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December 31, 2019 Night

Good evening on this final blog post of 2019 ! Cloudy and 31 degrees at the Cole Hill State Forest in Berne on this New Years Eve. ☁ We had a thunderstorm with some brief lightning and snow. ⚡ ❄ It was windy and intense for about five minutes and then it got quiet. There is a west-southwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. There is about 4 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ The skies will clear tomorrow around noontime.

It’s hard to believe that New Years Day is only a few hours away and it will be 2020. 🎇 To think it’s already the twenties when not all that long ago it was year 2000 and I was back in High School. I’ll be waking tomorrow to a brand new decade. Although it’s already basically 11 o’clock now and I could if I wanted to stay up the next hour listening to a podcast until midnight. I was outside by the fire until 10:30 when a snow squall and the breeze made me decide to jettison the cold ❄ outside for a nice warm tent 🎪. Maybe I will stay up to midnight 🕛, I’m in no rush to take down camp as things with the dropping temperatures are likely to be frozen early in the day until the sun comes out. Simple breakfast of instant oatmeal 🍚 and coffee ☕ for breakfast tomorrow and then it’s just a 20 minute drive home.

Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly before 10pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 25 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 7th. Even warmer back in the city. West wind 9 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. A few good gusts earlier for sure with that winter thunderstorm. The wind is a bit concerning with the ice on the trees being thrown or broken limbs but my campsite is relatively free of widow makers. 🍃 Chance of precipitation is 50%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2018, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. I was up at Cherry Ridge last year and I left the night before because I was worried 😯 about the road being slippery when the ice turned to mud. In retrospect, should have done Moscow Hill horse 🐴 camp instead. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1970.

Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon with 31% illuminated. At dusk you’ll see the moon in the south (190°) at an altitude of 37° from the horizon, some 251,948 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀It was kind of a pretty moon tonight and it seems like my astrological calculations are right. The moon will set in the west-southwest (257°) at 10:06 pm. The darkest hour is at 12:00 am (the beginning of the decade), followed by dawn at 6:55 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:27 am in the east-southeast (121°) and last for 3 minutes and 25 seconds. Sunrise is 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 8:13 am with sun in the southeast (129°) at an altitude of 6°. Tonight will have 14 hours and 53 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 42 seconds over last night.

New Year’s Day 🎇 will have isolated snow showers after 8am. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 34 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 22nd. West wind 15 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light drizzle by afternoon. The high last year was 53 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 1966. 9.2 inches of snow fell back in 1961.❄

This year my New Year Resolution is to stay the course 🚢and continue to build a better life for myself. I want to keep saving money towards buying land and an off grid cabin. I might stay in New York for another decade but when the time comes, I want to be prepared. I’ll have to see if Big Red needs repairs and decide on my future of motoring 🏁 or if I should try a life with more biking and local adventures. Sure these winter camping adventures are kind of fun but motoring is so expensive and bad for both the environment and ones health. I probably also drink and eat too much unhealthy food while camping although this time ⌚ I intentionally limited my drinking by packing less beer 🍻 being that I’m out in the real wilderness in the cold. That and I drunk most of it earlier in the week. ⛺ That said, this coming year I plan to spend many nights in the woods and maybe even so a bit more wilderness camping.

In four weeks on January 28 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (246°) at 5:04 pm,🌄 which is 31 minutes and 28 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had sunny weather and but rather cold temperatures between 22 and 8 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 31 and 15 degrees. The record high of 56 degrees was set back in 1916.

Looking ahead, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 2 weeks, Martin Luther King Day 🖤 is in 3 weeks, Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 is in 6 weeks, National Drink Wine Day 🍷 is in 7 weeks, St. Patrick’s Day 🍀 is in 11 weeks, 7:30 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 14 weeks, Cinco de Mayo 🤠 is in 18 weeks, Primary Day 🗳️ is in 25 weeks, Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 44 weeks and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 44 weeks.

November 24, 2019 Afternoon

Good afternoon! Rain and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a north-northwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 am. ☃️

It was nice camping ⛺ up north in the Adirondacks, and I was surprised that it wasn’t as loud as it sometimes is camping along the East Branch of the Sacanadaga River. Traffic just seemed lighter than normal but I don’t think Gore is open yet nor is snowmobile season and big game hunting season is winding down in the Northern Zone, a lot of people have already tagged out. That said almost all of hunting cabins up north that I passed looked fully occupied with smoke coming out the chimney and lots of pickup trucks parked out front.

Lot more snow than I expected ❄, although not really based on the snow fall estimates which are usually pretty good. Maybe four inches of snow at camp – not real deep but enough that I was glad the site was plowed out by the hunter who had the campsite for the season before they tagged out – probably yesterday – and packed up and left. They also left a ton of firewood 🔥 which was nice, although some of it was particle and chip board although both after I took my axe to it burned well and didn’t stink that much much.

