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October 10, 2019 Night

Good evening! Clear and 50 degrees at the Monongahela National Forest. There is a east-southeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃.

It was a long drive down to West Virginia but I enjoyed it and have the most perfect campsite that I love. 😍 It’s a small site but the Mountain Laurel of Cannan Heights makes it amazing. As does the beautiful moonlit evening. The colors were absolutely specular on Mount Davis in Pennsylvania, although honestly the high point of both Pennsylvania and Maryland are a bit underwhelming. I was surprised how many Amish and Mennonite farms there were around Mount Davis and Somerset. The simple life is beautiful, although I’ve heard that the Amish don’t always use the most environmentally sensitive practices with their farm operations.

No campfire for me in West Virginia but it’s not a cold night here and the heater was fine. This being a small site, they’re wouldn’t really be room for a fire 🔥 along with a tent. Northern West Virginia though isn’t bone 🍖 dry after the rain earlier in the week – you could feel the leaf litter moisture 🍂and even see a few puddles around. Down south in the state is much drier and I get with the breeze especially in these higher elevations the authorities are concerned, especially with reckless campers. I set the table up over the fire pit and am saving the burnables for the overnight in Pennsylvania on the way home. They’ll work fine for getting the fire started back up north. Ducks 🐔that there is the fire ban down here.

I took a mostly different route down here then I did in 2015, heading down Pennsylvania 36 through Pennsylvania coal country and Punxsutawney. Yes, I did stop at Gobler’s Knob. You could see the hills of GOB left over from coal mining, 🗻 with their sometimes steep slopes and often free of anything but grasses and a few bushes. Until the 1960s, coal companies didn’t have to do any restoration of the land after doing strip mining. Even now, when you strip the to the top soil, it’s almost impossible to restore anything close to a natural cover – soil compaction, oxygenation and natural bacteria are all destroyed when you strip the land down even if you try to rebuild the surface. 🚜 Farmers know darn well that any heavy equipment run over a farm field can do enormous damage from compaction – and it can take generations of tillage and manure spreading 💩 to bring land back up to its natural fertility.

Driving through Johnstown Penna there was what appeared to be a wildfire on the hill outside of it 💨and a lot of haze. 👀 It also looked like a building 🏢 was on fire, from all the black smoke but it could have been a controlled burn. At any rate, between the fires and the coal fired power plants, 🏭 the was super hazy around there, a brown ozone haze. By the time I got down to Mount Davis outside of Somerset the haze wasn’t bad and the views were excellent.

The Somerset extension of the US 219 expressway is a major time savings over the windy Mason-Dixon Turnpike 🌉 with some really high bridges and deep rock cuts, which weren’t done when I came down here in 2015.

Maryland 495 was a nice alternative to US 219 for heading down to West Virginia. 🐮 A lot of dairy farms along there, lots of farmers harvesting crops and a few were spreading manure 💩 including one with an old fashioned belt spreader towed by an open cab old Ford Tractor. I bet he took a shower 🚿 wbn he got home.

Midday on a Wednesday, there wasn’t a lot of Pennsylvania rednecks burning trash 🔥. I did see one garage somewhere burning a pile of debris behind the shop including a tread from a truck tire and a house outside of North Cambria burning something in a burn barrel that was producing a lot of thin black smoke. 💨Amish farm outside of Somerset had two burn barrels right ou front of their door as did some of dairies in Maryland farm country.

Deer were bad in Pennsylvania. I kept seeing young road kill does along PA 36 outside of Punxsutawney, came very close to hitting a small doe in Cook Forest along the Clarion River and had to slam on the brakes again on southern Clarion County when another small one ran out into the road. They really like hiding in the shadows. I swear young doe are a bit like bullhead in some lakes. Hopefully they’ll grow up and produce some big deer.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 45 degrees at 4am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 2nd. Southeast wind around 5 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It became very sticky as the night progressed. It got down to 61 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1943.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 97% illuminated. The moon will set at 4:36 am. The Hunter Moon 🌕 is on Saturday night with a chance of rain showers and breezy conditions up here in the high country of West Virginia. I pitched my tent so I’m ready for that – I’ll go sit by the heater in the tent if it’s truly miserable. The sun will rise at 7:22 am with the first light at 6:55 am, which is 58 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 12 hours and 36 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 30 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 63 degrees at 2pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 9th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 12pm. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the morning. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was humid. The high last year was 72 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1949. There was a dusting of snow in 1987.❄

Tomorrow I plan to hike in Dolly Sods. 🚶 I’m hoping the road up there won’t be too washboard. If it is, I’ll probably one back over Corridor H. Probably do one of the bigger loops, I’d like to see upwards of ten miles 🔟 hiking it tomorrow. It would be cool to also drive down to West Virginia High Peak , Spruce Knob Mountain 🗻 but time is limited and that’s quite far south if I remember right. Well see. Saturday it’s Blackwater Falls and Cannan Valley Refuge as long as it’s not pouring. If it rains, I’ll hot tent with a book 📙.

In four weeks on November 7 the sun will be setting at 5:11 pm (Standard Time),🌄 which is one hour, 36 minutes and 11 seconds earlier then tonight. That’s good to know if I decide to go West Virginia after Election Day next year. ⛺ Who knows? In 2018 on that day, we had mostly sunny, shallow fog and temperatures between 59 and 41 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 51 and 34 degrees. The record high of 75 degrees was set back in 1938.

Looking ahead, Halloween 🛥️ is in 3 weeks, Average High is 50 🍂 is a month away, Thanksgiving 🦃 is in 7 weeks, Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 is in 8 weeks, 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ is in 2 months, Boxing Day 🥊 is in 11 weeks and National Cheese Lovers Day 🧀 is in 15 weeks.

