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Low Voltage Disconnect – Key to Maintaining A Happy Battery

I’ve discovered that adding the low voltage battery disconnect (LVD) is key for maintaining a happy and healthy accessory battery in my truck. Previously, the accessory battery was electrically isolated from the starting battery, which allowed me to run down the battery without worrying about getting started, but nothing protected the accessory battery from overdischarge. Dropping a rechargeable battery’s levels down too low means the chemistry is irreversibly changed and the plates have sulfur collecting on them, which limits the ability to recharge. The alternator also has work much harder and longer to recharge a totally dead battery compared to one that is discharged to a safe level of only 50% charge. Battery life is much longer when you don’t overdischarge the battery, so that 50% consumed, actually can be longer then 80-90% consumed after a few deep discharges. A good deep cycle battery should be able to go into the 75% range safely, but why risk damage when one can disconnect it at a higher voltage? Moreover, you have to leave a bit of battery voltage above the danger range, to keep the low voltage disconnect powered, even though it only uses about 70 milliamp (which can add up over time).

A low voltage disconnect is a combination of a electronic device and electro-mechanical relay that monitors system voltage, and if voltage drops below a certain level for a period of time, the relay opens to disconnect the load from the battery. This keeps the battery from overdischarging. On my truck, I use a BlueSeas 60-amp LVD ($50 on Amazon), which was a nice integrated unit that has both the voltage monitoring circuitry and a 60-amp relay built into the unit, and come with a wired remote for overriding the system or changing the targeted voltage. Read the instructions carefully on wiring the remote – they are a bit confusing. I have the remote hooked up, but I have yet to use it. There are other models out there, but most of them have a separate disconnect controller and relay, and aren’t as elegant.

The low voltage disconnect on my truck is always monitoring the voltage of the accessory battery. As long as the voltage is at 12.1 volts or higher, the relay (switch) inside it remains closed and supplies power to my truck cap lights, inverter, CB radio, dash camera, and all other accessory loads I have connected to it. When the voltage drops to 12.0 volts for more then 30 seconds (a delay to avoid disconnects on temporary high start-up loads of inductive loads like electric motors or the starting of the inverter), the relay opens, disconnecting the load. This means that the lights in the truck cap, inverter and all accessory loads are disconnected. That can plunge you in the darkness, but it also spares the accessory battery. You can always hit the door unlock button, or hop in the truck, and have interior light to get the truck started again.

The low voltage disconnect is constantly polling the battery voltage. When you start the truck up, after 30 seconds of voltage over 13.5 volts, the load is automatically reconnected to the battery, automatically reseting the inverter, turning back on the lights, and other load you have connected. The delay in reconnecting the load is good for the alternator, because it gives it a chance to start recharging the low voltage – a high amperage drain – before you put even more load on it from the accessories.

Prior to the installation of the low voltage disconnect, I relied on both the inverter faulting out for low voltage, and keeping an eye on the battery voltage to know when I should recharge things. But that was a hardly a perfect solution. The inverter wouldn’t raise a fault until 11.8 volts or so, which is closer to 75-80% discharge, and would beep but allow the battery voltage to fall well into the danger range for low voltage, before finally disconnecting. Other loads wouldn’t be disconnected at all. The inverter would chirp and beep when the battery voltage was low – a rather annoying alarm – and require a full reset by reaching down and turning the power switch on an off. Left parked for an extended period of time, sometimes predatory loads from the various USB ports and other minor electronics would discharge the accessory battery below a safe level. It was far from an ideal situation.

The low voltage disconnect does it’s job, silently. It disconnects the load when the battery voltage is low, without any further prompting or annoying beeps or alarms. It reconnects the load when the engine is powered back up and the battery charge is at a safe level once again. It works without fiddling with it or monitoring the voltage yourself. It’s a good safety measure that I would recommend for any rechargable battery-powered application.

April 23, 2017 Afternoon

Good afternoon! Sunny and 58 degrees in Wells. There is a southwest breeze at 5 mph. Definitely a really nice afternoon after a fairly cold and wet weekend at the Adirondacks. I hate it when the best weather is the time your going home but still it was a pretty nice somewhat extended weekend in the Adirondacks.

This afternoon will be sunny, with a high of 64 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees above normal. West wind 5 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies and a high of 64 degrees. The record high of 87 was set in 2007. 2.4 inches of snow fell back in 1956. Goblers and the birds are definitely enjoying the nice weather.

