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Rain showers change everything 🌧️

I was going to take today off to go to the Adirondacks or Schoharie County or maybe the Green Mountains but the forecast is trending wetter then I expected. So I’m going to head into the office today to work and maybe reconsider a day off midweek next week to do something fun probably with the mountain bike.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Rain and 55 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ Calm wind. The dew point is 51 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 1 pm.

I guess I’m having the ultimate in fad breakfasts today, probably something they would eat on the colored television … 🥣 Reheated quinoa with chia seeds, topped with Greek yogurt, shredded apple with a ton of cinnamon and ginger and black coffee. ☕ I heard it’s National Coffee Day. Black is beautiful but don’t tell the teat strippers. 🐮 And I don’t want to drink too much, as my doctor says not to. 🚽 I did rehydrate well last night. At any rate, I actually doubt people on the colored television eat such things, 📺 not enough corporate profits manufacturing such things plus not enough sugar and saturated fats to keep people tossing it in their shopping carts. 🛒

Up and going this morning, ☺ with the rain I’m catching the early express downtown and will walk laps on the Plaza or the Knickerbocker Arena to get my steps 👣 as much as possible before work. I might walk down to the library 📚 after work, it depends on how wet it is but I could use a good book or two to read 📖. I really like getting up at five o’clock after getting to bed at nine. 🛏 Early to bed and early rise is great, especially when you have good meals cooking down on stove. 👨‍🍳 Not so much this morning, as I have plenty in my fridge cooked, and I’m cutting back on calories today after a heavy day yesterday.

Expensive day – $2,300 going out of the door 🚪 today for rent, car insurance, stock – bond purchases and the Roth IRA. That’s after getting paid $1,800 this week, so my account balance will drop to a hundred or so above the minimum. 🤯 I will have sufficient funds but I might tap my rainy day fund before my trip to West Virginia so I can retire some credit card 💳 debt early so I have extra room on my card for emergencies. It happens occasionally to the best of us. As my checking account isn’t interest bearing these days with inflation you don’t want to keep more than a few pennies above the minimum with the bank 🏦.

Today will rain, mainly after 7am. Cloudy 🌧, with a high of 60 degrees at 3pm. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 19th. Maximum dew point of 53 at 4pm. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 62 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1921.

I took off yesterday to do a day trip with my parents to the Adirondacks. ⛰ 📸 They’re getting up in the years and walking is hard for them so we didn’t go far from the car but in parts there was some nice color 🍂 and I showed them around Speculator, Piseco-Powley Road then Canal Place and Moss Island in Little Falls. It was a great trip, nice to spend a day with the family 👪 as in your forties you know those days won’t last forever. I made some really good hummus to have with lunch, mom made some good cheese and turkey wraps. 😋 Nice breeze on the lake, colors varied from good to quite muted. 🍁 We had a nice picnic on the shores of Lake Pleasant in Speculator then dinner at Poncho’s Mexican 🇲🇽 in Elsmere. It was good Mexican, the chips and food super greasy but that’s to be expected. Came home and had some edamame and butternut squash to have more fiber to tie down all those fats — with some ginger and tumerac because I like such things. 🌯 And no dessert. 😋 Chose a light breakfast today. It’s fun to have some junk with friends and family, especially knowing how fast time goes by so quickly.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:47 pm with sun having an altitude of 45° from the due south horizon (-25.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:05 pm with the sun in the west (261°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (268°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:42 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:09 pm, which is one minute and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waning Gibbous 🌖 Moon in the east (86°) at an altitude of 2° from the horizon, 229,425 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:43 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 58 degrees. The dew point will be 53 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 50 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over today.

Times of rain this evening. 🌧, with a low of 52 degrees at 4am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 18th. Maximum dew point of 53 at 6pm. North wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear 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 28 occurred back in 1991.

The rain clears out for the Saturday. 😀 A chance of showers before 8am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 68. North wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Not as nice of a forecast then they were predicting 🔮 but not a wash out.