Because I had so much wood I ended up hanging out in camp and starting the fire early 🔥, shoveling around as needed. I didn’t set up a hot tent because I didn’t want to have to dry out my tent in the morning. It did get a bit cold by the fire late around ten as I forgot to pack Long Johns and Wool Socks but once I was under the covers in my truck I was plenty warm. If I go back out on Black Friday to camp – possibly back to the same place – I’ll probably pitch a tent as it’s always nice to have a warm tent to curl up before bed in.

I sat back and had a nice breakfast. 🍳 There was light snow during the overnight, maybe an inch, but by 8 am the roads were just wet. Then relaxing next to the heater ♨, working on some blog posts in the winter wonderland until quarter to ten, while slowly taking down camp, it started to sleet then turn to big globs of snow. ❄ By the time I broke camp, the roads had started to ice up a bit with the fallen snow. South of Wells the snow was about an inch deep on NY 30 but after a slow slog down to Northville, the roads were just wet. I drive super slow and carefully on the icy roads because I do so little winter driving these days 🚘 – and I know if it takes a little longer than necessary to get home safely – it’s still a shit ton better than getting in a crash. Really foggy 🌁 in Amsterdam.

It’s nice being in the wilderness and having a big fire. 🐺 The woods is my happy place where I can make as much noise as I want with my music 🎶 and guns 🔫 and have a nice fire. 🔥 Tossing a wrapper in the fire and watching it burn down to nothing and unzipping my jeans and peeing where ever I want is the best! Few things are quite as warming as a wood fire although that 18,000 BTU heater feels great at camp. Listening 👂 to the birds 🐦 this morning and the coyotes late last night. I can’t wait until I can live a life like this permanently. Not next year but eventually. Living in the city is convenient but I ducking love 😍 the wilderness and the countryside.

This afternoon will rain before 3pm, then rain and snow likely. 🌧 High of 37 degrees at 1pm. Seven degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 11th. Northwest wind 11 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 40 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 2014. That said, a few weeks later I remember snow camping in the Adirondacks. 8.8 inches of snow fell back in 1898.❄

Heading out to the folks house for Sunday dinner around four. 🍲 Warm enough and will stay warm so I expect the roads won’t be bad like they were up north for a while. That said things can change but it’s not that far for a slow pace or staying overnight if necessary.

The sun will set at 4:26 pm with dusk around 4:57 pm, which is 37 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and snow 🌨 and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 13 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 28 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 48 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of rain and snow showers before 7pm, then a slight chance of snow showers between 7pm and 9pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 32 degrees at 5am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 16th. Northwest wind 8 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 2 occurred back in 1938.

Tuesday morning I’m going to the Urgent Care to get my arm checked out 🙋. Five bucks more per copay then my regular doctor who is currently closed. I’m sure they’ll say it’s Lyme and they’ll put me on antibiotics and the aches and occasional severe headaches will fairly quickly go away. It’s become more noticeable since the bulls eye appeared, especially in the arm but I’m sure I’ve had Lyme Disease since I got the tick bite mid October. 🎯It’s not that bad now but I know it will get worse untreated and they’re so much better at addressing Lyme disease than even a few weeks ago. I was hesitant to go and get tested before I had the bulls eye because the test sometimes comes back false negative if you get tested too quickly and I didn’t want the doctor to thank me for the co-payment and send me on my way untreated. 😷

Also need to get a hair cut.💈 My hair has so quickly gotten shaggy. I did shave my goatee back 🐐 as that was getting kind of long and nasty. But the hair I can’t do myself. 💇

My buck fifty cellphone holder 📱I got from AliExpress broke so I couldn’t have Waze open to display my speed yesterday and I blew past a cop 👮 accidentally pm Interstate 890 🚔but fortunately I did not get pulled over. My speedometer is not accurate on Big Red with the lift kit so I always use Waze to know my speed. That said, for me to blow past a cop means doing 60 mph in a 55 zone which is probably what half the motorists are doing all the time. I should get another one. AliExpress is mad cheap but the quality is a crap shoot and it will take a month or two to arrive on the boat from China. 🚤

Definitely thinking about heading back north on Friday depending on the weather. ⛺ Maybe the same site but two nights, plus some hiking and time in the woods with my shotgun. This time I will pitch a tent and hot tent. I really should hook up the low voltage disconnect reset as in the cold and long nights it seems like occasionally the battery voltage dips but probably could be used longer without turning the truck on if I reconnected the reset button.

