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How to Burn a Milk Jug

Step 1: Light the lighter and set the milk jug on fire.

Step 2: Milk jug starts to melt and burn.

Step 3: Milk jug collapses on itself.

Step 4: Milk jug 3/4 gone; reduced to melted plastic, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, and water!

Step 5: It keeps burning up and disappearing.

Step 7: It’s almost entirely gone.

Step 8: All that’s left is a little resin left in the coals.

The fire has almost completely disposed of this milk jug that was previously just trash that otherwise would have lasted forever in a landfill. The fire will eventually burn out, and what remains will be burnt up in the next fire.

Reasons I Like Camping

No Real Rules except for Respect of Natural World.
No Schedule except the Fall of Darkness Over the Land.
Get to Visit Interesting Places; Explore New Lands.

Get to Play with Fire, Sit and Watch the Campfire.
Get to Burn All Your Camp Trash with Plastic Burning and Melting in the Fire.
Cooking Delious Meals Over the Fire or In Dutch Oven.

Beautiful Moonlit and Starlit Nights in the Woods.
Drinking beer and smoking cigerettes and watching the fire burn.
No Time to Get Up in the Morning.

Peace and quiet or music as one sees fit.
Having time to read and get away from all of it.
A big change in the routine.

Camping in the Allegheny National Forest

Last fall I spent two days camping in the Allegany National Forest, which is south of Salamaca, NY and west of Bradford, PA. Two days in mid-November provided a limited time to explore the area, in part due to the short days between sunrise and sunset, requiring me to back to camp no later then about 3:30 PM in the afternoon to gather wood and prepare for the coming sunset at 5 PM.

Throughout the Allegenheny National Forest there are many truck trails that pass oil and gas wells, provide access to timber stands used for logging, and also access to hunters, fishermen, hikers, and camping. Most of the forest is not mature stands of trees, and indeed the whole area has a very working-forest nature to it, by no means is it wilderness.

Camping is allowed along all of the dirt roads except for roads specifically designated scenic byways. It is strongly discouraged by that vehicle travel off the roads any further then neccessary to prevent erosion. Dotted along the roads are places where people have camped in the past, in fields and other desirable places. Campsites are very primative, and have only rock fire places left by previous users.

I camped off of Forest Service Road 154, quite a ways above the Allegeheny Reservior. It was a decent little site, pretty far back, and nice and hard, so I need not worry about sinking into the ground. I also felt wildfire danger was lower this time of year, as there was not the dry grass here, and the leaves where damp from dew.

I strung a line out to hang up the Christmas lights I used for ambiance and background lighting at night, and built a campfire in the firepit. I was moving stuff between the cab and the back of the truck when I took this picture.

Inside my camping rig when I was camping up there.

In the evening, watching the sun set, a little after 5 pm…

There are many things to see at Allegheny National Forest (all free) from the Rim Rock to views from Jakes Rocks to the views of Reservior. There probably was much more I could have seen had I spent more time camping up there.

… I hope you enjoyed this brief look back from my experiences camping up at the Allegheny National Forest in November 2010.

Camping at Stoney Pond

Stoney Pond State Forest is located in the highlands between Morrisonville and Cazenovia, and includes a camping area that requires a free permit in the summer. I camped there on November 7, 2010 on a very cold morning.

Waking up truck camping in November meant morning came real early, especially because I had to get going with night approaching fast. This was campsite number eight under the morning light. All of the campsites at Stoney Pond had these great round fire rings.

Walking Through The Woods. There isn’t much in the way of leaves on the trees right now.

Frost on the Leaves.

Truck Camping. In the morning, having my cup of coffee and getting ready to face the day’s adventures. I need to get a table, so I don’t have so much clutter on my tailgate — there are no picnic tables at Stoney Pond.

Icy Ruts. It was that cold in the morning that muddy ruts up there iced up.

Outhouse. In the summer months they also have port-a-poties down by other campsites.

Campsite 8. This is where I camped at, as seen from the road. I liked this site a lot because it was well set back.

Campsite 4. Another really nice campsite, although a bit closely spaced.

Path Down to Stoney Pond. There is a road that goes down to Stoney Pond for those wanting to launch a boat into it.

Stoney Pond. On on side, there is a sandy beach/boat launch.

Campground Roads. There is no charge to camp here, although they want you to call the forest ranger for a free permit in the summer to control usage.

Campsite 1. Not a very nice campsite, but I guess if you want a drive to place where you can camp, and other 15 sites are full, it can be used.

Maps.

Here is a map of the Stoney Pond Camping Area.

Here is the State Forest Map.

Arterial photo of the area.

View Larger Map

Late Fall Camping at Sugar Hill

On my way down to Pennsylvania and on my way back to Albany, I spent a two nights camping out at Sugar Hill State Forest, lower Assembly area. While the area is primarily designed for equestrians, it does offer a person who seeks drive-in camping without a permit in Finger Lakes Region a place to stay.

On the Sunday night driving down to Pennsylvania, there was nobody else around but a bow hunter I saw in the morning. On Friday night, there where a lot of horse owners, because the Upper Assembly-area was closed for the winter. I drove around, hoping to visit the fire tower a top the Assembly area. Unfortunately, it was closed for the year. I did get some interesting shots from Tower Hill Road, heading up there, looking down at Seneca Lake.