I was originally planning on heading out to Rennselaerville State Forest and then Burnt-Rossman or maybe the Green Mountains 🌲🌳🏕️ before the forecast turned to rain ☔ today. Not sure what my weekend plans are now, I’m thinking I will rattle can over the rust on Big Red on Saturday.🖌️🛻 I could do an overnight somewhere but I have my doubts at this point. It might be better to stay closer to home, save some money, especially if I want to do some trail riding mid-week, and maybe head out of town next weekend. 🧀 Somehow I’m very interested in that whole Little Falls Cheese festival, which cow owners tell me is a really fun event to attend. This year Piseco-Powley would likely be at peak color for Columbus Day Weekend 🍂 so maybe that’s where I should go. The colors weren’t bad yesterday when I was up there with the folks.

Looking ahead to Sunday the first of October, sunny, ☀ with a high near 75. Maximum dew point of 57 at 4pm. Wow, that sounds like a beautiful day for starting out October. Basically perfect, when you figure the typical average high for the weekend is 68 degrees. 🎃 Next to make more meals with pumpkin, lol. That might be a good day to play around on the mountain bike trails on Wolf Hill. 🚲 That is if I don’t decide to do an overnight somewhere. I don’t know.

Looking ahead, there are 8 weeks until Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm (Standard Time). Day after Thanksgiving, seems so soon. 🦃 If there isn’t a ton of snow, I’ll probably head up north for that day, as rifle season is waning in those days. 🦌 Probably camp along NY 8, if I hike it will be a more popular trail with lots of blaze orange on. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 49 and 24 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2014.

They’re taking about frost in the North Country this morning 🍂

You can taste the fresh silage on the air and you know it won’t be long before the leaves will be full of color in the North Country. Up at five o’clock cooking down split pea soup to have with homemade bread.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. A cold start, you might need the choke on your motor. Mostly clear, the sun is rising and 47 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌅 Calm wind.

Up a little after five to cook 🍳 and get started on my day. Needed to run to the rest room and then I needed to have coffee ☕ and get that pea soup cooking down. A half pound of spinach, onions, stir fry vegetables, a crust of whole wheat flour and water plus two eggs, a bit of milk and corn starch topped with a bit of Parmesan was breakfast. Dinner last night was pizza 🍕 but not that American crap way. A simple whole wheat flour and water crust, several paste and other tomatoes that were starting to mold a bit run through the food processor with a garlic clove and a bunch of spices with flour to harden, topped with chopped onions and spinach and a bit of Parmesan. 🥦 I do eat a lot of spinach, I like fiber. Fills your stomach up fully without many calories.

Lately I’ve been a been a little nostalgic 🎶 and listening to a lot of country music from the early 2000s like back in college. Not that I’d ever want to go back to those days with all those trials and tribulations of youth and far less money but life was good before inflation kind of ruined everything. I think it’s September 11th and just the autumn weather that takes me back to the first year back at Hudson Valley Community College, my first experience with much urban life, and being on my own, having a car, being able to go up to the woods whenever I wanted to. 🎄

Out walking around 6:45 AM this morning. 🚶‍♀️ Definitely a beautiful morning for the walk, should be a great ride down through the gorge to work. 🚲 I tasted some of that pea soup, it’s delicious, I’ll bring some for work and probably have some more for dinner. Might end up freezing the rest so I can have it later in the weekend, obviously with some fresh bread. 🍵 Might be a good way to end Saturday after riding trail most of the day up at Thacher Park. 🚵‍♀️ I am starting to run low on bananas, 🍌 I might stop and get just them at Hannaford during the evening commute home. Other then that my pantry is pretty solid.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 70 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 26th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 6pm. Calm wind becoming north around 6 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 76 degrees. The record high of 95 was set in 1895.

I called the General yesterday 🚚 and guess what I’m on call back list regarding when they can do the passenger airbag inflator recall work. I figured with all the notices and social media ads I’ve gotten about replacing the airbag inflator, they’d have a ton in stock at this point and I could just drop the truck off in a week or two and have it back the next day. Nope, they took down my information but couldn’t promise me an appointment at this time.

