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After a cloudy start the sun is out ⛅ 👉 ☀

Starting to finally get nice out this morning. Going to be a beautiful day.

Good morning! Happy Sunday from Vacationland 2023. Partly sunny and 60 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. There is a north-northwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 57 degrees. Much cooler than before the front came through.

Woke up pretty early this morning, thinking that it would be a nice morning 🌅 and I could get up, use the bucket shitter 🚽 and they have coffee ☕. I even thought 💭 about taking a ride over to Searsburg Road and watching the sun rise. They promised it would be a beautiful day, and it probably will be but it didn’t clear out by nine o’clock last night as promised by the weathermen. ☁️ I looked to the sky this morning and all I saw was clouds. Maybe I should have pooped 💩 and gone back to bed but instead it was apple banana pancakes 🥞 using the remainder of the pancake mix I bought last winter mixed with whole oatmeal, fried apples and mashed bananas. Through
In chia seeds 🌱 for an extra health punch 👊.

Going forward I won’t buy any more pancake mix but instead use that whole grain oatmeal with water and bananas. 🥞 I like the hardy more fiber rich oatmeal over the bleached flour, sugar and chemicals of Aunt Jamina’s pancake mix. Less garbage and cost too by using just simple oatmeal and bananas. Really don’t need to waste money 💵 on packaging to burn. Likewise I’m using real silverware and dishes now while camping as paper plates, and plastic silverware have gotten so expensive with inflation plus who wants to burn all that toxic plastic trash? 🗑

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 71 degrees at 3pm. 13 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 24th. Maximum dew point of 57 at 8am. Northwest wind around 9 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 82 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1933. Cool but getting sunny for sure.

Today I have a busy agenda planned. 📜 But it’s going to be a great one. I plan to get a fairly early start, bike most of the Cayuta Valley Rail Trail. 🚲 Then swim at the Watkins Glen Pool, get ice cream at Glen Dairy Bar 🍦, ride along Rock Cabin Road, watch the sunset 🌇 on Seneca Lake. Then back to camp for some hammock time before bed. Greased my chain 🔗 up well on my bike this morning, cleaned off the mud, and set up the GoPro mount on my bike 📸 so I can do some video today riding for the blog and YouTube and other social media. 📹

Despite a fairly soggy day yesterday, 🌧️ I’ve been feeling great without the alcohol and calories 🤰 of years past, choosing healthier nutrient dense meals 🍴 and whole fruits and vegetables 🫑up here at camp. ⛺ A healthy diet I believe really does improve ones mental health. ☺ While I’m not one to blame the chemicals in processed foods – most of them are relative safe, 🧪⚗️ most of them mask crap ingredients that are rich in low quality fats and sugars while providing not much vitamins, fiber or protein. Plus being skinner I feel great though I certainly have been stuffing myself this weekend 🍑 but with higher quality whole foods.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:14 pm with sun having an altitude of 66° from the due south horizon (-4.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:51 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (290°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (297°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:31 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 14 seconds with dusk around 9:02 pm, which is one minute and 5 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the southeast (146°) at an altitude of 11° from the horizon, 228,672 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:43 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 64 degrees. The dew point will be 53 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 35 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 6 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday became a wet day, though later then expected. Rochester got the rain early, we got it later in the Finger Lakes. 🌧️ Breakfast was eggs with tomatoes, onions and peppers with a side of old breakfast sausage I bought last winter. Rode Blackie 🚵 to the top of Hector Backbone though I admit I dismounted and pushed the bicycle part of the way. I had lower gears ⚙ to drop it down to but I wasn’t feeling motivated. At the top by Blueberry Hill Campground 🫐 it started to rain – it was already one o’clock before that happened. More of a passing shower, waited waited it out under a tree. 🌳 Rode around the campground, the fee is now up to $15 a night though I can’t imagine camping so packed in with others. I like my fires 🔥 and music 🎶, I would be a nuisance if I had to camp around others. 🤫

Tried to get good cell service up there 📶 without much luck. A few bars but it was slow, possibly due to the weather. ⛈ Rode down the backbone to Potomac Road, much more fun going down then over to Potomac Ponds which I started back, started slinging mud 🐽 and decided to turn back when the trail got too muddy. I rode down old Chicken Co-op Road as my GPS calls it 🗺 and the sky just opened up. ⛈️ I wanted to see my favorite old campsite and see how the mud wallow was holding up after all the stone I dumped in it last year. Still quite muddy. Glad I got the site I like on Potomac instead. I headed back to camp, I didn’t mind being soaked as it was still quite warm. 🧅 Fried up another delicious 😋 Vadella onion on the griddle – sliced it into rings, put it on a cast iron skillet and added a little MSG to really make it pop. Dessert was red kidney beans with some maple syrup 🍁 and a beer 🍻. Had two beers yesterday between lunch and dinner which is my limit though the first day I had one and maybe none today.

