Good evening! Clear and 48 degrees at the Allegheny National Forest. There is a east breeze at 7 mph. 🍃.

Today was a nice quiet day. 🚶 I did a nice hike from Kinzua Beach to Rimrock and walked on the Cornplanter Bridge. 🌉 After the hike I sat down by the reservoir for a while with the third book of vacation, this one on the National Security State. I got back to camp, cooked dinner and built a big fire 🔥 before laying back in the hammock. The ample sun today meant the solar panel put out 192 watt hours while I was parked down there – not bad figuring its a 100 watt panel and its the October sun. 🔋 That extra battery helps a lot at camp.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 41 degrees at 4am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 10th. East wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It became humid as the night progressed. It got down to 62 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 2001.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 87% illuminated. The moon will set at 2:37 am. The 🌕 is on Saturday night with mostly clear skies. The sun will rise at 7:19 am with the first light at 6:51 am, which is one minute and 6 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 12 hours and 34 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 65 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 4th. East wind 5 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had light drizzle in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 83 was set in 1949. There was a dusting of snow in 2000.❄

Whats the next step I ask myself? I was thinking I really do crave the scenic beauty of West Virginia and I don’t need to have a fire down there. I have the heater and electric lights which are working well. 🗻 Tomorrow I morning I could break camp early, take US 219 to Thomas WV and camp there through Sunday. I would stop at Mount Davis tomorrow and then hike Hoyes Crest on Thursday or Friday and the opposite day do a day trip and hike at Dolly Sods and maybe Cannan Valley Refuge. Come back on Sunday, overnight at County Bridge Campground outside of Troy Penna.

The alternative which is probably more sensible is to tomorrow drive down to the Southern portion of the Allegheny National Forest. ⛺ There is this big open campsite outside of Marietta on Loleta Grade that is remote yet has an open canopy for solar and looking at the stars ✨. Good wood supply and I could drive over to the Buzzard Swamp one day. I’d have to get ice and more milk and cheese tomorrow in Warren then maybe take US 62 south. Maybe visit the Tionesta Vista and Nebraska Bridge which is probably not underwater right now. Sunday visit the Elk Center in Benzette and drive the Elk Route along the very scenic West Branch of the Susquehanna River and drive up to Hyner View. Overnight at County Bridge, get home on Columbus Day. That would be a lot less miles and much quieter option but it means no West Virginia until November 2020 or later.

I think I’ll choose the later but I’ll sure be disappointed 😥 about not making it to West Virginia. But the leaves by Sunday might be much better in Elk County and they’re really cool 😎 to watch graze. I ‘ll see come the morning. The Elk Drive is a lot of fun and maybe quite beautiful but the rest of the week is kind of bland compared to the alternative.

In four weeks on November 5 the sun will be setting at 5:05 pm (Standard Time),🌄 which is one hour, 40 minutes and 42 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had rain showers, partly sunny and temperatures between 48 and 31 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 52 and 34 degrees. The record high of 75 degrees was set back in 1994.

Looking ahead, Election Day 2019 🗳️ is in 4 weeks, 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ is in 9 weeks, Christmas Eve 🎅 is in 11 weeks, New Years Eve 🎆 is in 12 weeks, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 14 weeks and Martin Luther King Day 🖤 is in 15 weeks.

I set my alarm for 6:30 am well before dawn here so I can take down camp and move onto whatever the next step is. ⏰

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Four weeks to Election Day 2019 🗳️. The fog has burned off and it’s now sunny ☀ and 52 degrees at the Allegheny National Forest. There is a east-northeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Surprisingly damp this morning in the woods, it was a really foggy morning at first. 🌁 I slept in, looking forward to seeing the sun.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 62 degrees at 4pm. Big smile. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 10th. Northeast wind 5 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had light drizzle in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 80 was set in 2017.

Today I am going to park at Kinzua Beach, walk down to the Reservoir, 🚶 and maybe cross the Cornplanter Bridge 🌉 on foot and then hike up the trail to Rimrock. The parking lot 🅿 should have a lot of sun for charging the accessories battery. 🔋I don’t feel really ambitious today as I’m on vacation and I see no reason to rush anywhere. 😀 Time goes by so quickly as it is, why rush it? ⏳

The sun will set at 6:46 pm with dusk around 7:14 pm, which is one minute and 40 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 55 degrees. There will be a east-northeast breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 26 minutes of daytime, an decrease of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 40 degrees at 6am. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 13th. East wind around 6 mph. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It became humid as the night progressed. It got down to 62 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 2001.

Ever since buying the axe 🌲I’ve gotten quite efficient at processing firewood, which is good especially on these long nights – although I’ve often kept the fires small as it’s been fairly mild and why waste wood you don’t have to waste?