Called back the doctor, 📞 and after a bit of phone tag 👩‍⚕️ they want to do some more testing about my pissing problem. Didn’t catch it right away, as my phone is set up to automatically go to voice mail. 📨 Heck of it is since I’ve not been eating so many zucchini and overnight oatmeal, I’ve not had such a pissing problem.🚽 I kind of don’t want to spend more money getting tests, as I think it’s mostly in my head at this point, to blame on my diet, but they said some of the initial rounds of test were inclusive. 📋They can’t schedule me until another two weeks, so at that point I’ll re-evaluate if I find myself needing to piss too much. I really think the key is stay away from coffee and overnight oatmeal before road trips, especially my October trip if I’m thinking West Virginia.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:49 pm with sun having an altitude of 48.2° from the due south horizon (-22.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:20 pm with the sun in the west (266°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (272°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:57 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:23 pm, which is one minute and 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south-southwest (198°) at an altitude of 18° from the horizon, 233,527 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:58 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 66 degrees. The dew point will be 50 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday, I went for an evening walk 🚶‍♀️ and went through my dresser and pulled out most the XXL clothes and put them away in the crawl space, and started to go through the hand-me-downs I got from the late John W. Some are XXL unfortunately, I only meant to get XL but I’ll try them on. 👕 Going to wash them though before putting them with the other clothes, as some of them have a bit of an old man smell to them. The pizza I had was good 🍕, very filling, didn’t really need a desert. Lights were out before 8:15 PM though I did listen to a podcast or two on my phone before getting fully asleep but that’s fine, I’m usually up by 5 AM most mornings to start cooking and getting a jump start on my morning.

Totally getting sold on going down to Canaan Heights West Virginia sometime after Columbus Day Weekend 🍂 to mountain bike, hike, camp and see the sights. I mean I’m not 100% on this and it could change, but it would be fun. Probably start the week up Wellsboro PA-area to ride some of the Pine Creek Gorge Trail. Not sure how much farther south I’d go in West Viriginia, maybe Dolly Sods, but I would rather focus on Canaan Heights, Blackwater Falls State Park and the Canaan Wildlife Refuge as I haven’t spent nearly enough time up that way.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 46 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 1st. Light northwest wind. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 51 degrees. The record low of 31 occurred back in 1962.

I’ve been starting to look more deeply into the future of the blog. 📝 I can bitch about the cost of running it but it won’t make it go away. I kind of would miss not doing it, so it’s probably worth the money to me. I do want to re-work the data structure, make things more efficient and maybe remove more of the custom code and try to make it use as much of built-in WordPress code as possible. 👨‍💻 I could bring my laptop home and work on this over the weekend, especially if it’s going to be rainy. The big difficulty might be the transition — taking down the old data structure and replacing it with the new one, and getting all the URL rewrites perfected before going live. I don’t know any way to do this completely without taking at least part of the blog offline to do the change over. 🤷‍♂️ I might also look at implementing Google AdSense, so I can get some advertising revenue, to cover the costs of doing the blog. I don’t love that idea — there is too much advertising pollution already, but I get tired of ever inflating costs, even if it really is a smaller part of the budget that that I’m making more money at work. 💸

A chance of showers throughout the weekend with more sun on Sunday. 🌦 Saturday, a chance of showers, mainly after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. East wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Maximum dew point of 52 at 10am. Sunday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 68. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 56 at 1pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 72 degrees.

I won’t say it’s a banner weekend this weekend, 🌦 but maybe not a wash out. Still will be good enough to do the Nature Bus to Thacher Park. Saves some money and it’s a fun day, plus I went out camping last weekend. 🏕 Maybe next weekend I’ll get out again, though the very long-range forecast doesn’t look all that great in all honestly. Columbus Day Weekend, which is two weeks from Saturday might be better. ⛵ 🍂 Only time will tell, though it seems like autumn will be late this year.

There is so much to do and explore in Canaan Heights

I am thinking once again about going back to the beautiful country known as Canaan Heights around Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia. This year, though I might do it a bit different — and focus my trip on just Canaan Heights and not spend my time tooling around the other parts of state to explore as there is much I haven’t explored there, and could easily access with my mountain bike, no driving or expensive fuel consumption needed.