The sun will set at 7:50 pm with dusk around 8:21 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 13 hours and 50 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday. By Wednesday we will be up to 14 hours of daylight. Not bad. But the sun sure seems to rise early.

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 37 degrees at 4am. Three degrees below normal. West wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2016, it got down to 35 degrees under partly clear skies. The record low of 25 occurred back in 1965.

Looking ahead for all you mothers (pun intended), there are 3 weeks until Mother’s Day when the sun will be setting at 8:14 pm with dusk at 8:47 pm. On that day in 2016, we had fog, rain and temperatures between 73 and 46 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 69 degrees. We hit a record high of 93 back in 1900.

This past weekend I camped at one of the campsites down the road Fox Lair on NY 8. Same campsite that I previously camped in many times before. This campsite is nice because it’s an old homesite that is well drained and gravel with high dirt berm and a mountain on one side which is good for safe shooting. My shoulder is a bit sore from the recoil. I didn’t damage state property. Anything not fully burnt to a crisp was packed out. This campsite is protected from the wind, especially compared to the beautiful but often windy Fox Lair campsite.

Camping at NY 8 us great off season but it’s hardly wilderness camping with semi trucks roaring up the start of the hill leading up to Eleventh Mountain. I don’t mind the noise but especially on Friday night there were trucks rumbling along all night. The campsite is above and well screened from the road but still the noise of cars and trucks in passing gear echoing in the valley. A lot of folks with their big diesel pickups were towing their campers up to camp. A loggers hauling logs to the mill in Ticonderoga from Perkins Clearing. Saw a bunch of folks scoping out turkey for spring turkey which starts two weeks from Monday. I certainly heard and saw gobblers up at camp. They’ve done pretty good in this portion of the Adirondacks.

I cannot lie the first half of the weekend was pretty cold. Today with the sun out is much warmer but for the first half of the weekend camping it was on and off rain with clouds and temperatures around 40. Pretty much what you would expect for the Adirondacks for late April. Spring doesn’t come to the Adirondacks until about May 15th. There still was snow and ice in the campsite. Spring peepers were out though on Saturday night and especially once the wind went quiet. Indeed the stars were great once the sky cleared. Sometimes as the weather gets progressively better on your trip you get to have more warm and fuzzy memories of it.

Really nice how much longer the days have gotten. It was nearly 8:30 and it wasn’t pitch black where I was camping in the Adirondacks. True evidence that summer is coming. While the only evidence of spring in the Adirondacks was the rapidly melting snow. Only five weeks until Memorial Day Weekend when Moose River Plains will open. That said this year again I’m thinking about going back up to Vermont for Memorial Day Weekend. We’ll see. I’m sure in the summer I’ll head up to Moose River.

It was rainy on Friday although not a heavy rain most of the time. Once I got the tarp up and got a smokey campfire I was good to go. I was able to coax the heater up which kept my chair toasty but I am having trouble with the quick connect hose and I may have to replace that. I am probably just going to go the route of the conventional LP hose and the replaceable filter modules. I don’t like the idea of disposable filters but I rather have them then a more expensive plugged regulator. It tough keeping the LP hoses which get greasy in cold weather from condensation and the mud and dirt from camping. The heater didn’t work on the hose at all on Saturday. I could run the heater off a 1 lb disposable bottle but I don’t like refilling them because of the scary warning printed on the bottle and because honestly I’ve never had much luck refilling them anywhere near capacity.

Saturday wasn’t quite as rainy but it still was pretty cloudy. As planned I drove down to Garnet Lake and went for a walk along the shoreline then out fishing on Mill Creek. Didn’t catch anything but it’s possible that the DEC hasn’t stocked it yet for the year. They say on their website that it’s stocked for trout and there are many access points but I didn’t have no luck. Beautiful area though and I was able to top off my batteries in the truck driving down there.

Sitting back in the woods last night next to the campfire I was listening to Glen Campbell’s Galveston and thinking about how much fun the good ole days most have been in the Adirondacks. But then I remember back then I would have never had the lights and pickup truck camping would have been a much different experience. I certainly wouldn’t be listening to Glen Campbell through my smartphone played through the Bluetooth Speaker.

Sunday morning to start out was very cold, there was ice on the windows of my truck cap. I could have really used the heater this morning. Ended up getting out of bed to take shit in the bucket, and then quickly heading back to the truck for a few more hours of sleep. When I woke up, lots of much desired blue skies and by breakfast time it warmed up a lot.

The gobblers are definitely out there all horney and impregnating then the hens. I saw a hen crossing the road yesterday and I awoke to gobble, gobble. The spring peepers are put and making a lot of chirping noise this morning. It really is a great day.