Propane camp lantern 🏮 isn’t working at all now. Not sure the issue although I suspect the generator tube that pressurizes the gas is fully plugged with mud and soot. During my October camping trip I was having problems with it producing a ton of black soot and burning dimly. I would like to fix it although I’m considering getting an LED lantern like my parents use and putting rechargable batteries in it it or maybe getting a lantern that can be charged by plugging into the USB ports on my truck. LED lanterns are a lot less fragile but probably not as bright as the propane and they need to recharged. Gotta think about it more. 💭

Speaking of broken shit my portable radio 📻 needs a new battery. The rechargable lithium ion BL – 5C battery it came with has failed, it barely holds a charge and it’s gotten all bloated from overcharging or another failure internally of the lithium ion cell. So bloated the battery cover won’t even fit on the radio.🔋 I’m hesitant to charge it now without watching it lest it go thermal and burn up. Years ago I was burning some camp trash and a little CR 2025 button cell got tossed in the fire and man did that go bang. 💥Moral of the story, don’t mess with lithium ion cells.

As previously noted, next Sunday is December 🎄 when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 45 and 31 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 41 degrees. We hit a record high of 67 back in 1934.

October 10, 2019 Night

Good evening! Clear and 50 degrees at the Monongahela National Forest. There is a east-southeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃.

It was a long drive down to West Virginia but I enjoyed it and have the most perfect campsite that I love. 😍 It’s a small site but the Mountain Laurel of Cannan Heights makes it amazing. As does the beautiful moonlit evening. The colors were absolutely specular on Mount Davis in Pennsylvania, although honestly the high point of both Pennsylvania and Maryland are a bit underwhelming. I was surprised how many Amish and Mennonite farms there were around Mount Davis and Somerset. The simple life is beautiful, although I’ve heard that the Amish don’t always use the most environmentally sensitive practices with their farm operations.

No campfire for me in West Virginia but it’s not a cold night here and the heater was fine. This being a small site, they’re wouldn’t really be room for a fire 🔥 along with a tent. Northern West Virginia though isn’t bone 🍖 dry after the rain earlier in the week – you could feel the leaf litter moisture 🍂and even see a few puddles around. Down south in the state is much drier and I get with the breeze especially in these higher elevations the authorities are concerned, especially with reckless campers. I set the table up over the fire pit and am saving the burnables for the overnight in Pennsylvania on the way home. They’ll work fine for getting the fire started back up north. Ducks 🐔that there is the fire ban down here.

I took a mostly different route down here then I did in 2015, heading down Pennsylvania 36 through Pennsylvania coal country and Punxsutawney. Yes, I did stop at Gobler’s Knob. You could see the hills of GOB left over from coal mining, 🗻 with their sometimes steep slopes and often free of anything but grasses and a few bushes. Until the 1960s, coal companies didn’t have to do any restoration of the land after doing strip mining. Even now, when you strip the to the top soil, it’s almost impossible to restore anything close to a natural cover – soil compaction, oxygenation and natural bacteria are all destroyed when you strip the land down even if you try to rebuild the surface. 🚜 Farmers know darn well that any heavy equipment run over a farm field can do enormous damage from compaction – and it can take generations of tillage and manure spreading 💩 to bring land back up to its natural fertility.

Driving through Johnstown Penna there was what appeared to be a wildfire on the hill outside of it 💨and a lot of haze. 👀 It also looked like a building 🏢 was on fire, from all the black smoke but it could have been a controlled burn. At any rate, between the fires and the coal fired power plants, 🏭 the was super hazy around there, a brown ozone haze. By the time I got down to Mount Davis outside of Somerset the haze wasn’t bad and the views were excellent.

The Somerset extension of the US 219 expressway is a major time savings over the windy Mason-Dixon Turnpike 🌉 with some really high bridges and deep rock cuts, which weren’t done when I came down here in 2015.

Maryland 495 was a nice alternative to US 219 for heading down to West Virginia. 🐮 A lot of dairy farms along there, lots of farmers harvesting crops and a few were spreading manure 💩 including one with an old fashioned belt spreader towed by an open cab old Ford Tractor. I bet he took a shower 🚿 wbn he got home.

Midday on a Wednesday, there wasn’t a lot of Pennsylvania rednecks burning trash 🔥. I did see one garage somewhere burning a pile of debris behind the shop including a tread from a truck tire and a house outside of North Cambria burning something in a burn barrel that was producing a lot of thin black smoke. 💨Amish farm outside of Somerset had two burn barrels right ou front of their door as did some of dairies in Maryland farm country.