As the front came through the rain picked up and the temperature dropped. 🌡️ I read for a while 📖 and listened to a podcast 📻 from Focus on Albany with Cynthia Pooler interviewing Leon Van Dyke. Interesting history about how the Democratic 🐴 machine worked and the $5 votes 🗳 and the fear people had about ever speaking up about the machine. Found out John Wolcott is returning home Monday for hospice care, 🧑‍⚕️ but he’s still pretty much in his final hours, hope to visit him at least one more time when I get back from vacation. Had some great interviews with John Wolcott and Leon Van Dyke over the years though I wish we had started years earlier 🎤 before John lost much of his memory and became so frail after getting bit by a tick and collapsing one day in his bathtub 🛁. Tick born illnesses are no joke. 🐜

After a while with the wind and the rain ☔ I started to get chilled through at camp and decided I needed to take off my wet clothes. 👚 I got jeans and a hoodie on, bedded down in my truck with the remainder of the Boggleheads investing book 📙 which I finally finished off before putting on a different podcast about the history of Mad Magazine before nodding off. 🤡 Got some shut eye 👁️ for a few hours before dinner time.

Dinner was more salmon 🐠 with delicious pearl onions, mini red potato 🥔 , sweet corn and fried slices of tomato 🍅 – the second half of the big juicy one I got at the farm stand. I still have a full tomato left, it’s like heaven. Eating good. Rode up to Searsburg Road 🚲 hoping to catch the sunset but it was still gray last night but I do have good reception 📶 there. Maybe tonight though I think I’ll watch the sunset tonight from Seneca Lake 🌇. Decided I wanted to get some more miles in before bed 🛏 after a fairly lazy day 😴 so around dusk started over to Foster Pond on the bicycle but turned back as drizzle started. 🔙 Had a small campfire 🔥 at warm myself and retired to bed around ten 🔟. Early by vacation standards when it’s not really dark out until around nine.

Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 56 degrees at 5am. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 6th. Maximum dew point of 54 at 6pm. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming southwest in the evening. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 60 degrees. The record low of 49 occurred back in 2021.

One month 📅 from now will the Average High Falls To 79 ️Degrees ⛱️️️ when the sun will be setting at 7:47 pm with dusk at 8:14 pm. As they say, all good things must come to an end, autumn leaves must fall. But first, summer vacation! 🏖

Day 2 of summer vacation waiting for the front to come through ⛈️

Just taking it slow and easy, it’s summer vacation and it’s a hang out in the National Forest kind of day with rain and thunderstorms almost certain come midday.

Good morning! No rain yet but a fair amount of clouds, muggy. I’d call it times of clouds and sun about 75 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. ⛅ More sun would be nice to charge the solar. 🔋 There is a west breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 69 degrees. Muggy but relief coming with the front this afternoon. The skies will clear around 9 pm.

Been having fun, so far a great vacation, very relaxing. 😁 Got the campsite I wanted, I have so many good healthy foods to eat. 🍏 went for a ride over to Teeter Pond 🚲 and the Horton Pasture hoping to catch a nice sunset 🌇 though it turned out to be grayer than I had hoped with a lot of clouds but listening to the bull frogs 🐸 and cows mooing as dusk approached was nice. Rode back to camp, laid in the hammock for a bit. The brighter light from my headlamp I mounted on my bike works decent, better than the bike light I have. Then around 9:30 decided to ride over to Foster Pond though it was buggy and cloudy when I got there so I didn’t stay long except to watch the froggers 🐸 out in the edge of the pond looking for some frog legs to cook up for dinner. Headlights on that dark road though from oncoming vehicles were quite blinding I must admit!