I had a slow breakfast and broke camp and after packing up discovered my day pack was left home, so without my water jug and backpack I decided to skip my planned hike at Moreau Lake State Park in favor of a short hike to Auger Falls. I stopped at Wells but decided I was running late, so I skipped fishing for the day. I’ll be back to hit up the Sacandaga River later in the spring time.

Auger Falls was really raging. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much water running over it. But then again it’s spring, the snow is still melting and we’ve had a lot of rain over the past few days. I also hiked along the river all the way up to the flatwater. Despite all the rain the trails up there weren’t too muddy as the ground is still frozen. Maybe it worked out better hiking here then going up Moreau Lake overlook. Plus I get to avoid driving the Adirondack Northway which I hate driving with a passion especially with all the speeding Sunday traffic.

Went to the library and got out several books to read but I never ended up opening them. It was kind of cold so I was either huddled over the fire or moving around in part to remain warm. I had a lot of podcasts to sit and listen to so between that and listening to NPR that occupied the time. I really enjoy listening to podcasts next to the campfire. And the nice thing is they are all on my phone and they play wireless to my Bluetooth speaker which is waterproof and can play 20 plus hours without needing a charge. I just plug it into one of USB ports in my truck at night to keep it charged.

The new accessory battery has amazing run time and I don’t have to worry about over discharge as the loads are automatically shed at below 12.1 volts, not that I’ve ever gotten it that low with the new battery. I expect a long life with good runtime with this battery as it was a step up from what I had and the low voltage disconnect is preventing abuse. It’s nice not having to monitor the voltage or hear the chirp of the inverter sensing low voltage.

It is nice getting back out camping but I can’t wait until it gets warmer. I mean I could skip black fly season but I just hate having to be so bundled up. I know if you camp in the woods away from the swamps you can avoid the worse of the black flies. I miss the Potholers and Pisceo Powely Road. Those warm summer nights at Powely Bridge can’t be far away.

As much as horrifies my liberal friends I do love my Gadsden flag. You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to own my own Don’t Tread on Me Flag but was too embarrassed to spend the $8 to buy it. I mean I’m a life long liberal Democrat who loves guns and all things fire, but I also think government is too much in our lives. I’ve flirted with the Tea Party because I love the Man (lol!) and his aerial highway patrols as much as the next person, but I also think that Obamacare has helped a lot of people even if I think that the subsidies should have been a lot more generous for middle class families. Why can’t government help people get healthcare and an affordable college education without spying on our emails or beating up on the farmers just trying to do their jobs? Animal rights and environmental extremists have gotten much too much control in our society today. Not every acre of land should be declared wilderness. We can have public lands with great backcountry camping and trails but also have logging. I believe we can have a government that works for the people and promote the common good without treading on people’s rights.

I have lots of great photos and videos to upload this week. Stay tuned for more! Movies are going to be a big part of the blog going forward.

Enjoy this beautiful day! I’m on my way back to the cesspool, aka Albany. But I’m sure I’ll be back to the Adirondacks sooner than later. Big summer ahead!

August 30, 2016 8 AM Update

A pretty nice morning and I got an early enough of a start to walk down to the express bus stop. It’s good to get a little exercise and soak in some rays before I get stuck in the office all day. Plus the express bus is much more scenic. I’m glad they at least retained the earlier bus.

To add to my list of things to do on Saturday, I plan to install a switch for the CB radio and run a power line to power the new mini-amp I bought to boost the currently muffled output of the PA speaker on my truck. I also got to get the dash cam mounted. I also have to fix one of the lights in the truck cap (again), and do the oil change. I should also get a hair cut. I need to do some cleaning around the apartment.

After that though I think I will be good to go out to Schoharie County for wilderness camping, assuming the weather holds out. I’ve picked out the general area where I want to camp, and while I’ve never walked the land, I’ve driven it and studied the arterial photos. I think it will work well. Sunday I will hike and swim at Mine Kill State Park, and plan to return home fairly early on Labor Day.

July 19, 2015 update

Today is hazy, hot and humid. Probably pushing the upper 70s to mid 80s here in the Western Adirondacks but likely to reach 90 plus in the city for the first time in two years. They talk a lot about global warming but it seems like New York has been in a cold spell the past few years. The west coast, however is baking.

I’m sure that it will be as hot as hell when I get back to Albany, which is why I hung out at the Potholers as long as possible, and still have a reasonable amount of time to get home and unpack in the blazing heat.