Deer were bad in Pennsylvania. I kept seeing young road kill does along PA 36 outside of Punxsutawney, came very close to hitting a small doe in Cook Forest along the Clarion River and had to slam on the brakes again on southern Clarion County when another small one ran out into the road. They really like hiding in the shadows. I swear young doe are a bit like bullhead in some lakes. Hopefully they’ll grow up and produce some big deer.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 45 degrees at 4am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 2nd. Southeast wind around 5 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It became very sticky as the night progressed. It got down to 61 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1943.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 97% illuminated. The moon will set at 4:36 am. The Hunter Moon 🌕 is on Saturday night with a chance of rain showers and breezy conditions up here in the high country of West Virginia. I pitched my tent so I’m ready for that – I’ll go sit by the heater in the tent if it’s truly miserable. The sun will rise at 7:22 am with the first light at 6:55 am, which is 58 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 12 hours and 36 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 30 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 63 degrees at 2pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 9th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 12pm. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the morning. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was humid. The high last year was 72 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1949. There was a dusting of snow in 1987.❄

Tomorrow I plan to hike in Dolly Sods. 🚶 I’m hoping the road up there won’t be too washboard. If it is, I’ll probably one back over Corridor H. Probably do one of the bigger loops, I’d like to see upwards of ten miles 🔟 hiking it tomorrow. It would be cool to also drive down to West Virginia High Peak , Spruce Knob Mountain 🗻 but time is limited and that’s quite far south if I remember right. Well see. Saturday it’s Blackwater Falls and Cannan Valley Refuge as long as it’s not pouring. If it rains, I’ll hot tent with a book 📙.

In four weeks on November 7 the sun will be setting at 5:11 pm (Standard Time),🌄 which is one hour, 36 minutes and 11 seconds earlier then tonight. That’s good to know if I decide to go West Virginia after Election Day next year. ⛺ Who knows? In 2018 on that day, we had mostly sunny, shallow fog and temperatures between 59 and 41 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 51 and 34 degrees. The record high of 75 degrees was set back in 1938.

Looking ahead, Halloween 🛥️ is in 3 weeks, Average High is 50 🍂 is a month away, Thanksgiving 🦃 is in 7 weeks, Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 is in 8 weeks, 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ is in 2 months, Boxing Day 🥊 is in 11 weeks and National Cheese Lovers Day 🧀 is in 15 weeks.

October 10, 2019 Morning

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Vacation is going by much too quickly but I’m excited as today I’m going to West Virginia through Sunday. Three weeks to Halloween 🛥️. Sunny and 42 degrees at the Buzzard Swamp Coop Mangement Area. 🌞 Calm wind.

This morning I started out the day with walk back to Buzzard Swamp 🐦. Beautiful morning with fog 🌁 over part of the Buzzard Swamp. I really do tight invest in a good pair of binoculars. 🔭Maybe I’ll look at that for Christmas 🎄 sales time. Later it’s to Punxsutawney on PA 36 then Mount Davis Pennsylvania High Point and then Cannan Heights WV.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 66 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 1st. East wind 3 to 5 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was humid. The high last year was 83 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1939. 0.8 inches of snow fell back in 1925.❄

The sun will set at 6:43 pm with dusk around 7:11 pm, which is one minute and 38 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 63 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 11 hours and 21 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 41 degrees at 6am. Typical for tonight. East wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It became very sticky as the night progressed. It got down to 61 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1943.

I set my alarm for six AM ⏰ which was pitch black this morning except for the stars. 🎑 I did hit the reset a few times more then I’m proud to admit but less than yesterday. The moon had set and it was cold but unlike yesterday, I was determined to break camp by eight to drive down to West Virginia. I saw the starting battery 🔋 was at 12.50 so I started up the truck with a bit to be safe.

Not so cold this morning and I made only a small pot of coffee ☕ so hopefully I won’t have to stop a million times on the way to West Virginia. I tried to leave early the previous day but it was so dark and cold and I had to the down the tarp and tent. Today I had a lot less gear plus I camped fifty miles to the south. Saved some dash cam video 📹 on my laptop.

Yesterday I decided to go to Warren Tops to buy groceries. I really needed ice and was running low on milk and cheese. I also decided to buy beer. 🍻 It’s now sold at selected grocery stores in Pennsylvania but it’s a completely separate unit – you have to pay for it separately from the rest of the groceries and they sell non standard sizes – I bought a 15 pack of Budwiser for $12.98 no tax or deposit which is cheap compared to New York. It maybe not, I often buy 30 racks at Walmart for $19.95 plus $1.60 in sales tax and $1.60. But unfortunately without a deposit, I’ll have to crush the cans and bring them back to the transfer station for recycling ♻. Forgot how much Warren stinks like oil country – its a mix of crude oil, hydrogen sulfide with a certain amount of sweetness to the air. Actually camp smells a bit like that.