Today will have showers and thunderstorms before 4pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 4pm and 5pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. 🌦 High of 74 degrees at 11am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 11th. Maximum dew point of 71 at 1pm. 🏖️ Northwest wind 7 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. An improvement over yesterday’s forecast but will be wet. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 89 degrees. The reI aglsotvycord high of 97 was set in 1894.

I plan to get firewood under the tarp before the rain 🌧️. It’s only a matter of time before the rain comes. I actually was expecting a wetter morning then turned out to be, as I put away the hammock last night and anything that I didn’t want to get wet as I’m so used to Albany where a threat of rain always turns out to be a certainty for rain but maybe not so much in the Finger Lakes. Only time will tell. Midday hopefully before the rain, want to ride over to Foster Pond and then up to the top of Hector Backbone 🚵 for the views and to get podcasts to listen to this evening back at camp. 📻 Then probably read in the afternoon, cook up onions and more salmon for dinner. 🐠 Thinking beans with maple 🍁 syrup for a light lunch.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:14 pm with sun having an altitude of 66.2° from the due south horizon (-4.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:52 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (290°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (297°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 14 seconds with dusk around 9:03 pm, which is one minute and 4 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the south-southeast (159°) at an altitude of 16° from the horizon, 230,641 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:45 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 65.

Hoping it will clear out this evening for a nice Finger Lakes sunset 🌇 and it will be starry ✨ and clear to sit down at Foster Pond watching shooting stars. Probably though will be cold and damp though I expect the humidity to drop after the front comes through.

Tonight will have a chance of showers before 8pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 58 degrees at 5am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 30th. Maximum dew point of 64 at 6pm. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 64 degrees. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1968.

Tomorrow and the next four days should be beautiful ☀ and I plan to make the most of them. Tomorrow get a fairly early start, bike most of the Cayuta Valley Rail Trail. 🚲 Then swim at the Watkins Glen Pool, get ice cream at Glen Dairy Bar 🍦, ride along Rock Cabin Road, watch the sunset 🌇 on Seneca Lake. Monday I’m thinking of exploring the gorge at Cornell University and Ithaca bicycle trails and maybe swim 🏊‍♂️ at Taughannock before heading back to camp. ⛺ Tuesday either paddle Seneca Lake and float in the tube there or maybe head up to Penn Yann – Dresden for the Keuka Valley Trail and ice cream at the Spotted Duck 🦆. Then take it from there.

Looking ahead, next Saturday is Work Like a Dog Day 🐩 when the sun will be setting at 8:24 pm with dusk at 8:54 pm. On that day in 2022, we had hot, humid, partly sunny, patches of fog and temperatures between 93 and 71 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 83 degrees. I guess if swimming and bicycling is working like a dog I’ll be doing that on my final evening of vacation. We hit a record high of 99 back in 1955.

Off the Last Week of July or is it the First Week of August 🎣 ⛺ 🏊 🚴

I got my time-off request approved. I’m planning on heading out early on Friday July 28th to the Finger Lakes, preferably being on the road by no later then 8 AM so I can start setting up camp before noon. I prefer to drive out on a Friday as traffic will be much lighter on the dreaded NY 79 into Ithaca, though I expect to grind to stop heading through the city, but it’s mostly unavoidable. Setting up camp early on Friday, maximizes my chances of getting a good campsite in the Finger Lakes National Forest, most likely my old standby the Chicken Co-Op site or maybe the Potamac Road Field Campsite.

They have pros and cons. The first one can be tight to get in and out from my truck but it’s closer to Foster Pond for night hikes and fishing, and has cell service for streaming videos and audio. On the other hand, the field campsite is father back off the road, so less dust and noise, it has good sun for solar power, and no cell service, unless I walk down the road. Sometimes it’s nice to have a good excuse to put down the phone, not listen to the radio and stream audio non-stop. Be off-the-grid more.

Once camp is set up for the first day, my hope is to have a bicycle and use it to get around to more of the National Forest quickly, for hikes, fishing and watching sunsets. While it’s a bit of a drop down off the backbone to Burdett, Trumansburg or Lodi, I could see doing some day bicycle trips to those villages to pick up light groceries and supplies or get an ice cream cone. But primarily I will bicycle around the National Forest on the dirt roads, heading out to trailheads where I could lock up my bicycle before hiking or fishing.