Friday night I drove up to camp in what was mix of showers and cloudy conditions. No heavy rain but enough to get the woods wet. Traffic however was bumper to bumper and slow all the way from Albany to Schenectady. I decided to come back to Piseco Powley Road this weekend primarily because I thought I left a backpack along the banks of the East Canada Creek.

I only discovered that the backpack was missing on Tuesday, and while it didn’t have anything valuable in it except a set of keys, I still wanted to retrieve it if possible. Everything else in the backpack was of marginal value, closer to garbage and future carbon dioxide then useful products. I kind of cared about the keys, as those included a set of keys for my truck that are the chipped type, which might be expensive to replace – especially if the $25 Amazon uncut but chipped keys turned out not to pair correctly. I decided it wasn’t worth driving an hour and a half to go search for the keys after work, only to possibly turn around empty handed and drive back home empty handed in the dark. I figured at this point nobody going to bother the backpack within the two days until the weekend or if somebody finds it, they’ll call the forest ranger. I called the ranger to let him know of the lost backpack. Honestly, my biggest concern was a forest beast would drag and shred the backpack into the woods or waterwater, with the keys forever lost.

I found the backpack with the keys and now rotting food inside it. And a somewhat moldy version of American Hunter magazine with of course my home address on the cover. Missing were a crappy leaking compass, cigarette lighter and a beat up old Nalgene water bottle. I can’t imagine anyone would steal either… It may have fallen out some point in the weekend. The backpack was pretty much shot before it got left out with a broken zipper and fabric with holes. I’m taking the keys to my gun safe, truck cap, office and apartment off the second key ring I carry in my day pack for emergencies. Some day hopefully soon my gun safe might be worth robbing. And while I always carefully police my campsite when I leave for the weekend to ensure there is no scraps of litter, bungee cords or loss supplies, I’m now going to a make sure to double check I have my day pack and second set of keys with me. I didn’t catch the pack because it was by the water and not in the campsite.

The Powley Bridge site and other sites nearby were taken, so I decided to try out the campsite on top of the hill you climb the hill past Brayhouse Brook and the Potholers. I had never camped at this site and while I knew the driveway was a bit soft, the site is on a hill and well drained, so I figured it would be good in the rainy conditions expected for the evening.

As I started to get the site set up, it started to drizzle again, but the site had good trees for hanging the tarp. I hung it up and got the table set up and quickly got a fire started using some nice Stewarts kiln dries firewood and burnable garbage I brought from home. Got the lights wired up and made hot dogs up with all the fixings. Good dinner. The drizzle on the tarp didn’t seem to bother me or the campfire much. Stayed up until 11:30 p.m. All and all a pleasant ending to a tough work week.

Wet and humid are the best way to describe the conditions on Saturday morning. While wet and humid are vastly better conditions in the woods then pouring rain and cold and wet, they are hardly ideal for camping. Everything gets wet just from the dampness, even if it’s not raining much. By about 2 PM it started to clear a bit.

Did some target shooting for a while, and some reading Saturday afternoon. Once the sun came out and the humidity creeped up, started getting a bit warm. Mosquitoes and those gosh darn horse flies started biting, and I had to get the DEET out. Freaking Westchester ammo seems to jam more. Maybe I just need to clean and lubricate my shotgun more. I do want to get some kind of rimfire rifle that’s cheaper to shoot. Thinking about a 17 HMR, as unlike 22 ammo is seems to be usually in stock at Walmart, and can be had for 10 cent a round or $10 for 100. Went down to the Potholers for about an hour, took some pictures with my waterproof case. Seemed to do the job, even if all the case is a heavy vinyl zip lock bag with a heavier sealing mechanism. It was $12 to keep my $40 smartphone dry.

Cooked up these super delicious BBQ flavor chicken breasts and rice for dinner. The smell of the breasts was so delicious, I could have almost eaten them raw. Once they were cooked, they were as amazing as they smelled. Shoprite did an amazing job with the sauce. They weren’t particularly more expensive than regular breasts, although I probably could have bought some marinade and made up something similar in a zip lock bag.

I had a nice campfire the second night, but it wasn’t quite the same as the previous night, because I had burnt up most of the Stewart’s wood and in the summer heat was pretty lazy and didn’t gather up much wood. Still I perked up the fire, put on some podcasts and stayed up until 11:30.

The next morning was also pretty lazy, enjoying a nice breakfast, and listening to a podcast, slowly took apart camp, mostly hurrying with the tarp, too ensure I got it down and put away with the constant threat of thunderstorms. None really happened, and things were good. Did some more target practice, finished off the coffee.

