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Decided to head out for a night of winter camping 🏕

It’s such a glistening and beautiful winter day here at the State Forest. I wish I had cross country skis after mine got worn out, snapped, then chopped up burnt last winter. So much fiberglass in those skis, and they held up for 20 years, but like all things, they don’t last forever.

Good afternoon! Partly cloudy and 26 degrees at the Rensselaerville State Forest. ⛅ There is a north breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. The trees are still covered with snow and there is something we haven’t seen in a long time — blue skies. There is a 6 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at Wednesday around 1 pm. 🌡️

It is remarkably beautiful out today. 😀 Cold but beautiful. Yet that’s to be expected camping in the winter up in the mountains. The good news is the road is nice and solid this time for camping, so not playing in the mud or getting wet. The snow is frozen fairly solid, but also is light in fluffy. If I had skis, this would be almost ideal weather for skiing. 🚲 After lunch and finishing setting up camp 🏕 and gathering firewood 🪵 I plan to ride some of CCC Road and maybe go down to the OSI Parcel 📸 to look at the snow covered mountains. Then come back to camp and have a good fire. 🔥

This afternoon will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 29 degrees at 2pm. Four degrees below normal. North wind around 11 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 2016. 6.1 inches of snow fell back in 2004.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:11 pm with sun having an altitude of 30.8° from the due south horizon (-40.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:31 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (241°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (248°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:13 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 8 seconds with dusk around 5:42 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:16 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 27 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 23 seconds over yesterday.

One thing that’s nice about this time of year 🌆 is we are definitely picking up more daylight in the evening, which makes it not as long at camp. That’s good as the nights can drag on. Going to be fairly cold but not super cold by the campfire for tonight, and I will have a nice fire.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 18 degrees at 4am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 15th. Maximum wind chill around 9 at 1am; Northwest wind 8 to 13 mph. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 13 degrees. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1978.

Looking ahead to next weekend, the following Saturday is Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 when the sun will be setting at 5:23 pm with dusk at 5:50 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy, mild, rain showers and temperatures between 51 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 1955.

Good morning, Happy Saturday. 😀

Smile, it’s the weekend. Not the sunniest or warmest weekend after, but it’s good to get out and enjoy it. Leading in theory a Save the Pine Bush hike at 9 AM, though who knows if anyone will show up. But it’s a good excuse to get up early, get going so I will go hiking, then check out Salvation Army for some nice business-casual shirts and then do some shopping early on.

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Finally the weekend! I won’t say it’s a banner of weekend weather wise, but it’s not snowing and not cold. Cloudy and 36 degrees at the Elm Ave Park and Ride. ☁ There is a north-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Monday around 1 am. ☃️

Today will be cloudy ☁, with a high of 40 degrees at 2pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 28th. North wind around 6 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1974. 9.3 inches of snow fell back in 1963.❄

I intentionally planned a Save the Pine Bush Hike at 9 AM this morning 🌲 so I would have an incentive to get out hiking early this morning, and hopefully have some people to join me. Not the nicest day ever but with some friends it could be nice. And if nobody shows up — and for later in the afternoon — I’ll bring my mountain bike. 🚵 Often I find riding in the Pine Bush to be a little soft without fat bike tires but after the recent rain and snow, I expect the sand to be quite well packed and good for riding. I will probably will ride the East Barrens though I haven’t done Blueberry Hill in a while and that could be a good place to watch the sun set.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:09 pm with sun having an altitude of 28.8° from the due south horizon (-42° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:19 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (238°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (245°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:02 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 12 seconds with dusk around 5:31 pm, which is one minute and 17 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:06 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 39 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 50 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 9 seconds over yesterday.