Then during the day times, I want to do several of the bike trails and or hiking, followed by swimming. I definitely want to do the full length of Cayuta Valley Trail from Watkins Glen to Elmira, as I’ve hiked a lot of it but not seen it all. Also, probably the Black Diamond Trail from Taughannock Falls and Ithaca. Two years ago I did the Kueka Outlook Trail on foot, and it might be worthwhile to do a day trip up there again this year, especially with gas prices down a bit and because I’m planning on a direct-drive out to Finger Lakes this year.

I also want to find a day to park somewhere in Downtown Ithaca and then either take a TCAT bus up to Cornell or ride my bike up that hill — which will be a bitch — but would be fun going back down. I want to explore Triphammer Falls which I’ve always stayed away from because of the difficulty of finding parking on campus. Also maybe Wells Falls. It’s funny how most years I avoid Ithaca.

Then also some calm days paddling and fishing on Seneca Lake. I will bring the rubber tube so I can inflate that out in the Finger Lakes and float on Seneca Lake. That new kayak launch on NY 79 Seneca Lake is fantastic, plus that end of the lake is shallow and sandy which is great for floating. Last year, I had some great days doing both.

I plan to set up camp and stay at the same site for all nine-nights. Some days will be at camp, riding around the National Forest. I plan to return home on August 6th, doing mostly a straight shot home, but weather depending I might spend that final day exploring places around Ithaca before getting on the road by 3 or 4 PM for arrival back home at around 7 PM to unpack.

August 16, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Final day of vacation, plan to make the most of it. 🏖️ Summer not expected to last. Five weeks to Average High 70 🎑 . Partly cloudy and 73 degrees at the Watkins Glen State Park. ⛅ There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 62 degrees.

The morning started out chilly 🌤️ but the clouds parted. I made up coffee ☕ and finished up the muffins. 🍪 I am surprisingly less hung over then expected, I had a few Genesee’s with dinner last night and they’re the kind of beer 🍻 you drink when you are having more than one. 🤮

Sat back, paused briefly then made a final video 📹 of my campsite. 🏕️ I find it hard to believe that I’ve been camping here for 8 nights and nine 9⃣ days, it seems like I just set things up yesterday. ⌛I think camping here in one site all week made the time go by faster.

All packed up, site is clean 🏡 and after visiting a few more places in the Finger Lakes it will be back home. 🛣️My goal is to be home by dusk 🌆. I am not terribly worried about getting unpacked 💼 tonight although I’ll need to grab the cooler and empty that out ❄, grab my clothes 👕👖and unpack things like razors and toothbrush.

I am going to go for a swim 🏊🏻‍♂️ once the pool opens. I wanted to be here early in case the lot filled up with social distancing. Seneca Lake looked so calm this morning, I was tempted to go for a paddle but with things heating up ☀ the wind 🍃 is picking up. This afternoon I want to explore Catharine Creek Marsh 🦆some more wildlife observation 🔭 this time with binoculars. I could go for a paddle later. 🛶 I don’t know though time is limited but I made sure to leave the sleeping pad so I could get the kayak off my truck if choose. Then starting to head home, I want to visit Danby State Forest 🌲and check the overlook out there.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 81 degrees at 3pm. Typical for today. Maximum dew point of 62 at 10am. Southeast wind 6 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, which became thunderstorm by afternoon. It became sticky as the day progressed. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1936.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:13 pm with sun having an altitude of 61.2° from the due south horizon (-9.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:30 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (283°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (289°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:08 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 3 seconds with dusk around 8:36 pm, which is one minute and 28 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:15 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 74 degrees. The dew point will be 61 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 50 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 32 seconds over yesterday.

I thought it was a pretty good week, ☺ with about the best weather one could hope for during these times. Everything was a bit off and the wood full of people during these times of social distancing. 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦It’s really good that people are getting outside and enjoying nature but I do miss the solitude especially around Foster Pond – the nights 🌌star gazing with no one else around. While my campsite was far back from the road and quite remote, every time I hiked in the woods it didn’t seem quite as quiet 🤫 as years past. While I’d be pressed to say that I couldn’t find solitude but things just weren’t like years past.