I could set up camp along Canaan Loop Road and stay there for the balance of the week. Ride then hike back to Lindy Point Overlook, Blackwater State Park, Table Rock and the many trails through the dense Mountain Laurel. It’s just such beautiful country there, and while I’ve camped up that way a few times, I’ve really not spent a lot of time there. Plus it doesn’t involve winding through all those steep and narrow mountain passes with Big Red, chugging fuel at the same time. And if I wanted to, I could stay there the whole week after coming down on a Monday or Tuesday (doing the Pine Creek Rail Trail the weekend before in Pennsylvania), and then heading all the way home on Sunday. That said, eight hours of driving might be a bit much for me. Maybe I should plan an overnight somewhere along the way.

That said, it’s a long trip with my old truck. Maybe I should consider a shorter trip and plan to come back in a future year when I have a new truck. But the country down that way is so wild and beautiful.

Corridor H

Driving along Corridor “H” the new limited access highway that runs in the Northern Tier of West Virginia from Davis to Morehead past the strip mined coal fields and the big Storm Mountain Coal-fired Power Plant, I was thinking what a truly nasty way to be making electricity, especially in the 21st century, when much cleaner fuels have long been on the market, and when renewables are a growing part of the electricity industry.

In the early days of the industrial revolution, coal was the only on-demand source of energy that could be used virtually everywhere. You haul coal somewhere, you get coal lit on fire, it burns hot, often with a thick black smoke, boils water into steam which turns a turbine. More advanced controls were invented which got more heat energy turned into steam, captured more of the soot and chemical byproducts of coal, and generally made coal a better fuel. But from a chemical standpoint, coal can not compete with oil or natural gas, which is much easier to burn and control the output of the furnace. As oil and gas have fewer contaminates it can be burned with much fewer pollution controls. Mount Storm is a large coal-fired generating station. It has what appears to be two active units from the two large currently operating smoke stacks, but there may be multiple units attached to one stack. It produces an enormous cloud of water vapor visible from miles around — including from the Dolly Sods Wilderness and most elevated locations within 30 miles. Water vapor is a nice way to put it — the smoke is mostly carbon dioxide and water but it’s mixed with a wide variety of heavy metals, mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxides. Things that limit the amount of otherwise healthy fish they can safely consume out of streams even far away. It produces a steady output of “base-load” that lights wells over a million households, or a combination of households, factories, and commercial facilities. It’s one of the bigger power plants out there, but certainly not the biggest.

Mount Storm a big industrial facility with a large cooling reservoir whose warm waters are popular for boating and fishing. The warm cooling water from the plant keeps the lake ice free for much of the year and provides good stable water temperature for fishing. It’s nice that they allow public access to the reservoir, one with impressive views of the plant from the boat launch. That’s great. But what’s no so great is the large open pit mines that surrounded the plant, laid bare for all to see by the construction of the Corridor H Expressway. Mountain top removal, and strip mining turn mountains into mounds that look like garbage dumps. Even “restored” landscapes make mountain look engineered, the hopes of getting new businesses in the area to locate in this remote area are slim — although somewhat improved by Corridor H. For every four tons of coal hauled to the plant, one tons of coal, limestone scrubber residue, and fly ash are landfilled near the plant. The coal fired plant itself is a small part of the landscape compared to the wastes that are disposed of at on-site landfills. You can only see some of the outer walls of the landfills from the WV 94 (the old road) and Corridor H. From satellite pictures you can see much more. Burning coal cuts enormous sections out of mountains, and creates new mountains of ash landfills.