After the hike this morning 🏃‍♀️ my plan is go over to the Salvation Army and look at shirts to wear 👔 for cheap, and maybe desk lamps. I don’t think my new office I’ll be moving into in March from my temporary desk has a desk lamp, and I’ve really gotten to like that brass desk lamp I had in my old office 🛋 as I don’t like the overhead florescent lighting. The darker lit office with task lighting just seems a lot more comfortable to work in. Then I’m hoping to get to Aldi’s and get some groceries 🛒 followed up by Yonder Farms for apples 🍎 and maybe stopped at Hannaford in Voorheesville so I can get more whole-wheat flour. 🍞 I’ve also thought about potentially exploring more of the Erie Canalway Trail and the Stockade in Schenectady, 🚲 but we’ll see how tired I am by mid-day. At any rate, I like to keep my options open. ⛽ I also need to get some fuel for my big-jacked up truck. That said, at least gas prices have come down.

Tonight will have a slight chance of rain and snow after 4am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 33 degrees at 1am. 18 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 5th. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 25 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 2005.

Yesterday, I had my diversity training 👩‍🏫 which was remarkably interesting. What a difference a good professor really can make. It really gives you a chance to reflect upon how you view the world. So many years diversity training is overally legalistic and not enough reflection, but this year it really gave me some chance to think about my biases. I ended the day working in my old office, which was nice to catch up with some my colleagues and not feel like I’m in North Siberia, as often is the case up in the suburban office.

I’ve been continuing to explore how to use the R Statistical Language at work to automate processes and clean data. 💽 So much of my work in my new job is data-centric, and the tidyverse is such a handy way to process lots of data quickly. One of my goals is get away from PDF reports and presenting more data as nicely formatted Excel spreadsheets, as it makes it much more easier for users to produce calculations on their own computer. I installed R Studio on my work computer, though I with I could get Docker working and therefore Rselenium up and running on it, so I could automate some of the report generation by using a Selenium controlled browser. In theory I don’t need Docker but so far I can’t seem to figure out to get RSelenium to find Java I installed on the computer. Strange thing is OpenXLSX see Java without a problem.

Tomorrow looking at rain and snow, mainly after 8am. 🌧 High near 35. Calm wind becoming north 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. Going to try to get out to my parents house tomorrow, a lot depends on the weather. I might end up going to Walmart tomorrow, especially if I don’t get everything I need at Aldi’s today, most notably whole-wheat flour.

Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 when the sun will be setting at 5:21 pm with dusk at 5:49 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy, mild, rain showers and temperatures between 51 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 1955.

Happy Final Friday of January 2024! ☔

Kind of a wet one to flush away the month of January. I’m up early walking laps on the Concourse in the Emperor’s Plaza. I was thinking if I wanted to do some cardio I could do the stairs in LOB, though truth be told I’ll be here come midday for diversity training and then I’m going to work the rest of the day in my old office.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Heavy rain and 38 degrees at the Elm Ave Park and Ride. 🌧️ There is a southeast breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. Not much snow left after the warm temperatures and the rspTemperatures will drop below freezing at Sunday around 3 am. ☃️

For some reason I didn’t sleep well last night 🛏 so I’m up early walking 🚶 the Plaza. I just find it hard to sleep with the windows closed and I need another night in the wilderness but alas it’s January for a few more days and the woods is going to be a mosh pit after all the rain of recent. 🐽 I have diversity training today, so I’ll need to stay awake for that. And lots more reports to run. I need to figure out how to get Docker running on my work machine 🤖 to automate that further.

Breakfast this morning was pancakes 🥞 made from carrots 🥕 and apples with some egg and whole wheat flour for binder with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and honey 🍯 to top. Then I decided I was still hungry and wanted some protein, so I had some Greek yogurt and strawberries 🍓 as a side. ☕ Looking forward to more coffee when I get in the office. Last night it was pea soup 🥣 with carrot bread which came out so moist and tender, reminded me almost of carrot cake. By the end of the week I think I will have eaten nearly five pounds of carrots.