The Finger Lakes are a very different place than the Adirondacks. 🐮🌱🌾🌿🕸️🦋🍷 I think it’s a fun summer place, a lot lighter and more relaxing than the Adirondacks. 🗻 Everything in the Adirondacks is much more touristy, while the Finger Lakes are more rural and the gas stations ⛽ and groceries 🛒 aren’t so overpriced as they are up north. 👃🏻 The smell of the silage and grass, the gentle mooing of the cows is a nice change.

There are definitely a lot of places on my 🅱️ list I’ve gotten to see this week and enjoy that would have otherwise been overlooked. I think it’s good to think outside of the box 🗃 and look for new places to visit in the same general area I’ve been before but previously overlooked. 🐦

One of my annoyances that seems to be a problem all over this year is the amount of litter 🚮 dumped in the woods. Seems like this week there is a growing pile of trash 🗑 dumped at Foster Pond, the same is true for the campsite on Backbone Trail. Now I’m not calling for more jack booted thugs 👢 to unsuccessfully patrol the woods and stop dumping but folks should be more responsible. 👮 You can’t stop 🛑 people who want to dump trash when no one is looking.

Bring your gawd damn deposit cans back for the nickle. 💵 Bring your aluminum foil, cans and glass home for the recycling bin ♻, it’s not that much trash if you smash it. Chances are your having a fire 🔥 so you can burn the rest of the largely burnable packaging 📦, just make sure to pack out anything that doesn’t fully become smoke or water vapor. And bury your poop 💩 and toilet paper 🚽 deep in the woods. ⚰️ Personal responsibility not jack booted thugs. ☠️

If people want to drink 🍻 and have a little fun in the woods 🤣 then good for them. Public lands are for the publics use but they shouldn’t trash them. 🌲🌳🧔🧔🏼👱🏾‍♀️👱🏼‍♀️I had my fun but my campsite was cleaner than when I got there – I cleaned up abandoned fire pits, removed bottle caps and made sure things were generally more organized than when I got here.
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I am hoping by next summer 🏖 things will be a bit quieter and back to normal. 👾 Been such an odd summer and while I’ve made the most of it I could see doing some things differently next year. 💭 I’d like to spend some time in Pennsylvania, maybe later this autumn. 🍂🍁 Yeah, while New York rednecks are fun, Pennsylvania rednecks are more fun as they have more guns 🔫 and everybody out in the country burns their trash and everything else that burns from brush piles to old mobile homes. 🔥

Continuing to read that book about hog farming. 🐷 There is a lot I didn’t know about pigs, 🐽 they are kind of fascinating creatures. I figured start my summer reading program with cattle, then pigs and maybe then goats 🐐 and chickens 🐔. Pigs are a lot more accessible to a beginning homesteader than cattle 🐮 plus they can do a lot to help restore rocky ⛰️ worn out soils as can often be found in areas with affordable acreage. 💩 I’m sure that’s why North Country Off Grid makes pigs such a big part of his homestead in North Idaho. Plus bacon 🥓.

I am thinking about getting a clip on telephoto lens 🔭for my smartphone 📱. I am quite happy with the quality of the photos 📸 my phone takes but I would like to be able to zoom 🔎 in closer to wildlife. 🦅🦉🐸🐦They aren’t really expensive either. 🖼

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 62 degrees at 5am. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 61 at 7pm. South wind around 6 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 cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It became very sticky as the night progressed. It got down to 67 degrees. The record low of 40 occurred back in 1979.

Today in 1916, the Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States signed. 🐦 It was designed to save Migratory Birds by giving them international protection for the first time by placing limits on hunting and other means of taking. Good day for walking in the marsh. 🐸

In 1989, a solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, 🌞leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto’s stock market.🖥️

Also, in 1993, Debian Linux is announced, 💾it would become the basis of many forms of Linux like Ubuntu Linux, which is currently what I run on my home computer.

And in 1966, the House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong.🏛️ The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.

Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Average High 70 🎑 when the sun will be setting at 7:07 pm with dusk at 7:35 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny, patches of fog and temperatures between 79 and 42 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 71 degrees. We hit a record high of 90 back in 1946.

August 13, 2020 Evening

Good evening! Clear and 72 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. 🌃 There is a north-northeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 58 degrees.

It was a nice day 👍 to explore part of the Finger Lakes I had never been to before. The Kueka Outlet Trail is pretty darn neat winding through a gorge past numerous ruins of old mills. 🏤 One thing that surprised me that there was enough water power to run all those mills – when I was there the water was flowing but hardly a torrent. It might be different in the spring or after a heavy rain storm ☔ – it’s been a pretty dry summer in the Finger Lakes although nothing like 2015.