Coal haters, myself included, will note that nothing is really clean about coal. Toxic coal air emissions, while a small part of what goes up the smoke stack, are enormous, because so much coal is burned every day, 365 days a year at Mount Storm and thousands of other coal fired plants across the country. The electricity produced lights millions of homes. Not only is mining ugly and restored landscapes are often just a glimmer of the once wild lands, cutting into the earth, especially in places where coal is common, release many toxic compounds. Coal often is mixed with pyrite, commonly known as fools gold. You might get rich off the coal, but your still a fool. Pyrite when it’s exposed to water and rain releases it’s sulfuric compounds, the same ones that often go up the stack when coal is burned. The sulfuric compounds in pyrite mixed with water produce sulfuric acid mine discharge — sometimes as powerful as car battery acid and poison streams, especially hitting fish who are sensitive to even minor changes to pH levels in stream levels. To say nothing of the removed an rerouted streams, which bring sediment downstream, boost nutrient levels, and otherwise wreck formerly good trout streams. Of course if you read my blog, you probably are aware of all these things. That coal is a lot more evil then just the excess amounts of carbon dioxide it’s bleaching into air forever changing both our local and global climates, acidifying the oceans and lakes, changing the natural rhythms of moth earth. But seeing Mount Storm up close seemed to bring that all back home to me.

Now I also saw the nice rural houses in the neighborhoods, with the neatly maintained yards, beautiful 3/4 ton pickup trucks, a four wheeler or two, and maybe a horse, and a family cow or a hog. All most certainly paid by the good salaries for the engineers and technical people who use their advanced knowledge to keep Mount Storm humming along. Or they work with heavy equipment in the strip mines and below ground mines to feed the ever hungry coal furnaces at Mount Storm. They are doing what they need to do to feed their family and live the good life. I respect them, I might be even kind of jealous because I’d love to live in rural God’s country like this. West Virginia is a special place. Coal may be dirty and working with it may have life-long consequences, it’s a good source of jobs in these towns that don’t have much else to do — sure there are jobs in timber, road construction, local government, a few other industries, but the area is still incredibly rural, even if Corridor H is making it easier to get around. If Virginia finally agrees to extend Corridor H so it meets up with Interstate 81, this area will become even less remote. But even without the final extension, this superhighway — granted one that has grade intersections is making the whole area much better connected together and accessible. I can’t overstate how much Corridor H changes life in the Northern Tier of West Virginia, compared to the much inferior West Virigina 93.

I think it’s fully reasonable to predict that Corridor H will eventually become an interstate highway, connecting with Interstate 81 heading west from Davis to Interstate 79 outside of Morganstown. Mount Storm will probably eventually close. President Donald Trump may say coal will be great again, but it’s a dying, nasty technology, that is long in the tooth, especially as renewables grow on the grid. Probably many of younger generation will move away, rather then struggle with the hard life of Rural Appalachia. Some people will stay and carry on the values, working in other industries or being part of the growing renewable energy industry. As Mount Storm and the coal industry is in it’s twilight years, making as much of a mess as usual, more and more wind turbines are going up on the remote ridges of the pan handle of West Virginia. Areas mined for coal might still be high enough to site new turbines — to say nothing of solar. People will still hunt deer and bear, raise a hog or beef in their backyard, live the good rural life. Mount Storm and the coal industry may be on it’s last horrific breath, but it doesn’t mean Appalachia and it’s beautiful landscape must come to an end.

Despite all the blasting, the large bridges, and forever changed landscape, I think Corridor H is great. It shows the beauty and ugliness of West Virginia. It will move the whole area forward, make it less remote, and allow it to transition to the industry of tomorrow. The sheer distance from other population centers will limit high-end residential and commercial development, to say nothing of the steep mountains slopes, the rough rocky terrain, even if the distances aren’t as far thanks to the safe, modern road. I think everybody should drive Corridor H at least once.

Camping in Green Mountains National Forest

Green Mountain National Forest Camping 🏕

Here is a full-screen interactive map, that uses the official forest service maps as a backdrop. You will need to zoom in to see the individual roads.

In the Green Mountain National Forest there are a variety of back country roads, offering primitive roadside camping.

Campsites are free to use, and have no facilities except for a fire ring and a pull-off from the road, and sometimes a site reinforced with gravel.
As noted below, some campsites have additional facilities.
Don’t make a mess of campsites, pack out any garbage left over.
Burn only dead and down trees, don’t bring in wood from out of state.
You can camp up to 14 days per 30 day period in Green Mountain National Forest — no permits are required.