On the other side of the ridge from Tower Hill Road, you can see Keuka Lake. It looks a lot different this time of year then in other times of year. I do wish I could have seen it from the fire tower, although I guess the fire tower has limited views due to trees growing up. I could have hiked up to the tower, but it’s a ways back, with the road gated off.

Next I drove down to Birdseye Hollow State Forest / Sanford Lake. Got lost. I know this time of year you don’t need camping permits for it, but it looked it was only tent sites. Things where pretty grown up, and it was getting late. I ended up driving back up the hill, to Sugar Hill, and settling in at the Lower Assembly area. On Sunday night, all the horse campers had packed up and gone back home.

I proceeded to make baked zita in the dutch oven, over a warm open fire. Somebody had left firewood from the previous weekend, and there was ample dead and down wood nearby in the forest, so I really nice warm fire.

I like the campsites down at Sugar Hill, although I wish they offered more privacy. Yet, I guess that’s not how Assembly areas work at horse camps. That said, on a Sunday evening, there was nobody else around. It was a bit more crowded the following Friday, for my return trip. It was a nice night, and great meal.

Morning unfortunately came early, with the change of day light savings time, and it was dark when I set my alarm clock for 6:30 AM. Yet I knew I had a big day ahead, driving down to Pennsylvania, so I was before dawn. But eventually the sun rose over the pines of the Lower Assembly day, and it was a beautiful morning.

I packed up my gear, headed across a muddy truck trail to get packed up, took kind of a bath using a tea-kettle with hot water, and I was on my way to Pennsylvania. The camera lens kind of was fogged up from the cold.

The drive to Pennsylvania was spectular, especially just South of Sugar Hill in Coon Hollow (really a wide valley), with beautiful farms lining the road, and tall mountains surrounding it.

As a side note, I also stayed here on Friday, November 12. There where a lot of equestrians that where using the area by around 9 PM, with lots of horse trailers. Many came late. This Lower Assembly area doesn’t get much use in the summer, compared to the Upper Assembly area, but this time of year with the Upper Assembly area closed, many where down here for the weekend. Weekdays, you’ll probably be alone camping here — especially in the winter.

Here is a map of Sugar Hill.

Taking an Anti-Vacation

When I was younger, I tended to take more anti-vacations then vacations. Vacations, as least as I conceived in years past, are more about getting out and doing things. They are about days of hiking up mountains, kayaking, exploring new lands. They are about rush and hussling to get as much possible into a short period of time.

In contrast, an anti-vacation is about relaxation, camping, and doing as little possible. It’s about not watching the time every minute, but instead just de-stressing and allowing the time to fly by without care. It’s about sitting back, reading, drinking beer, and watching the wind blow through the trees.

An anti-vacation is not about new experiences. It’s not about going to great places, or doing remarkable things. It’s about being lazy, and just enjoying oneself without doing a lot of work. It’s a cold beer, it’s a campfire in the woods. It’s a true vacation, even if it seems more like an anti-vacation then a vacation.

Why I Still Like Burning Trash

Anybody who has read this blog for a little while knows I am at least a little bit of a pyromanic. I like starting campfires, watching them burn, and I really like watching trash burn. While I’m against destruction of valuable or useful property, burning waste material and campfires under controlled conditions is so much fun.

People say burning trash is bad, it pollutes and it smells pretty nasty, especially if you have a smoldering fire with lots of plastic. It’s hard to disagree, although after ones burns trash for a while, you hardly even notice the smell of trash smoke. Indeed, in our vast rural areas, the impact is pretty low.

And I still think it’s a lot of fun.

I love watching paper burn, the faces, the pictures, the text blacken up and burn with flashy yellow flames.
I love watching plastic deform in the fire, drip, melt, and burn, with bright and colorful flames. The color varies on the plastic, vinyl chlorides burn blue and green.
I love watching as the flames rip through the trash bags and chew their insides. Watching the destruction of waste, converted into soot and into smoke.

Hell, I’m such a pyromaniac. It gives me such an increadible high!

Burning wood and campfires is fun. The flicker of the flames and coals can mesmerise one. Yet, it lacks the drama and the fun of burning trash. Their simply aren’t the neat compounds and materials in wood, that make trash burning so interesting to watch. Their isn’t the statification of watching your waste material disappear before your eyes.

I really like watching trash burn. While no longer legal anywheres in NY State, I still burn trash when I’m camping in hot campfires. I also keep my “burnable” trash in summer, and burn it when camping. It’s destroyed almost instantly, but with all the beauty of a trash fire. I don’t litter, I carefully seperate unburnables and makes sure not leave any trace behind.

Some day I am going to own a place out in the country, and probably not in New York State. As a real country boy, I’m going to have my burn barrels, I will burn all of my burnable trash, far away from the neighbors who might otherwise complain about the smell that I actually kind of like. I’m not against recycling, and indeed I will seperate out cans and glass, but I sure love to watch and see my garbage burn.

Andy Arthur.org

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