Hiked 🚶🏽 from Penn Yan to Dresden a total of 13 miles round trip. While this is not a strenuous hike by any means – it’s a 200 feet ascent heading west over 6 1/2 miles it was still an all afternoon hike and I was tired 😴 with the heat. I did do a short walk around downtown Penn Yan 🏙 which still has a fairly intact main street then visited the village park overlooking the lake. Ironically, when you are at one of the tips or Keuka Lake you really don’t get that scenic of a vista as all you see is the tine of the fork 🍴and big hill in the center.

Came back and got ice at Dandy Mart. Forgot to buy coffee ☕ again for the morning. Spent a little time down at Clute Park but I was tired 💤 and didn’t want to drive to camp in the dark so I left before sunset 🌇. Came back and had hot dogs and beer 🌭🍺, I’m definitely ready for bed now.

I thought about hiking to Foster Pond but after a few beers 🍻 and all the walking 🚶🏽 I did today, I decided it’s not advisable. I’m just super tired. I find it hard to get as good of night sleep in the woods as I do at home, especially if I stay up late and then wake up when the sun ☀ is pouring in my window. ⬜

I have a bunch of pictures to upload 🗺️ but I’ll wait until tomorrow when I head into town. I wanted to process them a bit more on my phone before uploading. I also have some pictures I want to get off my dash cam to upload.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 64 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 60 at 1am. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 66 degrees. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1941.

Tonight will have a Waining Crescent 🌘 Moon with 28% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 1:13 am, followed by dawn at 5:43 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:14 am in the east-northeast (69°) and last for 3 minutes and 4 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:53 am with sun in the east-northeast (76°). Tonight will have 10 hours and 3 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 29 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 87 degrees at 3pm. Six degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 63 at 9am. Calm wind becoming northeast 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became thunderstorm by afternoon. It was sticky. The high last year was 84 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1988.

Going to be another hot and sunny day tomorrow. 🏊🏻‍♂️ I think it would be a good day to spend one more day at the Watkins Glen State Park pool on a relatively quiet weekday. and maybe hike more of the Catharine Valley Rail Trail, maybe south of Montour Falls this time. 🚂 And maybe one last ice cream cone at Glen Dairy Bar. 🍦Saturday I will probably stay in the National Forest for social distancing purposes but I’m thinking of doing some fishing 🎣 and swimming of Caywood Point and maybe if it seems like the water is calm, paddling from Watkins Glen to Hector Point. Sunday I probably will hang out at camp for a while then maybe go for a hike around the rim of Taughannock and then head home around 1 pm, probably via NY 23.🛣️

It seems odd that this trip I haven’t visited the Taughannock Gorge so far 🕋 or Enfield Glen. While I like those places a lot they tend to be crowded and I have little interest in visiting any crowded places during the pandemic. I am trying to keep this trip simple and relaxing plus visiting new places in the Finger Lakes that I’ve not spent a lot of time in the past. Gorges are great but I am really truly hard to maintain social distancing. 👨‍👨‍👦‍👦While COVID-19 doesn’t have me hiding all the time in my home, I really try to avoid places where maintaining social distancing is impossible.🗣️

Before hiking today I sprayed heavily my hammock with another coat of Martin’s Permethrin. 🐜 Bugs haven’t been bad camping but I figured it’s a nice low humidity, non windy day so it should soak in good as some time in the future might be buggy again. Permethrin has a bit of a funny smell at first but it dissappears after airing out. 👃

In four weeks on September 10 the sun will be setting in the west (277°) at 7:25 pm,🌄 which is 45 minutes and 37 seconds earlier then today. In 2019 on that day, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 77 and 52 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 75 and 54 degrees. The record high of 96 degrees was set back in 1931.

Looking ahead, 6:30 Sunrise 🌇 is in 4 weeks, Constitution Day 📜 is in 5 weeks, October 🛥 and Harvest Moon 🌕 is in 7 weeks, Average High is 60 🍂 is in 9 weeks, Average Night Below Freezing 🌌 is in 3 months, Thanksgiving 🦃 is in 15 weeks, 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ is in 17 weeks, Christmas Eve 🎅 is in 19 weeks, New Years Eve 🎆 is in 20 weeks, Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡 is in 5 months, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 22 weeks, Wolf Moon 🌕 is in 24 weeks, Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 is in 26 weeks and National Drink Wine Day 🍷 is in 27 weeks.