Here is a listing of the campsite coordinates in a spreadsheet (Green Mountain tab). Please note, these coordinates are not exact as they are drawn based on memory.

Please see also information on dispersed, roadside and back-country camping in New York State, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The below descriptions of camping areas from the Green Mountain National Forest’s webpage, General Forest Camping.

North Half of the Green Mountain National Forest

Note: You must zoom in to see individual roads on above interactive map. Campsite locations were added by hand-digitizing and are not exact.

Austin Brook Road: There are three easily accessible campsites by Austin Brook on Forest Road 25 in Warren. They are all within 0.25 mile of State Route 100.

Bingo: Forest Road 42 in Rochester runs alongside a mountain stream; camping is allowed at designated sites only. These 10 campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. There is a limit of 10 people per site. Check the Bingo Brook bulletin board for designated site locations and other site limitations.

Downingville: There is one secluded site in a small clearing near a mountain stream on Forest Road 291 in Lincoln.

Fay’s Meadow: There are a few sites in an open meadow in Forest Dale. Please do not drive on the meadow because a farmer mows the hay from it. There is a stream for wading and fishing at the north end of the meadow.

Goshen Brook Road: There are a few campsites in and around an open area just beyond the turnaround at the very end of Forest Road 67 in Ripton.

Kettle Brook: A small meadow site at the end of Furnace Brook Road in Pittsford.

Michigan Brook Road: Forest Road 35 in Pittsfield provides many camping opportunities in the woods and along Michigan Brook. The road is not recommended for low clearance vehicles.

New Haven River: There are a few campsites next to the New Haven River at Emily Proctor and Cooley Glen trailhead, on Forest Road 201 in Lincoln.

Romance Header: A large meadow campsite at the end of Forest Road 224 in Forest Dale. A stream lies to the southeast of the meadow.

Sparks Landing: There is one site in a small meadow on Forest Road 233 in Lincoln. There is good fishing in Sparks Brook, which lies just south of the meadow.

Steam Mill Clearing: There is a large open field on both sides of Forest Road 59 at the Skylight Pond Trailhead in Ripton.

Texas Gap: These old fields and side roads on Forest Road 39 in Hancock offer many camping opportunities.

White River & Gulf Brook Roads: Secluded camping, open fields, and beautiful views are offered from the abundance of primitive campsites found along Forest Roads 55 & 101 in Granville.

South Half of the Green Mountain National Forest

Note: You must zoom in to see individual roads on above interactive map. Campsite locations were added by hand-digitizing and are not exact.

Branch Pond Road: Several sites on this road off of Kelley Stand offer good camping opportunities.

Forest Road 71: This forest road stretches from the old Somerset airfield to the Kelley Stand Road. Campsites can be found in various spots along the way, and along some of the forest roads leading off of Forest Road 71.

Forest Road 74: This forest road is a little less remote than other roadside camping opportunities. Off Vermont Route 9, it dead-ends a couple miles in. Campsites are found unevenly spaced along the way. This area fills up early as it’s one of most accessible.

Kelley Stand Road: Connects the towns of Arlington to West Wardsboro, traveling along an unpaved forest road. A handful of campsites are avaliable on this road, many of the sites along Roaring Brook are permanetly closed.

Old Job: Off Forest Road 30 there are a few camping opportunities; an open area along FR 30, and both an open field area and a site near Lake Brook at the end of FR 30.

Somerset Airfield Campground is a small primitive campground along Forest Road 71. There is a pit-privy and fireplaces in this field camping area. Also popular is Castle Brook Road, near the Deerfield River. This area fills up early, and is known for rowdy crowds but is good if you have a big camper.

September 18, 2020 Night

Good evening! Clear and 49 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌌 There is a north breeze at 8 mph. 🍃.

Tonight is a bit of a chilly evening. 🌬️ That breeze definitely makes it feel cold. I went for my evening walk,🚶🏻 then sat out back for a little while with my hoodie on enjoying the cool but and clear. A fairly busy day that extended into the evening so I didn’t get a chance to walk down to the park to see if the Wi-Fi works again there. 📶

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 38 degrees at 6am. 12 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 19th. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 42 degrees. The record low of 32 occurred back in 1959.

Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon with 3% illuminated. The Hunter 🏹 Moon is on Thursday, October 1. The darkest hour is at 12:50 am, followed by dawn at 6:11 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:40 am in the east (87°) and last for 2 minutes and 54 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:17 am with sun in the east (93°). Tonight will have 11 hours and 40 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 59 degrees at 3pm. 12 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 17th. North wind 5 to 8 mph. It will feel nice day but definitely want to wear a long sleeve shirt 👚. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 72 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1946.

In four weeks on October 16 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (258°) at 6:11 pm,🌄 which is 48 minutes and 17 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had rain and temperatures between 63 and 38 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 60 and 39 degrees. The record high of 88 degrees was set back in 1947.

15 weeks left in 2020. 🎇 Going to be a crazy remainder of the year 🤪 with the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ⚖. It should be an interesting battle over her successor. But whatever is going to happen will happen although I think they really should wait for the next president to appoint the judge – whether it be the Trumpster or Biden His Time. 🏛️

One thing about her death 🦆is it got me reading 📖 about the Chesapeake and Baltimore Canal. 🚲 I think I want to check that out the next time I go down to West Virginia, especially if I have a bicycle to ride by then. 🛥️ William O. Douglas did a lot to preserve the canal and the area around Cumberland Maryland is quite beautiful. 🏞

Looking ahead, Average High is 65 🍂 is in 2 weeks, Average Night Below Freezing 🌌 is in 8 weeks, Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ is in 10 weeks, Average High is 40 🌨 is in 11 weeks, Bake Cookies Day 🍪 is in 3 months, Christmas 🎅 is in 14 weeks, New Years Day 2020 🎉 is in 15 weeks, Bubble Bath Day 🧼 is in 16 weeks, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is in 4 months, Martin Luther King Day 🖤 is in 4 months, 37th Birthday 🎉 is in 19 weeks and National Drink Wine Day 🍷 is in 5 months.

April 3, 2020 10 PM Update

Good evening! Drizzle,and 47 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a north breeze at 10 mph. 🍃 The skies will clear tomorrow around 7 pm. It’s not going to be a real great weekend.

I am sitting out back after my evening walk, 🚶 as truth be told I’m tired as last night I didn’t take a sleeping pill 💊 and laid in bed all night listening to the disturbing news 📰. It’s actually a pretty mild evening, but then again it’s April in the year that is kind of timeless. Watching the traffic on Delaware Avenue and you see a car go but every few minutes, traffic is really light with all the bars and things do on Friday night closed down. The Herb Alpert record I’m listening 👂 to on my wireless headphones never gets old. That album is 56 years old now. Born 21 years before me. Too cold for spring peepers tonight

Tonight will have patchy drizzle with scattered showers. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 41 degrees at 5am. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 25th. North wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of 14 occurred back in 1954.

Honestly, I don’t want to back inside as I’m tired of being home so much. 🏡 Monday and Tuesday should be nice enough that I can work outside and one of those days I’ll probably bring my laptop out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center to work or at least download videos and podcasts. 🐸

I am almost done on the once again revised blog theme 📷 that will emphasize full screen photos with more interactive and immersive experience, fixing some long time issues with the blog. 📝 Learning more about the guts and the WordPress API.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 79% illuminated. At 9 PM, the moon was in the south-southeast (157°) at an altitude of 64° from the horizon, some 229,800 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by September 25^th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Pink 🌸 Moon is on Tuesday, April 7. The darkest hour is at 12:59 am, followed by dawn at 6:06 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:34 am in the east (82°) and last for 2 minutes and 56 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 44 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:11 am with sun in the east (88°). Tonight will have 11 hours and 6 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 57 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 12th. North wind around 6 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 79 was set in 1950. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 2016.❄

The things were looking better for the weather this weekend ☁ but the storm on the coast has lingered around. I might do Schodack Island State Park and Aldi’s again although I have no reason of need to go into the city tomorrow. 🍏 I like the small size of Aldi which is good when you want to get in and out during a pandemic. They’re also very good quality food despite all being those odd store brands. Or maybe I’ll explore the Papsacani Island or whatever it’s called, that bird sanctuary on the river tomorrow and sit down by the river for a while, 🐦 hopefully alone where I can enjoy some solitude by the river. Ticks might be bad, no a good time to get Lyme disease 🐜, although I got a mailing this weekend announcing on April 1st, my insurance covers telemedicine for free, although not real helpful 😷 without internet access.