Then I headed south along US 62 stopping at the Tidoute Overlook 📷 and then going to Nebraska Submergable Bridge. 🌉 It’s kind of fun to see it again after seeing many Facebook posts of people exploring it while it’s submerged. Honestly I was surprised how much traffic goes over the bridge but it’s a pretty big shortcut to a lot of hunting camps. Hit a lot of construction 🚧 on US 62 AND on PA 36. They were paving PA 36, big delays there.

Not a lot of interesting country 🐮 – some of the sections along the Alleghany River between Tidoute and Tionesta were quite pretty. I can get why that section is popular with kayakers. 🚤Flat once you climb out of Tionesta Valley, some farmland and some businesses supporting the pop business. Rather flat until I got down to the area around Cooks Forest and then timberland as I headed to Marienville. I did see a household burning trash, which is still somewhat common in rural PA but nothing like a decade ago. Some of that plastic stuff stinks, especially if it’s smoldering. 👃

After that I visited the Cook Forest State Park ⛲ which had a fire tower and a path down to the gorge where the Clarion River runs and a nice picnic area around a historic tree planation. 🌲🌲🌲 I took River Road along Clarion River. That road is narrow but beautiful. Almost hit a doe, ran up from the river bank and into the shadow. My tires squealed but I fortunately missed it. Reviewing the dashcam it would have been hard for me to spot it. Really in the shadow.

I was hoping to camp ⛺ at Loleta Grade campsite 16 which I like because it has good cell service 📱 which makes the night by go by quickly and makes the remote country seem less remote. It also has a good view of the stars ✨ and would be good for solar. But alas somebody already grabbed it with their camper, probably a bow hunter 🙇. They appeared to have solar too and probably cell service internet in their camp. That’s a much nicer campsite. This site on the Gurgling Run smells a bit like Hydrogen Sulfide from an oil well, I assume that’s what makes the Gurgling Run Gurgle. 💩 And it not only smells, it gurgles. Plus I don’t want to spend three nights without cell service. 📱

It thought about staying here for three nights then going to see the Elk and drive the Elk Drive and do Hyer View on Sunday. 🚙But then I would miss West Virginia and I don’t really like the campsite I ended up in. It doesn’t look good for me getting down to West Virginia in 2020 as it’s a busy election year at my other job and they’re could be recounts or snow in November.

So I decided instead to drive down to Thomas, WV for the long weekend, heading back to County Bridge Campground. 🗻 Heading down now to Mount Davis, Pennsylvania High Point via Penna 36 and US 219. More of that highway is built through Somerset and some of those new expressway bridges look like they’ll have amazing views. It’s a lot of driving but less than I really had in my original plan as I’m not going down to the New River Gorge – just Dolly Sods one day and the other – the cloudy and potentially rainy Saturday I’ll do Maryland High Point and Blackwater Falls. But it’s fine. Sunday I’ll take Cooridor H, visit the Mount Storm Lake 🏭 and the massive power plant and then take to the road Keyser and then to Cumberland Maryland, then take US 220 and Interstate 99 to Mount Pisagh State Park for a drive with hopefully good colors then overnight at County Bridge outside of Troy.

I will pitch the tent down in West Virginia with the heater. No fires down there due to continuing fire ban 🔥 but I’ll save the paper plates and other burnables and have a fire the last night when overnight in Pennsylvania. I also have a little bit of kiln dried wood to burn at County Bridge. It’s fine – most nights I’ve been laying back in the hammock fairly early and letting the fire go out. It’s going to quite mild and the tent heater will be toasty. Not having to gather wood means that I’ll have more time for relaxing and reading 📖. Fires are really a lot of work and kind of a waste of fire wood.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Halloween 🛥️ when the sun will be setting at 6:13 pm with dusk at 6:41 pm. On that day in 2018, we had mostly cloudy, patches of fog and temperatures between 61 and 28 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 54 degrees. We hit a record high of 73 back in 1946.

October 8, 2019 9 PM Update

Good evening! Clear and 48 degrees at the Allegheny National Forest. There is a east breeze at 7 mph. 🍃.

Today was a nice quiet day. 🚶 I did a nice hike from Kinzua Beach to Rimrock and walked on the Cornplanter Bridge. 🌉 After the hike I sat down by the reservoir for a while with the third book of vacation, this one on the National Security State. I got back to camp, cooked dinner and built a big fire 🔥 before laying back in the hammock. The ample sun today meant the solar panel put out 192 watt hours while I was parked down there – not bad figuring its a 100 watt panel and its the October sun. 🔋 That extra battery helps a lot at camp.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 41 degrees at 4am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 10th. East wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It became humid as the night progressed. It got down to 62 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 2001.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 87% illuminated. The moon will set at 2:37 am. The 🌕 is on Saturday night with mostly clear skies. The sun will rise at 7:19 am with the first light at 6:51 am, which is one minute and 6 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 12 hours and 34 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 65 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 4th. East wind 5 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had light drizzle in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 83 was set in 1949. There was a dusting of snow in 2000.❄

Whats the next step I ask myself? I was thinking I really do crave the scenic beauty of West Virginia and I don’t need to have a fire down there. I have the heater and electric lights which are working well. 🗻 Tomorrow I morning I could break camp early, take US 219 to Thomas WV and camp there through Sunday. I would stop at Mount Davis tomorrow and then hike Hoyes Crest on Thursday or Friday and the opposite day do a day trip and hike at Dolly Sods and maybe Cannan Valley Refuge. Come back on Sunday, overnight at County Bridge Campground outside of Troy Penna.