As I write this post, I’m down at the Potholers on this hot summer day. The water is refreshing. There really is no place I’d rather be with such warm weather. Ran into somebody from Westerlo down there, taking a family vacation up here. Can’t beat this weather for the Potholers.

This is the lazy weekend that was. Sometimes it nice to get away in the heat and just hang in the water. Back to Albany now, more photos later.

Started looking at solar power for camping

For some time now, I’ve wanted to learn more about solar electricity. I have read books on it and know how it works in principal, but I have basically no first hand experience as it comes to solar power. At the same time, my electrical load is growing on my truck when camping, especially once I install the CB radio installed in my truck.

Why I Am Thinking Of Going Solar

I hate having to turn on the truck to charge the battery every couple hours, especially when I am sticking around a campsite all day rather then traveling. With higher gas prices this year, due to being an election year, I am thinking of spending more time at a campsite – especially if I do more hunting and fishing this year.

Idling the truck works okay for creating electricity, especially in summer evenings when the darkness is short, and I’m usually not back to camp until 8 or 9 PM. But sometimes when I am hanging out in camp – especially in the morning – it’s a pain to have to start the engine up and listen to the racket it makes, in the quiet of the woods. A solar cell would start charging the battery as soon as the sun rises, and by the time I awoke, the deep-cycle would probably be almost fully charged.

I worry about idling my truck a lot too. Car and truck engines are not designed to idle at a set speed for long periods of time. While engines are a lot better then years past, I’ve always felt it puts a lot of strain on the engine doing this. That said, I had my previous truck until it was 13 years old, and the engine ran fine. I got rid of it because I wanted a new full-size truck and the old one had increased mechanical costs from things like brakes and suspension parts that kept breaking down in the boonies.

I’ve started looking at solar panels, especially in the light of the fact that solar power has come down so much in price. They say it’s about $1 a watt, although for the most part the solar panels I’ve looked at are closer to $1.40-$1.50 a watt. Even at the $1.50 watt price it’s not unreasonable, as I’ve seen several 100 watt panels below $150.

Not only that, but the modern solar panels are mono-crystalline, so they more produce more electricity in less space. The 100-watt mono-crystalline panels I’ve seen have dimensions of roughly 3.5 feet by 2.5 ft. Pretty darn small, especially compared to the amount of energy they generate. Have you ever tried generating 100 watts riding on stationary bike? It’s a lot of work – despite the fact we use incredible amounts of fossil energy in our homes. Even if I get only 50-60 watts out of the panel, that’s still a 1/2 a kilowatt hour per day.

Storage box I am thinking of building to store my solar panel when not using it camping.

Why I Don’t Use Solar Power Right Now

I’ve pondered solar power on and off. I’ve thought about mounting solar panels on my truck cap, but generally have frowned on the expense and the cost-benefit ratio. The reality is idling my truck to charge up the accessory battery works fairly well, and is low cost compared to driving it there and back.

Most of my energy use is at night when I am at camp for the night, sitting by the campfire, listening to music, lighting up the flag, the decorative lights, and LED lamps for general camp lighting. The sun doesn’t shine at night, so I would still have to use the alternator and idle as the battery runs low. Finding direct sunlight sometimes can sometimes be challenging at campsites far back in the woods. That’s why you have to make sure you have enough wire of sufficient gauge to put a solar panel a far distance away. But at 8.5 amp of current, the wire size shouldn’t have to be enormous.

I also had concerns about mounting the solar panels on the roof of my truck, going through car washes or if trees brushed along the roof top of my soon to be jacked up truck. I also figured it would reduce my fuel economy by wind resistance, canceling out all benefit to mounting it on the roof.

But the main reason I put off going solar, was it just seemed like very little power for a lot of money. Spending like $200 bucks for 5-6 amps of power, didn’t seem like a good use of money, especially when the alternator puts out so much current. However, unlike an alternator the solar panel runs whenever the sun is up, while the alternator only spins when the engine is running – typically 10 minutes every 1.5-2.5 hours.

Solar panel prices have come down a lot lately, and while they produce a lot less electricity then a big gas engine that is running, they produce it all the time when the sun is shinning.

Replacing All My Camp Lighting Next Year with LEDs

Right now, my primary source of camp lighting is a set of two 100-watt equivalent florescent bulbs, hooked to my truck’s inverter. Due to the nature of camping, and because things often get wet or dropped, they really do not last very long, and frequently need replacing.

