was nice to get back hiking in the Catskills today, although Plateau Mountain is a pretty steep hike for the first half mile although it moderates the farther you get up the mountains. I haven’t spent much time in the mountains recently. Pretty nice day but in the evening it clouded up. Stony Clove was quite pretty.

I haven’t been through Greenville and Freehold in a long time, and it kind of brought back many memories and observations on how things have changed in the fifthteen years. Lots of mud due to the lack of snow on farms and the rural landscape.

As much as people talk about the Adirondacks and the Catskills, but I realize they aren’t the only mountains in the world. Hiking in the Catskills reminds me a lot of parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Driving up NY 23A, I reminded of many of the narrow, steep, and windy US Highways throughout West Virginia. I love mountains but I see the writing on the wall for our state, and how they’ll only be increasingly closed off to the public’s use.

I’m really hoping to get to West Virginia and Virginia, along with maybe Tennessee and explore more of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I also want to spend more time in the Shenandoah Valley and seeing more of America. The Catskills are great but they still are in New York State.

I hope you had a good day. It certainly was a warm one and some great hiking. Sleep well!