Originally was thinking about hiking several miles of dirt road up at Partridge Run and doing some fishing in Rennselearville but not if the weather is crap 🎣 even though it would be better fishing. But hiking on dreary days can be dreary but I could change my mind. Walking those dirt roads not likely to see or run into many people. 🚶 Of course with all this paranoia over Coronavirus I probably shouldn’t publicly announce I’m going to be anywhere in the wilderness due to the risk of internet shaming (you left your moldy apartment!), even though I’ve been incredibly socially isolated for the past three weeks 👤 and have had minimal human contact, always stepping far off the trail when I pass people.

That said I’m watching the forecast slide downhill for next weekend ☁ and I’m watching the weather but I’m not sure if I’ll be spending some nights in the wilderness or not. ⛺ If I do, it might be close to home or it might not be. I have a multitude of ideas away from people for a few nights in pure wilderness. 👥I don’t plan to use any public accommodation after I leave home, so no risk of picking up the bug 🐛 and not being able to wash it away. I’m not going to tell anybody when I’m leaving or returning, or where or if I’m going. I’ll pull the battery from my phone so no one can find me until I return. I’ll park where I can’t be seen from the road. I can take care of myself, live a good life out in the wilderness without being the governments’ bitch. 🐶 Have a good time, mind my own business. It’s the safest thing to do in an era of such bigotry by those who have adopted the mindset of government minders. Everybody wants to be a Chinese Uncle Police officer 👮 these days. Or maybe I won’t go anywhere at all. I don’t have to post about it on the internet for sure. 🙊 Don’t tread on me.

I am so tempted to create a Facebook logo that says, “Duck You, I hope you die from Coronavirus” 👾in response to all the social distancing memes and frames. I know that’s not very nice. But I think the self appointed Uncle Police are so obnoxious. Its not like many public accommodations are open anymore that you can spread the virus at any more but it sure feels good to the self appointed Uncle Police 🚨 on Facebook to shame people wherever they can. I’m not rushing to the store any more than absolutely necessary (once a week) and trying to stay at least 20 feet away from others on the street or trail – I apply rubbing alcohol to my hands on my truck 👐 and wash good as soon as I’m home. And I pray. 🙏But not to the God of some self appointed health minister in the church ⛪ of the government. My libertarianism is starting to show through.

I actually liked a promote page about North Idaho living from a real estate company today. I bet parts of Idaho are really nice and wild, 🐺 but the state is also starting to get over developed by refugees from California. I do follow pig farmer 🐽 North Country Off Grid (he doesn’t even have a small solar electricity system or didn’t until recent) and that other Yak Farmer from Idaho. The issues that North Country off grid has from suburbanites developing neighboring lands makes me think twice but then again the wrong kind of neighbors moving in can be a problem anywhere. I don’t know, only a few more years in New York and then I’ll make the jump and move out west or maybe to the Ozarks. 🚜 I’ve heard a lot good things about rural Tennessee and while West Virginia is beautiful, there is something quite alarming about that state’s coal fueled politics. 🏭 Every buck saved today is one closer to a better tomorrow. Time goes by quickly ⏳and moving day will you know it. I “can’t wait” but good things happen to those who wait, so I will wait doing the best I can every day to improve my own life👍.

In four weeks on May 1 (which is May Day) the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (292°) at 7:55 pm,🌄 which is 31 minutes and 49 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 56 and 42 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 65 and 43 degrees. The record high of 86 degrees was set back in 2001.

Looking ahead, Good Friday ✝️ is in 1 week, May 🕊 is in 4 weeks, 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ is in 9 weeks, and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 7 months.

🇺🇸🦅Only 48 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸

Andy Arthur.org

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