The alternative which is probably more sensible is to tomorrow drive down to the Southern portion of the Allegheny National Forest. ⛺ There is this big open campsite outside of Marietta on Loleta Grade that is remote yet has an open canopy for solar and looking at the stars ✨. Good wood supply and I could drive over to the Buzzard Swamp one day. I’d have to get ice and more milk and cheese tomorrow in Warren then maybe take US 62 south. Maybe visit the Tionesta Vista and Nebraska Bridge which is probably not underwater right now. Sunday visit the Elk Center in Benzette and drive the Elk Route along the very scenic West Branch of the Susquehanna River and drive up to Hyner View. Overnight at County Bridge, get home on Columbus Day. That would be a lot less miles and much quieter option but it means no West Virginia until November 2020 or later.

I think I’ll choose the later but I’ll sure be disappointed 😥 about not making it to West Virginia. But the leaves by Sunday might be much better in Elk County and they’re really cool 😎 to watch graze. I ‘ll see come the morning. The Elk Drive is a lot of fun and maybe quite beautiful but the rest of the week is kind of bland compared to the alternative.

In four weeks on November 5 the sun will be setting at 5:05 pm (Standard Time),🌄 which is one hour, 40 minutes and 42 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had rain showers, partly sunny and temperatures between 48 and 31 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 52 and 34 degrees. The record high of 75 degrees was set back in 1994.

Looking ahead, Election Day 2019 🗳️ is in 4 weeks, 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ is in 9 weeks, Christmas Eve 🎅 is in 11 weeks, New Years Eve 🎆 is in 12 weeks, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 14 weeks and Martin Luther King Day 🖤 is in 15 weeks.

I set my alarm for 6:30 am well before dawn here so I can take down camp and move onto whatever the next step is. ⏰

October 7, 2019 Night

Good evening! Nice evening laying back in the hammock. A barn owl is hooting in the distance, and I hear from crickets. The moon is obscured by the clouds but it’s still not super dark in the woods. Rain has been gone since midday 🕛 and now the woods is fairly dry with a dropping dew point. There is a group of bow hunters 🙇 a quarter mile down the road – they’re the group with the big jacked up 3/4 ton truck with the pick up camper. Far enough way that the only way I know there down there is occasionally a I hear their coon dog 🐶 howling or an occasional hoot or holler from their camp – that an I drove past their camp earlier. Coyotes are loud tonight.

Mostly cloudy and 53 degrees at the Allegheny National Forest. ☁ There is a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 47 degrees. The skies will clear around 11 pm.

Today as expected was kind of a damp and somewhat rainy day ☔ although the rain ended much earlier than in Albany but the first sign of any real clearing was not until around sunset. I sat out and read outside for a while but started to feel cold and damp and decided to hot tent with the book. 📖 I got through my second book of vacation – as I noted earlier – Andrew Revkins book on Weather. Nice picture book, sometimes adults like books with lots of graphics. Second book I’ve read on vacation. 📚 Very warm at times in the tent – that heater kicks out a lot of heat and with temperatures in the mid 50s I kept having to turn it off.

I drove over to Jakes Rocks for a while this afternoon to top off the batteries but ended up disconnecting the accessory batteries from the alternator when I started smelling ozone. 🔋 I don’t want to accidentally fry the alternator while I’m on vacation or even just burn up a wire or a fuse. It’s fine – after today the sun will be shining and I’ll rely entirely on the solar for the accessory loads as the sun will out. ☀

Walking around Jakes Rocks was nice although it was rather cloudy and dark ☁. But other than that a fine afternoon. I’ll admit today was a quiet day but my expectations were pretty low.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 42 degrees at 6am. Typical for tonight. Northwest wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light drizzle by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 50 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1964.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 80% illuminated. The moon will set at 1:38 am. The 🌕 is on Saturday night with mostly clear skies. The sun will rise at 7:19 am with the first light at 6:51 am, which is one minute and 5 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 12 hours and 32 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 62 degrees at 4pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 10th. Northeast wind 5 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 80 was set in 2017.