August 12, 2020 Afternoon

Good afternoon! Sunny and 79 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. 🌞 There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 55 degrees.

This morning was a bit more breezy than expected but that’s kind of the norm on the Hector Backbone. 🍃 Kind of a quiet and lazy morning today, I’m in no rush to get going. 💤 I kind of wanted to catch up on sleep and avoid a crazy morning rushing to get to the park before the parking lot fills and closes. That said, it seems like my fears 😱 are rather misplaced – there has been no evidence of that happening this week. Much less hot and humid.

Enjoyed a nice quiet morning in the hammock 😃 looking at the trees swaying above and just relaxing. Monday and Tuesday were too much of a rush. Vacation should be about relaxing. 💤 I really am enjoying camping 🏕 where I have no cellphone reception 🔕 as it keeps me from constantly checking social media. 📱 Facebook is nice but it sure is addictive.

I am thinking today of exploring the Caywood Point historic site 🏛️ and if there is a place to fish down there 🎣 tossing in a line. I wanted to get night crawlers 🐛 but I can get them today when I shop 🏪. I am going to leave the kayak 🛶 on the truck and I might put in at the Hector Town Park where there is supposedly a boat launch and paddle around mid lake. 🛥 In the evening I’ll probably go down to Watkins Glen for ice and groceries and maybe a brief swim 🏊🏻‍♂️ to close out the day.

This afternoon will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 82 degrees at 3pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around August 9th. Maximum dew point of 57 at 6pm. North wind around 5 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 99 was set in 1944.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:13 pm with sun having an altitude of 62.2° from the due south horizon (-8.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:35 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (285°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (291°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:14 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 5 seconds with dusk around 8:43 pm, which is one minute and 25 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:23 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 75 degrees. The dew point will be 59 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and one minute of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 29 seconds over yesterday.

It looks like the party 🎉 broke up this morning based on the number of cars going by so tonight I might hike down to Foster Pond and see if I can see more of the percid metroid showers 🌠. I am thinking it might be a nice clear night for that with less humidity for better visibility. Sitting along the pond provides a good view of the stars ✨. Hopefully the kids 🧒 🧑didn’t trash the area too much.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 62 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 8pm. Calm wind. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It was sticky. It got down to 67 degrees. The record low of 43 occurred back in 1957.

Shopping 🛒 at Wally World the other day I couldn’t get any more paper bowls 🥣 so I ended up getting Styrofoam. I always used to use Styrofoam while camping as I figured it burned better, was cheaper and didn’t involve cutting down trees 🔥 but lately I’ve been using paper products when camping because I was reading how noxious the blowing agents are for expanded polystyrene and it stinks and burns burn if you don’t have a hot fire. Paper ain’t great either – it’s plastic coated – but in some ways it’s a better. I don’t know, I use regular reusable stuff at home 🏡 but camping it’s just easier and cleaner to let the fire do the dishes. Often my water supply of potable 🚰 water is limited. When I have my off-grid homestead with the burn barrels for unlimited trash disposal 🛢️ I’ll have to decide what is the right option for me – water might be precious 💦 .

I’ve continued reading Gebe Brown’s book 📙 on Regenerative Agriculture. It one part ideological but also kind of a rethinking about orthodoxy when it comes to agriculture. 🚜 When he gets off his high horse 🐴 he actually has some interesting ideas. It really makes me think when I own my off-grid property I’ll put a premium on diversity of plants 🌿 and wildlife and work hard to remove and burn up invasive species on my land. I have no moral quams about using glyphosate or other pesticides responsibility to manage land and I do see a lot of benefits to planting milkweed 🦋 and other native species 🌻🌼 to bring in wildlife for hunting 🦌🦃🐇 and observation 🔭🔎. It’s really beautiful what things were like at that farm I visited the other week for the party 🎉 where they had irradicated nearly all invasives in favor of natives.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Maximum dew point of 64 at 9am. Sunday, a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 60 at 6am. Typical average high for the weekend is 81 degrees.