Everything is kind of wet and soaked at camp today 💦so I’m going to wait until tomorrow to break camp but I think this evening I will probably take down the tent and tarp once things dry out. I’m leaning towards camping in the southern part of the National Forest for the second half of the week and doing the elk route and Hyner View on Sunday. Although I wish there was more color but I like the quiet of the National Forest 🌲and not having to rush to take down and set back camp every day.

That an I kind of like the Pennsylvania countryside, 🐮 especially seeing the farms and homesteads with burning trash and debris out back because I’m a pyro. 🔥 I’ll be totally open on that. Plus I like seeing the farm operations 🚜 and the cabins in the woods 🌲and scenic vistas. 📷

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Election Day 2019 🗳️ when the sun will be setting at 5:06 pm with dusk at 5:35 pm (Standard Time). I plan to early vote before then ❎ but I might also volunteer on some local campaigns. On that day in 2018, we had rain showers, partly sunny and temperatures between 48 and 31 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 52 degrees. We hit a record high of 75 back in 1994.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Next Monday is Columbus Day 🛥️. Alas at some point I’ll have to go back to Albany to make more money. Rain showers and 50 degrees at the Allegheny National Forest. ☔ Calm wind.The skies will clear around 10 pm.

It rained fairly hard at times last night it I’m not sure how much rain we actually got. 💦 It was definitely loud on the fiberglass roof of the truck cap. The rain is supposed to pull out fairly early today, not going to be the all day long rain here. Looks like West Virginia got a decent amount of rain last night but I’m not sure if the fire ban will be over yet. Regardless I might go down there, it’s to be decided tomorrow. I’d love 😍 to see West Virginia again, it’s been two years since I was last there. That said I’m quite content to be camping in the Allegheny National Forest and might still want to see more of Western NY.

I pitched the tent to have a place to escape the rain next to the heater 🎪 but so far it’s been warm and relatively dry enough that I’ve not used it. I’m hoping by morning the tent dries out, especially if I decide to break camp tomorrow to move on to other places.

So far the mosquitoes haven’t been bad this morning like they were yesterday. 🐜 Still raining here a bit and cold but I know yesterday I was glad I brought DEET with me.

One of the things I finally figured out is its best to cook eggs 🍳 on the camp stove in a frying pan on top of the griddle rather than directly on it. This keeps the eggs from sliding off on to the stove and is better for controlling the level of heat.

Today will rain, mainly before 10am. Patchy fog before 10am. 🌧 High of 55 degrees at 3pm. Seven degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 25th. Maximum dew point of 49 at 10am. 🏖️ Calm wind becoming west 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 72 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1963.

Definitely could use some sun and if the weather is decent later on I plan to go for a drive to the Allegheny Reservoir and Rimrock 📷 in part because I really should top off the batteries 🔋. There is enough shade and the sun angle is low enough ☀ that I’m really not getting much solar.

The sun will set at 6:48 pm with dusk around 7:16 pm, which is one minute and 40 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 53 degrees. The dew point will be 46 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 29 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 45 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 42 degrees at 5am. Typical for tonight. West wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light drizzle by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 50 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1964.

I was watching the camp garbage burn in the fire last night – especially the black smoke Styrofoam tray the meat 🍖 came in last night and a little Greta Thornburg came into my head saying “How Dare You”. I had to laugh a little. I’m not hauling back to Albany anything that I can burn to be landfilled🚮 in the Pine Bush forever for two dollars 💵 a bag at the transfer station.

But then again I remember the comstirnation that I caused on Facebook when I said I thought biodegradable camp soap was stupid. 💭 I understand the surficants in detergent aren’t as biodegradable as ordinary soap but they do break down eventually and are pretty harmless to the environment is disposed away from water. 🌊 Most old houses and farms dispose of gray water to pipes away from the house. Yeah, they’re is a stinky gray area where the pipe comes out from the soaps and detergents but if they are far away enough from creeks ain’t harming nothing. 🚰

I also hunt with lead ammunition 🔫 and use lead sinkers for fishing 🎣 at least the larger ones that are still legal. I also use lead solder for electronics projects at home. 🔬 I totally get banning the small sinkers and not using lead shot when duck hunting or having lead in commercial electronics. But that’s a thing of scale and real harm – waterfowl get easily poisoned by lead shot. Lead poisoning is bad – I know people who have accidentally gotten shot and suffer from lead poisoning. But where it makes sense, use the right technology, even if Greta Thornburg does not approve. And I do pick up litter 🚮 I find in the woods, recycle cans and glass ♻, and make sure my poop and toilet paper is well buried. 💩

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Average High is 55 🍂 when the sun will be setting at 6:16 pm with dusk at 6:44 pm. On that day in 2018, we had mostly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 51 and 41 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 1971.