I’ve decided to stay at this campsite one more day. ⛺ I just don’t feel like taking down camp with a week’s worth of gear and a tent to put away that is still a bit damp. Going to be a nice day tomorrow, so I definitely want to go hiking and park the truck somewhere to fully charge the accessory batteries. I might go to Titusville as I didn’t visit the museum last time I was there in 2012 or might just go for a walk along the reservoir, parking down at the swimming beach and maybe hiking up Rim Rock. 🚶

Wednesday who knows. 💭 West Virginia is still a possibility. The US 219 isn’t that far away and if I get up well before dawn and leave by eight I can probably do both Mount Davis State Park and Hoye Crest in Maryland before setting up camping in Cannan Heights. It looks as of the last time I checked the burn ban is still on but I don’t have to have a campfire. I always have the lights and the heater. And good music to listen to. I would probably stay until Sunday there and then come back through Pennsylvania and stay at the County Bridge Campground on Sunday into Columbus Day. Going to be mild and sunny the rest of the week.

Alternatively, I could drive up through Allegany State Park and camp, hike and hunt squirrel in Cattaraugus County or fish and hike in the Zoar Valley. 🐠 I’ve always wanted to check out the Eternal Flame Falls in Orchard Park – I read about it a lot now that I work with several Buffalo clients thee days. ⛲ Maybe the leaves are better up north in New York? 🍂

I could also move to somewhere farther south in the National Forest, check out Nebraska Bridge and that wildlife refuge down that way. Saturday or Sunday visit the Elk center and do the Elk Scenic Drive🐯 along with visiting Hyner View Park which might have good color by then. I would also overnight at the County Bridge campground. Or honestly, I could stay at the same site all week. At any rate, wherever I camp that final night, I don’t want to be more than four driving 🚘 hours away from Albany so I can get back relatively early and have time to stop for lunch, visit some parks, take back roads and get back early enough to unpack.💼 It was too long of a drive for my sanity all the way out to Allegheny National Forest on the way it here.🌲🌲

The damn camp lantern I bought mantles for remains real smokey with yellow flames and tons of soot 🏮. Not sure what the issue is. I was thinking that that the generator tube is clogged with dirt but the filter on it seems fine as does the gas pressure. I checked that I installed the proper mantles. Yeap. Everything seems fine but the inside of the lantern is filled with oily soot, the glass keeps on getting sooty and the top is dripping with soot. Fortunately I have plenty of electricity power off the truck, the lantern is just a backup in case of undervoltage and for extra light. Wouldn’t want to have it alone.

In four weeks on November 4 the sun will be setting at 5:07 pm (Standard Time),🌄 which is one hour, 41 minutes and 7 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 51 and 36 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 53 and 34 degrees. The record high of 76 degrees was set back in 1994.

I do really like that green Don’t Tread On Me – Live Free or Die shirt 👚 I bought online. I would want to get caught dead wearing it in Albany but it’s fun here in the wilderness. I’m no fan of Donald Trump – he’s a racist moron with generally bad ideas 👺but I do think government should be downsized and stay out of people’s business. That’s why I’m eventually thinking of moving to a state like Missouri when I own my off grid property with solar on the roof, composting for the toilet and a burn pit out back for the trash. An an AR-15 because they sound like a lot of fun to shoot.

Looking ahead, Average High is 55 🍂 is in 3 weeks, Veterans Day 🇺🇸 is in 5 weeks, Cyber Monday 🛍️ is in 8 weeks, First Sunday of Advent ✝️ is in 8 weeks, Earliest Sunset of the Year ⌛️ is in 9 weeks and Festivus 🍖 is in 11 weeks.

October 5, 2019 Night

Good evening! Partly clear and 50 degrees at the Allegany National Forest. There is a south-southeast breeze at 13 mph. 🍃. Chilly night, I’m glad I bought firewood for sure. I probably could have gathered wood but by the time I set up camp it was getting pretty dark.

Chilly night for sure. 🔥 Glad I have a fire. Regardless of where I stayed tonight I was going to be in Pennsylvania – if I had stuck to my original plan I would have camped at the County Bridge Campground but with my plans to stay in Pennsylvania multiple nights I drove all the way out to the Allegheny National Forest where I can have a campsite all to myself and not have to worry about making too much noise or smoke with my fire. ⛺ West Virginia via US 219 is still a possibility but first I’m going to wait out the rain at the Allegheny National Forest. Technically I can stay at this campsite all week, I could do that, I’m undecided. Going to take it one day at a time and make decisions come Monday. New River Gorge seems unlikely but maybe possible. I think they may have to wait until 2020 or 2021 but that’s just next year. So who knows! I could see doing my West Virginia trip in November 2020.