When they don’t get broken, I usually bring them home, and save them to the some day in the future when I return them for recycling. When they break — I don’t freak out — I usually just chuck them in the campfire, and pack out the glass and unburnt debris in the morning. I don’t really freak out about the mercury. But for environmental reasons, I would like to get away from mercury-based lighting, despite the relatively tiny amount of mercury in each bulb.

In recent years, I’ve been slow moving away florescent lighting whenever I can for camping. An early purchase of mine was LED Christmas light strings. The purpose of the Christmas lights was not so much for decoration — even though they’re pretty — but to provide a small amount of backlight to the campsite, so I don’t trip on things. A string of LED Christmas lights uses a fraction of the energy, even a smallish compact florescent uses.

This past year, I noticed that LED light bulbs have finally come down enough in price to reasonably affordable. I bought my first one this past July, a 40-watt equivalent bulb that uses only 7-watts of electricity, for a bright warm white lighting of my American flag. It not only seems quite durable and efficient, it always bright regardless of the temperature. It keeps the flag lit regardless of the weather.

With prices coming down even further, I bought a second LED bulb this fall for $10. It’s a 60-watt equivalent that uses only 10 watts of electricity. Best of all, even during the cold winter months, it works quite well. I wasn’t crazy about the heat shielding on the model I bought, but many of the newer ones lack the ugly heat shielding over the glass. Despite 15 degree temperatures, the 10 watt LED bulb kept things bright all night long.

LED lighting is the future. Fluorescent lighting not only contains mercury, it also uses more power and dims dramatically even under modest temperature drops. Florescent lighting is fine indoors, in relatively warm rooms. But it doesn’t work well outside, especially when camping, when air temperatures can 50 degrees or even lower in the even lower. Common fluorescent lamps dim in the cold, while LEDs shine their brightness, regardless of the cold.

Two years ago, when I bought my truck cap, I bought a series of LED strip lights to light up the cap. At the time, I had the choice between warm-color LEDs and cool-color LEDs. I bought the cool colored ones, as I thought they would look more neat in the truck cap. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with them since purchasing, and would consider having them as part of a future off-the-grid home.

What’s nice about LEDs is they are natively 12-volts, so they work well with batteries, solar-panels, and most renewable sources of energy. The onces I bought for my truck, required no transformer or adapter, as they worked on natively at that voltage. It’s also relatively easy to step down 120 volt AC power and run it through a diode to create 12 volts DC to run LED lamps. Most LED lights are natively dimmable with common thysor-based dimmers and require no ballast.

A decade ago, I toured an off-the-grid house in Clinton County. It was a neat home, and one of it’s best features was the use of 12-volt wiring for lighting. Rather then step up the voltage from the solar panels and batteries for lighting purposes, they chose to efficiently just use 12-volt DC lamps, mainly the relatively new LED bulbs and some halogens. They also had a large inverter to power 120-volt AC appliances and select number of florescent light bulbs.

I think LEDs are the future. I am sure after spending $10 a bulb to buy a third or fourth camp light, prices will come down even further, and I will look back and think what a waste of money.

Technological progress has meant LED bulbs are cheaper, more efficient, and work well in the cold outdoors conditions.

Weekend at Bear Springs Mountain, Delaware Wild Forest, Warren Highlands

Based on the forecast for the long weekend, I decided to head down to the Western Catskills rather then Moose River Plains. It certainly was a bit sunnier, drier, and less snowy then it looks like they got up at Moose Plains. I simply did not another Memorial Day Weekend at Moose Plains, sitting in rain and snow showers.

I ended up heading down to the Western Catskills. Didn’t leave home until after 10 AM, because I was putzing around. So be it. I also had to stop at Walmart to buy another blaze orange hat, for hiking, because I lost mine. I knew it would be hunting season down there, and figured better safe then sorry. The previous night, they didn’t have one at Glenmont Walmart, so had to visit the Decided to head out the Warren Anderson Expressway (I-88) down to NY 10, and take that all the way south to Walton.

Driving down NY 10, as soon as I reached Summit, you could see a dusting of snow on the summits around. Stopped in Stamford, drove up to Mount Utsaythana. There was a dusting of snow there too, in parts it looked like a winter wonderland. Then it was down to Walton, following NY 10 and the East Branch of Delaware River. Drove through Delhi, a small rural college town. I had been through Delhi years ago, meandering around Stamford, but not in years. Then I went down to Walton, climbed an enormous hill in the truck, and was at the Bear Spring Mountain Wildlife Management Area (aka Public Hunting Grounds).