Today will rain, mainly before 10am. Patchy fog after 5pm. 🌧 High of 43 degrees at 4pm. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 9th. Southeast wind 6 to 10 mph becoming northeast in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light snow by afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1950. 8.5 inches of snow fell back in 1949.❄

Bike ride in and hike was good, 🚲 though on a cloudy day like yesterday it was darker than I would have preferred for riding across the Water Street Bridge. Didn’t help there was a bunch of debris from crashes on the shoulder. I should have enough time that in the future I might ride through Corning Preserve 🏞 and over the pedestrian bridge as an alternative.

I’m getting used to suburban office 🏢 with its acres parking 🅿 which everybody tells me is a good thing but I find it hard to believe. I just find the corporate architecture to be so soul depraving with the acres of cubicles, florescent lighting and the very square windows that are few and far between. At least I can make it work with the buses 🚍 and it’s an easier bike 🚲 ride. I enjoyed riding in yesterday and riding down to the river at lunch time, ☺ It will be nice come summer. Acres of parking probably is good if I’m planning on going out of town after work.

I do think I’m doing good work, 🖥 putting my data science skills and Unix knowledge to hood work in the new position. Change is good, I think I’m rapidly getting up to skill. Plus it’s a good resume builder as I can say I’m using Unix text utilities, SQL and R processing in a o

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:08 pm with sun having an altitude of 28.6° from the due south horizon (-42.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:18 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (238°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (245°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:00 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 12 seconds with dusk around 5:30 pm, which is one minute and 17 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:05 pm. At sunset, look for cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 48 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 7 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have patchy fog before 7pm. Otherwise, cloudy ☁, with a low of 35 degrees at 5am. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 10th. North wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. The record low of -23 occurred back in 1994.

Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 41 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 3rd. North wind around 6 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light snow by afternoon. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1974. 9.3 inches of snow fell back in 1963.❄

Looking ahead to Sunday, rain and snow, becoming all snow after 4pm. 🌨️ High near 35. North wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.

As previously noted, next Friday is Ground Hog Day 🐻 when the sun will be setting at 5:10 pm with dusk at 5:39 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 36 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 1981.

They call it the coldest time of year for good reason 🌬

That said, it’s only expected to last for a few more days. But expect high heating bills and bone-chilling cold outside for a few more days before things warm up a bit and turn to rain for the second half of the week.

Good morning! Clear and 9 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Breezy, ️20 mph breeze from the northwest 🌬 with gusts up to 36 mph 💨💨💨. The current wind chill is -10. There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 2 pm. 🌡️

I can remember colder days, in years past, 🌡 but it’s been such a warm winter with El Nino and warming climate, I’m not used to feeling the cold or having the hit running so much. The electric blanket is nice and actually with the cold and heat running more, it seems warmer inside.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 21 degrees at 2pm. 11 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -10 at 6am. Blustery, with a northwest wind 15 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 2006. 7.2 inches of snow fell back in 1990.❄

Yesterday was much less of an ambitious then maybe I had first hoped 😴 though a lot of it was the cold and wind kept me indoors. I just get chilled through much quicker these days then I used to when I was younger. I also have only a 1/4 tank of gas left in my truck and 100 miles of fuel left ⛽ and want to make it through another week before fueling up again. But I had plans, but they were never implemented yesterday. Truth is after I got shopping, I got studying the GNU coreutils and especially the text-editing functions to help advance my new career at work, then it was cold and I decided to hide under the covers and take a nap after having a big pot of pea soup with stewing beef and carrots. 🥘

I did get Walmart and stocked up on $140 on groceries. 🛒 The $80 in groceries I bought last week really didn’t go that far and I didn’t want to risk running out this week before the end of the week. When I run out of fresh fruit and vegetables, 🥦 🍏 I too often find myself reaching for other sweets 🍬 and sugars — or for that matter carbs. The best thing to do is make sure my pantry is well stocked and remains stocked. Unlike many people, I’ve not had problems with things going bad — I eat plenty 😋 and a large portion of fruits and vegetables I buy are frozen.