Honestly, if the weather is going to be bad 🌧️ I’d rather it happen on the day vacation ends. It seems like a busy week at work and I’m sure things will be crazy next week once I clock in. 🕒 But so it goes, I have to make money 💵 to have money to spend on vacation.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until National Dog Day 🐩 when the sun will be setting at 7:51 pm with dusk at 8:20 pm. On that day in 2019, we had sunny and temperatures between 78 and 52 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 79 degrees. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1948.

August 11, 2020 Evening

Good evening! Partly clear and 74 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. 🌃 There is a west breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 65 degrees. The muggy weather ends tomorrow around 10 am. 😓

To end the first half of summer vacation 🏖 I thought things went remarkably well. I spent about six hours at the pool 🏊🏻‍♂️ and two paddling the Montour Falls canal. 🛶 While it was a bit choppy at the end of the day on Seneca Lake for the most part it wasn’t bad. 🌊 A 38 mile lake, even if across its relatively narrow and sat below tall hills is always going to be somewhat rough. Might be even less windy tomorrow – I left the kayak 🛥 on the truck and come morning I might decide to do more paddling tomorrow.

That caramel sundae 🍧I got from the Glen Dairy Bar was pretty good today. I will have to get there a few more times before I leave the Finger Lakes for a few more options. It’s fun having good ice cream when you camp. Had more of those sausage paddies with cheese and ketchup on a hard role for dinner. 🍔 They’re a nice easy treat. I have two more to finish off tomorrow maybe for lunch and then I’ll figure out what is next for camp meals 🍴.

Tonight will be partly cloudy ☁️, with a low of 65 degrees at 6am. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 68 at 8pm. West wind 5 to 8 mph becoming light and variable in the evening. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies. It became somewhat humid as the night progressed. It got down to 56 degrees. The record low of 46 occurred back in 1987.

Tonight will have a Last Quarter 🌗 Moon with 46% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 1:13 am, followed by dawn at 5:41 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:12 am in the east-northeast (69°) and last for 3 minutes and 6 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:51 am with sun in the east-northeast (75°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 58 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 26 seconds over last night.

I hiked back to Foster Pond this evening to watch the percid metriod showers 🌠but stayed only for about fifteen minutes when there was what appeared to be a very wild party 🎉 on the one end of the lake disturbing the solitude. Based on the noise and the late arrivers it seemed like an under age drinking 🍻 party. I wasn’t going to get mixed up with that and honestly myself I wasn’t that sober after having a few drinks with dinner to toast off the day and wash down those sausage paddies. That said, in the brief time I was there I saw two shooting stars and by the time I was heading back it had clouded up.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 85 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 64 at 6am. Northwest wind 3 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 99 was set in 1944.

It should be another nice day tomorrow. ☀ I am not going to rush to get going tomorrow though as I need to try to get some more sleep tonight. 💤 I am thinking about more kayaking tomorrow 🛶, maybe off of Hector Park boat launch or maybe the Watkins Glen boat launch and paddling up along the shoreline of Seneca Lake to Hector Point. I don’t think I’ll do more of the Montour Canal – I found it kind of boring and it stunk of raw or partially treated sewage and was kind of green from pollution. I was hoping I could get off the canal to explore Bad Indian Marsh but there wasn’t a lot of navigable streams – I saw only one and it didn’t look very promising. 🛑

In four weeks on September 8 the sun will be setting in the west (278°) at 7:29 pm,🌄 which is 44 minutes and 56 seconds earlier then today. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 73 and 52 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 75 and 55 degrees. The record high of 94 degrees was set back in 2015.

Looking ahead, September 🍎 is in 3 weeks, September 11th 🇸 is a month away, Autumn 🍂 is in 6 weeks, Election Day 2019 🗳️ is in 12 weeks, Average High is 50 🍂 is in 13 weeks, Veterans Day 🇺🇸 is in 3 months, Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone 🦌 is in 14 weeks, December 🎄 is in 16 weeks, Bill of Rights Day 📜 is in 18 weeks, Days are Getting Longer ☀️ is in 19 weeks, Cold Moon 🌕 is in 20 weeks, National Bird Day 🐧 is in 21 weeks, 5:30 PM Dusk 🌆 is in 24 weeks, Ground Hog Day 🐻 is in 25 weeks and Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 is in 6 months.

Andy Arthur.org

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