At Bear Spring Mountain WMA there is a state DEC campground known as Bear Spring Mountain Campground. It consists of two parts, a fully developed campground with hot showers that is open during the summer months near Launt Pond, and the Spring Brook area with stud pends and a pit privy, similar to Charles Baker State Forest. Both areas are a $18 a night in summer, but from October to the end of hunting season, the lower area is free, but the water is shut-off down there. The designated campsites there are crunched together, and there is no privacy, so I can’t imagine it’s much fun camping there, especially with the smell of horses on a hot summer’s afternoon.

By the time I got down there, it was fairly early, so decided to explore a bit. Drove up to Corbett, explored the Corbett Suspension Bridge, and an old chimney from the “acid factory”, which made an acid from tree bark for smokelesss gunpowder. Decided to head back and explore Bear Spring Mountain WMA a bit more, and drove up West Trout Brook Road, past several hunters. There are some limited views from end of East Trout Brook Road, namely at the summit Bear Spring Mountain. There are better views from NY 206, climbing up from Walton, but with few view points. Also explored Beers Brook Road, which had some limited but nice views into the valley below, and Russ Gray Pond.

Bear Spring WMA, being a federally-funded public hunting grounds, does not allow camping. The only camping there is those tiny, smashed together developed campgrounds known as the Bear Spring State Campground, operated by the DEC. I decided it was getting late, and I would camp there tonight, especially because it looked like one of campers had packed up, and the only other person around, was a female bow hunter, on far end of the campground. I wasn’t thrilled, as it meant I would have to keep the music down, but at least the campground was deep in the valley, protected from the wind.

It wasn’t a bad night though. The pit privies were kind of gross, but probably not worst then most of the outhouses in the woods. There was surprisingly a lot of wood in woods near the campground. The truck worked well with keeping the lights on, since switching the truck’s radio back to the starting battery and evenly discharging both batteries. The radio shuts off automatically when the starting battery is starting to get a bit low, and Big Red’s DIC says “Battery Low: Start Engine Low”. Previously, with the starting battery at full charge, hooked up to the discharged auxiliary battery, the alternator wouldn’t kick up to full charge, so the auxiliary battery would fail to get fully charged. Now, with the starting battery slightly discharged – but with enough charge to crank the engine, things kept working well all night long. There was a little bit of sleet in the evening, but nothing major.

The next morning, I got a slow start. It was drizzling, and I kind of slept in. I didn’t have a tarp set up, which didn’t help. I probably didn’t break camp until 10:30 AM..I was thinking of hiking the NYC DEP trail that overlooks the Pepacton Reservoir, but I ended up turning off onto Holiday Brook Road, and deciding to check out Huggins Lake. Hugging Lake was a nice hike back, following an old woods road back there. There is a campsite down by the lake. Apparently on the ridge above Huggins Lake, there is an old growth forest, but I never got back there.

Then it was off to Mary Smith Road. On Campground Road, one of the cut-over roads, I got to a cover bridge, which had a clearance of 6’6”, which is about an inch too low for my pickup truck with the cap and racks on. So I had to turn around, and back track for about 5 miles. That sucked. Stopped and grabed a few pictures. When I got on Mary Smith Road, and back in forest preserve, I was pleasantly surprised to find three roadside campsites on it. I ended up camping at the most used of the sites – as witnessed by vegetation – along the Finger Lakes Trail/Mary Smith Trail/Middle Mountain Trail. It was a pretty nice roadside campsite.

About as soon as I scoped out the campsite, I realized it would be a pretty night up there. Despite the mountains on both sides, the north wind was whipping along the col. But I liked the campsite, and there was plenty of trees to hang a tarp up. I starting setting up camp at 2:30 PM – which was kind of early – but I figured it was too late to hike Mary Smith Hill (which wasn’t true), but it did start to rain/sleet a bit. Got the tarp up, then the lights strung up and flag up. A heavy sleet squall pounded the col, for a while bad enough I hid out in the cab of the truck. Then I went out, built a fire, and spent sometime listening to a podcast and reading a book about the 1964 World Fair in New York.

The new 60-watt equivalent LED bulb I bought worked real well in the cold, which got down below freezing that night.. But with the bulb focused on the book, it was easy reading and plenty bright. In the cold, the 60-watt equivalent LED bulb was actually brighter then the 100-watt florescent bulb I had at camp, even after fully warming up, because the cold wind made it impossible for the florescent tube to get warm enough to fully atomize the mercury in the fixture.