I don’t necessarily buy that fresh fruits and vegetables are healthier or better then flash-frozen, the later are significantly more affordable. 🍓 The thing is I am running low on freezer space. Some due to how much ice blocks I have in freezer for camping 🧊 — which truth be told I don’t need right now but I keep there for thermal mass or in case of power loss. But I figure if I use them up some older, maybe less healthy stuff, then it will save money and provide good eats. With inflation, every little bit helps. 💸 Sounds silly but it’s true.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:07 pm with sun having an altitude of 27.4° from the due south horizon (-43.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:11 pm with the sun in the southwest (236°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (243°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:54 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 15 seconds with dusk around 5:24 pm, which is one minute and 15 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east (92°) at an altitude of 44° from the horizon, 239,204 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:59 pm. At sunset, look for sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 20 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 6. ☃️ There will be a northwest breeze at 15 mph with gusts up to 25mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 39 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 57 seconds over today.

This afternoon I am heading out to the folks house for Sunday dinner. 👪 I want to hike Bennett Hill this afternoon 💨 but every time I hear the wind gust up, my mind is changed. Maybe it’s best to just stay home and work on some various projects before going out to see the folks. Tomorrow will be warmer, I can go for a bike ride before work 🚲 or at least walk laps in the plaza before work. 🏃 And maybe an evening walk tonight, as the wind will hopefully die down this evening. Or at least tomorrow, though the rest of the week may be hard with rain coming in.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 11 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 5 at 6pm; Northwest wind 6 to 11 mph becoming light west after midnight. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1984.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 when the sun will be setting at 5:22 pm with dusk at 5:50 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 38 and 23 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1981.

The first snowy Sunday of winter 2024! ☃

Winter has arrived though it’s not the dire emergency the weather pundets made it sound yesterday. A few inches of fresh snow, landlord hasn’t plowed the driveway yet but it’s not deep. Even the library is expected to open later on, though with an hour delay due to the snow.

Good morning! Happy Snowy Sunday. Snow is falling and 30 degrees at the in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a north breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. There are 4 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 10 am. 🌡️

While I was up I stayed in bed 🛏 until nearly seven this morning 🍳 when I started my day frying an onion and ultimately spinach and eggs. I’m planning a quiet day at home to do some reading 📖 and studying.

Today will snow, mainly before 5pm. 🌨 High of 30 degrees at 9am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical North wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 56 was set in 1915. 7.2 inches of snow fell back in 1994.❄

Went to the laundromat 👕 and the grocery store yesterday 🛒 after the snow started 🌨 but the laundromat was still surprisingly crowded and Hannaford was so picked over and no bananas. 🍌 It’s kind of frustrating 😤 as I really like bananas. Also no whole wheat flour 🌾 and the coffee ☕ they had was really pricey.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 25° from the due south horizon (-45.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:53 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:38 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 5:09 pm, which is one minute later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:45 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 29 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 15 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 8 seconds over yesterday.

Thinking it’s a cold day and would be good for soup. 🥘 It would be good to use up the rest fresh spinach I have in the soup before it wilts and it’s a great way to warm myself up. Also thinking about using some of the corn meal I bought to make corn porridge for lunch. I still have some bread 🍞 but I should think about kneading some dough up for baking tomorrow morning. We’ll see.

I think there is too much snow for biking 🚳 and my skis ⛷️ are broke but I might go for a walk later 🚶 and maybe go down to the library. 📚 Also want to clean the bathroom 🚽 and kitchen. 🧼 And just have a quiet day, maybe work on the blog code.

Tonight will have isolated snow showers before 10pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 24 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 8th. Maximum wind chill around 14 at 4am; Northwest wind 5 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1878.

Looking ahead, there are next week is the Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 when the sun will be setting at 4:55 pm with dusk at 5:24 pm. On that day in 2023, we had snow showers, cloudy and temperatures between 33 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2006.

Hoping to get out of town for Martin Luther King Day Weekend ⛺ but I’m not how good the weather will be. ☔ It’s actually looking like rain for next Saturday then seasonably cold.