Tomorrow I’ll fine firewood for Sunday and Monday night. I fully expect the next two days to be fairly rainy and gray but so be it. I’ll probably pitch a tent tomorrow ⛺ so I can warm up next to the heater when it’s raining. Might go for a drive tomorrow just to top off the batteries as I’m not expecting much solar through Monday.

Today was cold enough I left the truck alternator connected all day to the accessory batteries. 🔋 Didn’t smell any sulfurization and honestly the alternator dropped the voltage after several hours of driving. It never got above 55 degrees according to Big Red’s DIC. That said, I did drop the voltage low enough that the low voltage disconnect did kick in briefly so I ended up starting my truck briefly to restore the lights. 💡 I thought about installing a override again to the low voltage disconnect but that never happened. I removed the switch after my last wiring project with the truck.

It’s wasn’t a bad day but it’s an awful long drive from Albany to the Allegheny National Forest. It wasn’t a bd trip except for the part through Binghamton when there was just a lot of busy traffic although it was moving. I ended up stopping both in Cobleskill and Oneonta in search of mantels for the lantern 🏮 but ultimately I found them in Oneonta. They don’t sell them at every Walmart. In the future I’ll just have to plan ahead and order online. The lantern is still burning rather yellow – I think the generator tube in it that pressurizes the gas is clogged with dirt. I wonder if I can order the part online. I wish I had brought carburetor cleaner – I have some at home, if it continues to smoke and not burn real bright 🔆 I’ll have to look at that. I have such problems with camping gear getting plugged with dirt – propane lines and everything else it seems. That said, ever since I used the other type of filter with the propane heater it has been quite reliable and the stove is good since I replaced the burners. I do use my equipment a lot – but happiness for me is nights in the wilderness.

Such a long drive out here. 🚙 A swear after driving all day I start to get a bit delirious. 😜 I find my attention drifts away from driving. Fortunately in bum fuck Pennsylvania traffic is pretty light and cops 👮 are far between. At any rate I made it hear safely. If I had followed my original trip plan I would have cut two hours or more off today’s drive camping At County Bridge Campground, that ten dollar 💵 a night primative campground outside of Troy on the way to future Interstate 99 and ultimately West Virginia. But I don’t like staying at campgrounds, especially with others around as I like having fires and listening 👂 to music 🎶 that oths may not care to hear.. Wilderness camping is a blessed experience for sure. It’s not only free for the site use but is free 🆓 in the sense of freedom. Much like my off grid property some point in the future.

Tonight will have a chance of light rain after 5am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 49 degrees at 9pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 23rd. South wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 47 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1965.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 63% illuminated with the moon setting at 11:43 pm. The moon will rise at 3:15 pm. The 🌕 is next Saturday with mostly clear skies. The sun will rise at 7:17 am with the first light at 6:49 am, which is one minute and 5 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 12 hours and 26 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 47 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of light rain before 10am, then showers after 10am. 🌦 High of 65 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 1st. Maximum dew point of 57 at 5pm. 🏖️ South wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 65 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1900. There was a dusting of snow in 1954.❄

Tomorrow I probably will string up a tarp and pitch the tent in preparation of the certain rain ☔. Ironically it looks like West Virginia might only get clouds ☁ and a few drops of rain rather than the soaking rain they need badly. 💦 But the Allegheny National Forest is due for a good soaker. But if that happens I’ll have the tent set up which will keep me dry with a good book 📙 to read. I got four of them out of the library on Friday. 📚 Even if it’s cold and pouring rain, hot tenting will be nice. As I previously said I’ll probably go for a short drive tomorrow – maybe just to Jake’s Rocks to bring up the voltage on the batteries 🔋 on the truck. Not expecting a lot of solar tomorrow.

Looking forward to a quiet day in the Allegheny Wilds tomorrow with a good book. 📚 Life has been so busy lately and the quiet tomorrow will be good, doing a bunch of cooking 🍳 on the camp stove. Life has been so crazy lately I’m looking forward to the quiet.

In four weeks on November 2 the sun will be setting at 6:09 pm,🌄 which is 42 minutes and 2 seconds earlier then tonight. I’m not sure what to think about November although some of my favorite camping trips happened then. In 2018 on that day, we had rain and temperatures between 64 and 48 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 53 and 35 degrees. The record high of 82 degrees was set back in 1950.

Looking ahead, Northern Zone Regular Season 🦌 is in 2 weeks, Election Day 2019 🗳️ is a month away, Small Business Saturday 🛍️ is in 8 weeks, Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 is in 2 months, First Day of Winter ☃️ is in 11 weeks, 4:30 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 12 weeks, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is in 15 weeks and 5 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 16 weeks.

It’s almost eleven. While it’s nice sitting by the heater I should think about bed. 😴

Andy Arthur.org

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