At times the wind picked up, and it was pretty darn cold, to say the least. I end up putting the fire out cold before bed, to reduce the risk of the fire spreading, and because the tarp partially covered the fire pit, I was afraid it could fall into the fire, and possibly set the truck on fire or cause dripping plastic to fall on it. The fire was out cold, and I went to bed around 10:30 PM. No nightmares.

After bedding down, the wind started to whip around. It literally was howling, and the tarp was snapping up and down, making quite a bit of noise. Morning came, and it was beautiful blue skies, but very cold. That was when I first saw car actually pass by on Mary Smith Hill Road – despite being a through-road, and not a super remote road at that. Had another slow breakfast, and built a small fire to burn up some camp garbage. Usually I don’t start fires in the morning, but I was chilly, and knowing that it may be a while until I got out camping again, I wanted to have a fire.

Once I finally got going, I hiked up Mary Smith Hill to the overlook. It really was a lot less further then I expected, and ha+d some interesting views to the north. Nothing totally breathtaking, but still an interesting short hike of maybe 20 minutes each way. Then I drove over to Russell Brook Falls, making a wrong turn and ending up going through Livingston Manor and the world famous fly fishing town, Roscoe. My impression of Roscoe, was it was a very a long and pokey 30 MPH zone, but with more stores then one would expect in such a rural, small town. I probably should have stopped, but I was burning daylight.

Finally made it to Morton Hill Road, and passed a Game Warden in a unmarked green suburbanite-style Jeep. The only reason I know that, was I saw him outside of the car talking to somebody in full uniform. Morton Hill Road climbs a lot from Roscoe out to where it hits Russell Brook Road. There are three campsites along Russell Brook Road, although in all of them there is a boulder barrier between the campsite and fire pit. One might still be able to use them for a pickup with a camper on them, I guess.

I hiked back to Russell Brook Falls – a beautiful but relatively unknown set of falls – at least to non-regulars to that part of state. They are less then quarter mile from the Russell Brook Falls parking area. I stopped and grabbed some pictures. Then, it’s easy hike back to back to Trout Pond, following a gated road 9/10th of a mile from the parking area. There is a slight incline on the road, but nothing to make one break a sweat, even a fat out of shape dude like me, who spends too much time sipping cold buds in the woods. The road is a designated route for people with disabilities – somebody very strong with a wheel chair could theoretically get back there, or maybe with a CP-4 disabled with an ATV permit.

Back at Trout Pond, there is a campsite on the easterly end, and the gated road continues to the west end of lake. On the west end of the lake, there are two other campsites, spaced a ¼ mile apart, along with two lean-tos. All are designed for those with disabilities. There is also a trout spawning shelter on one of the creeks leading into lake. One of the lean-tos was well equipped – somebody left behind some nice pots and pans, all cleaned up, and a selection of perfectly good adult beverages and soda along the back wall of the lean-to. Talk about paying it forward to the next person who will use that lean-to – most certainly a hunter this time of year.

It’s small game hunting season, heard several small game bullets ring out, while hiking back there. No hunters nearby, as far as I could see, but I did wear plenty of blaze orange. I am sure next week, there will be a lot more hunters back there. Wish them luck. Hiked back to my truck and explored Campbell Mountain Road and Campbell Brook Road, looking for additional roadside campsites, preferably the kind you can back a pickup all the way back to. No such luck. Oh, well.

Then I drove down NY 30, through the hamlet of Harvard, then East Branch. Took Old Route 17 to Hancock, then poked around the Poconos and the Warren Highlands in Pennsyltucky, before eventually ending up in Susquehanna and Great Bend. The area around Hancock is very mountainous and beautiful. The Warren Highlands were rough, mostly hunting and rural landscape country, with a relatively small amount of farming going on. Lots of open burning going on too – I love Pennsylvania..

I love that wild country, and everything Pennsylvania. Fueled up, picked up certain Pennsylvania products not legal in New York and/or cheaper then New York, then hopped on I-88/Warren Anderson Expressway, and made a bee-line back to Delmar, stopping only momentarily at the rest stop on I-88. That place was creepy as all hell after dark, and not well lit either. I seriously thought of just taking a piss in some farm

I made it back to Delmar around 7 PM. It was a good adventure. Burned through more gasoline, then I had planned, although on the trip back along I-88, I average 19.9 mpg in my Big Red Silverado pickup, so not complaining.

A long-weekend trip in early November to explore the the Western Catskills.

Andy Arthur.org

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