Places I Camped in 2023

While this year was a rainy one, and it rained during many of my trips, I was able to get out for 53 nights in the wilderness — mostly fairly close to home but I also did a trip down to West Virginia in late October with several trips to the Adirondacks, Central New York and summer vacation in the Finger Lakes.

Martin Luther Kings Day – January 14-16 (2 nights)

To start out my camping adventures in 2023, I drove out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. There wasn’t a lot of snow — just a dusting but it was a fun weekend, topped off by a beautiful sun-full glittery hike up Tassell Hill after a hoar frost. Explored Lost Pond and several of the trails in the middle of state forest.

40th Birthday – January 27-29 (2 nights)

For my fortieth birthday, I took off the Friday leading up to my 40th birthday to cross country ski and winter camp at Rensselaerville State Forest. It was a beautiful weekend with lots of blue skies, sufficient snow for skiing but not so much that was a ton of snowmobiles out on the trails.

Presidents Day – February 17-19 (2 nights)

I decided for Presidents Day Weekend to do another trip out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. Slightly more snow then last time but again largely a snow-less winter, with some nice days for hikes through the various truck and horse trails. I hiked around much of state forest, especially the more southern part of the forest.

Easter Weekend – April 7-9 (2 nights)

On Good Friday through Easter I camped at at Rensselaerville State Forest. The snow was gone and it was fairly mild though at times it was a bit cool. Spent a fair amount of time walking around and exploring the new OSI Parcel that has been recently added to state forest and is still largely open fields with sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains.

Duck Pond Trip – May 5-7 (2 nights)

The first Friday in May I took a half day from work and headed out to Schoharie County to camp at Duck Pond at Burnt-Rossman Hills State Forest. Originally the plan was to camp two nights at Duck Pond, hiking along the Long Path and exploring the state forest and then on Sunday hiking the Catskill Scenic Trail. That part of the trip changed when driving along Duck Pond Road the low tire pressure light came on I found a pallet nail in my truck tire. I was able to top off the truck tire and then change the tire when I got home and got the nail pulled and plugged. But it wasn’t the best way ever to end a trip early.

Overnight at Cole Hill – May 13-14 (1 night)

After visiting the folks on Mother’s Day Weekend, I decided to do a quick overnight hammock camp on Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. Nothing fancy or formal, it was as much a way to test out sleeping in my hammock with the bug screen. Kind of a chilly night, I took camp down fairly and headed home early in the morning.

Memorial Day Weekend at Cole Hill – May 20-22 (2 nights)

This year I decided to eschew the Adirondacks and Greene Mountains for Memorial Day Weekend due to the black flies, my desire to look at bicycles, and work I had to do on the Saturday morning leading up to the holiday weekend. I decided to hammock camp again Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. This was a three-day two night trip, so it it gave me a chance to bring more gear up the mountain, set up a more formal camp. Cooked on the fire, hiked around the forest. It was a warm weekend, but I enjoy the solitude, along with having good cell service for listening to podcasts and watching videos.

Juneteenth Weekend on Piseco-Powley – June 15-20 (4 nights)

To kick off summer, I did my usual Juneteenth weekend camping trip, tacking on some days on the Juneteenth Holiday Weekend. It was a bit of a cool and rainy weekend to kick off summer, one that would actually be followed by many cool and rainy weekends where I would stay home. Camped at House Pond for the first three nights, spending time down floating in the tube on East Branch while the final night I camped up at Powley Bridge site and kayaked along the East Branch. Really, like often is the case, the best weather was the day I took down camp.

Catskill Scenic Trail Trip – July 22-24 (3 nights)

After several months of researching and visiting various bike shops, I finally got a mountain bike. I decided it would be fun to do as much of the Catskill Scenic Trail as I could before my summer vacation got underway. Actually did quite a bit of riding and hiking that weekend — started out hiking Pratts Rock’s then riding from Grand George to Hobart. Sunday, I rode from Fultonham to Middleburgh on NY 30, doing a quick climb up Vromans Nose, then stopping at the farm market then going to Mine Kill State Park to swim. Monday I rode from Hobart down to Bloomville, getting caught in a major thunderstorm and downpour a few miles north of Bloomville with no shelter in sight. The trail became super boggy, then I went to Mine Kill State Park for one more swim, and then out to folks house for Sunday dinner a day later then usual.

Finger Lakes National Forest – July 28 – August 6 (9 nights)

Every year for nearly a decade and a half I’ve been doing summer vacation out in the Finger Lakes — camping in the National Forest and exploring as much as possible during my days there. The past few years I’ve been driving there on a Friday, to get a better campsite before they’re taken by the weekend campers. This year was no exception. With Blackie, my mountain bike, I did nearly all of the bike trails in the near vicinity, from the Black Diamond Trail to the Cayuta Valley Trail to Dresden – Penn Yan Canal Trail. Kayaked on both Cayuga and Scenic Lakes, swam many days at Watkins Glen State Park and Taughannock State Park, explored the Cornell Campus and Botanical Gardens on my bike. Got some good ice cream at the Spotted Duck, explored the Geneva Waterfront along with the Cayuga-Seneca Canalway. Some rain but compared to the wet summer that was, this was a pretty good week.

Piseco-Powley – House Pond Campsite – August 18-20 (3 nights)

The next few weeks for rainy and by the time I got away for one more long weekend, it promised to be fairly nice weekend but turned out to be fairly cool and cloudy with some rain. Back at the House Pond Campsite, did some swimming in East Branch, but with the mercury in the 60s most of the weekend, I didn’t spend a lot of time in the water. Hardly what I had dreamed when the I planned the weekend. Rode Blackie up to Goldmine Stream Falls and relaxed down by the falls for a bit, also sat down by the swimming hole off of the Old Edick Road Snowmobile Trail, watching the rain fall, bemoaning the wet and cold weather. Still it was good to get away for a bit, and I did do a fair amount of reading in hammock, under the protection of the bug net, as the bugs were bad after such a wet summer.

Labor Day at Perkins Clearing – September 1-4 (3 nights)

I took the Friday off before Labor Day to get a jump on the holiday season travel, and set up camp at the site I really enjoy up at Perkins Clearing overlooking the mountains. Did a fair amount of riding along the various dirt roads of Perkins Clearing, including over to Mason Lake and on Sunday rode most of the way to the Spruce Lake Trailhead, though didn’t make it there in time as I got a bit of a late start as I spent the balance of the day reading and swimming in the Jessup River Bridge swimming hole. Labor Day, I rode around the Spectulator Tree Farm, doing a large loop, through the tree farm, past the north end of Elm Lake, then down to Austin Falls and Old Route 8B. I had hoped to get ice cream, but by the time I got to the ice cream shop they were out of soft-ice cream, and there was a long line. Summer was dragging to a close.

September Trip to Rensselearville State Forest – September 15-17 (2 nights)

With time being fairly tight and the weather only so-so I decided to do a two night trip close to home out in Rennselearville to ride some of the gravel trails, explore the OSI Parcel further and just enjoy an early autumn weekend camping.

Columbus Day at Rensselearville State Forest – October 8-9 (1 night)

Columbus Day Weekend was cold and rainy for the first half of the weekend, but the Sunday heading into Columbus Day was nice, so I decided to head out to Rensselaerville for a quick overnight at the campsite on CCC Road. Leaves were late this year, so not a lot of color, but it still was nice to get away for a night and ride some of the trails around.

West Virginia Trip – October 21-29 (8 nights)

The banner trip of the year was my trip down to West Virigina. While it started and ended in rain, it was a very enjoyable trip with lots of new adventures this year. Camped the balance of the week — 6 nights in Canaan Heights — doing day trips from that area. Overnighted one night driving down at County Bridge Campground in Pennsylvania, and a on the way back camped overnight at Long Pond State Forest in New York. Adventures in West Virginia included hiking at Dolly Sods, mountain biking at night in the sods of Canaan Heights, riding up and hiking to Table Rock, exploring Blackwater Falls State Park on the mountain bike, MonPower Mountain Bike Park, Thomas Rail Grade and the Olson Firetower. Rode part of the Great Allegheny Trail through the Cumberland Passage, and the two sections of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canalway, including the Paw Paw Tunnel.

Stoney Pond – November 4-7 (3 nights)

A little over a week back from West Virginia, I headed out to Madison County to ride the Tassel Hill Mountain Bike Trails at Alfred Woodford, the Chenango Canal Trail in Hamilton and Erie Canalway from Chittenango to Green Lakes State Park and then to Canastota and Wampsville. The first night was cold at Stoney Pond but the subsequent nights were quite pleasant and mild.

Prospect Mountain – East Branch Sacanadaga – Buttermilk Falls/Hudson Special Management Area – November 24-28 (3 nights)

Strangely enough, I had never been up Prospect Mountain. So I decided the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) to hike up Prospect Mountain, and then spend the next two nights camping on East Branch of the Sacandaga River. The Saturday and Sunday was fairly cold, so I ended up spending the bulk of day hanging around camp, doing a bit of hiking around Fox Lair. Sunday, evening around 8 PM it started to sleet, then snow, then rain, Monday morning, it turned into a white globby snow, and I ended up taking down camp fairly early after discovering I was out of propane and then spent much of the day exploring the Hudson River Special Management Area – Buttermilk Falls.

Stoney Pond – Charles Baker – December 21-26 (5 nights)

On the days leading up to Christmas I decided to take a second trip to Madison County. I was originally planning to camp two nights at Stoney Pond then two nights at the Charles Baker Horse Camp but my family’s holiday plans were cancelled due to illness in my family, so I ended up staying an extra night at the horse camp, through the day after Christmas. On Friday, I rode the Erie Canalway from Canastota to East Verona, nearly to Rome. On Christmas Day I rode around many of truck trails at Charles Baker with my mountain bike, leaving my face splattered with mud. Many of the days were fairly cold and cloudy, but that’s too be expected in late December. Still it was a special way to spend Christmas.

Final Day of 2023

Made it to the end of year. Kind of a cloudy, gray, cool day to end out the year — certainly not the best day to be out doing outdoor activities, especially with the breeze and gray skies. Maybe it’s best that my planed camping trip didn’t work out after all.

I was originally planning to be out camping today, but when I got up to camp 🏕 the campsite was taken and everything up at Rensselaerville State Forest was a complete mosh pit, after all the rain we’ve had and above normal temperatures. I poked around the state forest for a while, thought about pitching a tent, but I would be setting up in the mud, and the other campsite — Campsite 3 was a mess because they’ve been logging off CCC Road. I think that red clay is as slick and muddy as I can remember due to it being such a mild, ice free winter. Maybe that black powder guy parked in the campsite did me a favor. I don’t think he was camping, though it seemed like he swapped off that site with another person, which makes me think maybe he had his stand up there and wanted to reserve the site. I’m not that heart broken 💔 about not camping this weekend. I might be back for Martin Luther King Day Weekend, ❄️ which believe it or not is only two weekend away this point. I’m hoping it will be cold enough at that point that I won’t be dealing with all that mud and slop. Some snow would be nice, and most of the big hunting seasons are done 🔫 though trapping is open and as small game.

Back to the table format on the weather, as my blog’s weather template always seems to break for the last day of the year. 🌆 There is a one-day-a-year bug which I should fix but it happens only once in 365 days. I didn’t blog yesterday, at least with a status update as I got a bit of a late start, and was planning to do it up by camp which didn’t happen. Instead, I came home, unpacked my gear 🎒 which didn’t take long as nothing was disorganized or dirty, made some lunch and spent the balance of the day reading and studying my machine learning course. 🤖 This morning I finished up the Udemy Neural Nwtworks for R course and started one on Support Vector Classification for R. 💭 I’ve been thinking I should also do some machine learning courses on Python so I get a full knowledge and various platforms. 👩‍💻 I’m not opposed to Python though I tend to use R more then Python.

Today for exercise 🚲 I think I’m going to ride out to Voorheesville 🚂 and maybe stop at Hannaford out there to get some baker’s vanilla which I like in my coffee and warm milk at the end of day, plus also some more apple cider vinger which I like in my glass of warm milk at the end of day.. That said, I’m still cringing after spending $200 at the grocery store on Friday, though fortunately I got paid early — I couldn’t believe I got my first 2024 pay check on Friday, when the official pay day is next Wednesday, January 3rd. Paychecks have been coming earlier and earlier, often on Monday mornings, and I know New Years Day or Monday is a holiday, but I just assumed the money would come in on Tuesday. 💵 It’s good though as I paid rent on Friday, 🏘 and I’ve been concerned about having the minimum in bank account.

I guess this sort of makes December, rather then January a three paycheck month, but as long as I keep things coming in and out consistently, I’m good. I just ended up buying a lot groceries, in part for camping but also there was a lot of things I wanted to keep my pantry stocked. That said, it should cut back on what I need in future weeks, as most of the more expensive things I stocked up are the kind of things that should last for a while. I don’t waste food, if things start to go bad, I cut off the bad parts and eat that first. 🍎 But I generally prefer frozen and vegatables, and aren’t afraid to use my freezer.

My parents have continued to be sick on and off 😣 so I’ve not been able to visit them in the few weeks 👪 and I’m not totally sure if we are going to do a get together for New Years Day, 🎆 though we’ve been talking about doing a holiday celebration 🎄 getting together next week for Mom’s birthday with my sister, niece and in-laws, assuming everybody is feeling better by then and the weather is good.

As you will note below, going to be a mild week to start out January, and we are definitely starting to pick up more daylight at end of each day.

This Afternoon. Feels like … December 18th.	Mostly cloudy. Northwest wind around 8 mph. and	37 degrees	,	4:33 sunset.
Tonight. Feels like … December 3rd.	A slight chance of snow showers between 10pm and 4am. Mostly cloudy. Northwest wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. and	26 degrees	,	7:23 sunrise.
New Year’s Day. Feels like … December 22nd.	Mostly cloudy. North wind 3 to 6 mph. and	36 degrees	,	4:33 sunset.
Monday Night. Feels like … December 10th.	Mostly clear. Northwest wind 6 to 8 mph. and	24 degrees	,	7:23 sunrise.
Tuesday. Feels like … December 9th.	Sunny. West wind 5 to 9 mph. and	40 degrees	,	4:34 sunset.
Tuesday Night. Feels like … November 30th.	Partly cloudy. and	27 degrees	,	7:23 sunrise.
Wednesday. Feels like … December 6th.	Mostly cloudy. and	41 degrees	,	4:35 sunset.
Wednesday Night. Feels like … November 23rd.	Mostly cloudy. and	29 degrees	,	7:23 sunrise.
Thursday. Feels like … December 18th.	A chance of snow before 10am, then a chance of rain and snow between 10am and 4pm, then a chance of snow after 4pm. Mostly cloudy. Chance of precipitation is 30%. and	37 degrees	,	4:36 sunset.
Thursday Night. Feels like … December 21st.	Mostly cloudy. and	21 degrees	, 9 max wind chill,	7:23 sunrise.
Friday. Feels like … January 5th.	Mostly sunny. and	33 degrees	, 9 max wind chill,	4:37 sunset.
Friday Night. Feels like … December 17th.	Partly cloudy. and	22 degrees	, 11 max wind chill,	7:23 sunrise.
Saturday. Feels like … December 31st.	Partly sunny. and	34 degrees	, 11 max wind chill,	4:38 sunset.