October 10, 2019 Morning

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Vacation is going by much too quickly but I’m excited as today I’m going to West Virginia through Sunday. Three weeks to Halloween 🛥️. Sunny and 42 degrees at the Buzzard Swamp Coop Mangement Area. 🌞 Calm wind.

This morning I started out the day with walk back to Buzzard Swamp 🐦. Beautiful morning with fog 🌁 over part of the Buzzard Swamp. I really do tight invest in a good pair of binoculars. 🔭Maybe I’ll look at that for Christmas 🎄 sales time. Later it’s to Punxsutawney on PA 36 then Mount Davis Pennsylvania High Point and then Cannan Heights WV.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 66 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 1st. East wind 3 to 5 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was humid. The high last year was 83 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1939. 0.8 inches of snow fell back in 1925.❄

The sun will set at 6:43 pm with dusk around 7:11 pm, which is one minute and 38 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 63 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 11 hours and 21 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 41 degrees at 6am. Typical for tonight. East wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It became very sticky as the night progressed. It got down to 61 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1943.

I set my alarm for six AM ⏰ which was pitch black this morning except for the stars. 🎑 I did hit the reset a few times more then I’m proud to admit but less than yesterday. The moon had set and it was cold but unlike yesterday, I was determined to break camp by eight to drive down to West Virginia. I saw the starting battery 🔋 was at 12.50 so I started up the truck with a bit to be safe.

Not so cold this morning and I made only a small pot of coffee ☕ so hopefully I won’t have to stop a million times on the way to West Virginia. I tried to leave early the previous day but it was so dark and cold and I had to the down the tarp and tent. Today I had a lot less gear plus I camped fifty miles to the south. Saved some dash cam video 📹 on my laptop.

Yesterday I decided to go to Warren Tops to buy groceries. I really needed ice and was running low on milk and cheese. I also decided to buy beer. 🍻 It’s now sold at selected grocery stores in Pennsylvania but it’s a completely separate unit – you have to pay for it separately from the rest of the groceries and they sell non standard sizes – I bought a 15 pack of Budwiser for $12.98 no tax or deposit which is cheap compared to New York. It maybe not, I often buy 30 racks at Walmart for $19.95 plus $1.60 in sales tax and $1.60. But unfortunately without a deposit, I’ll have to crush the cans and bring them back to the transfer station for recycling ♻. Forgot how much Warren stinks like oil country – its a mix of crude oil, hydrogen sulfide with a certain amount of sweetness to the air. Actually camp smells a bit like that.

Then I headed south along US 62 stopping at the Tidoute Overlook 📷 and then going to Nebraska Submergable Bridge. 🌉 It’s kind of fun to see it again after seeing many Facebook posts of people exploring it while it’s submerged. Honestly I was surprised how much traffic goes over the bridge but it’s a pretty big shortcut to a lot of hunting camps. Hit a lot of construction 🚧 on US 62 AND on PA 36. They were paving PA 36, big delays there.

Not a lot of interesting country 🐮 – some of the sections along the Alleghany River between Tidoute and Tionesta were quite pretty. I can get why that section is popular with kayakers. 🚤Flat once you climb out of Tionesta Valley, some farmland and some businesses supporting the pop business. Rather flat until I got down to the area around Cooks Forest and then timberland as I headed to Marienville. I did see a household burning trash, which is still somewhat common in rural PA but nothing like a decade ago. Some of that plastic stuff stinks, especially if it’s smoldering. 👃

After that I visited the Cook Forest State Park ⛲ which had a fire tower and a path down to the gorge where the Clarion River runs and a nice picnic area around a historic tree planation. 🌲🌲🌲 I took River Road along Clarion River. That road is narrow but beautiful. Almost hit a doe, ran up from the river bank and into the shadow. My tires squealed but I fortunately missed it. Reviewing the dashcam it would have been hard for me to spot it. Really in the shadow.

I was hoping to camp ⛺ at Loleta Grade campsite 16 which I like because it has good cell service 📱 which makes the night by go by quickly and makes the remote country seem less remote. It also has a good view of the stars ✨ and would be good for solar. But alas somebody already grabbed it with their camper, probably a bow hunter 🙇. They appeared to have solar too and probably cell service internet in their camp. That’s a much nicer campsite. This site on the Gurgling Run smells a bit like Hydrogen Sulfide from an oil well, I assume that’s what makes the Gurgling Run Gurgle. 💩 And it not only smells, it gurgles. Plus I don’t want to spend three nights without cell service. 📱

It thought about staying here for three nights then going to see the Elk and drive the Elk Drive and do Hyer View on Sunday. 🚙But then I would miss West Virginia and I don’t really like the campsite I ended up in. It doesn’t look good for me getting down to West Virginia in 2020 as it’s a busy election year at my other job and they’re could be recounts or snow in November.

So I decided instead to drive down to Thomas, WV for the long weekend, heading back to County Bridge Campground. 🗻 Heading down now to Mount Davis, Pennsylvania High Point via Penna 36 and US 219. More of that highway is built through Somerset and some of those new expressway bridges look like they’ll have amazing views. It’s a lot of driving but less than I really had in my original plan as I’m not going down to the New River Gorge – just Dolly Sods one day and the other – the cloudy and potentially rainy Saturday I’ll do Maryland High Point and Blackwater Falls. But it’s fine. Sunday I’ll take Cooridor H, visit the Mount Storm Lake 🏭 and the massive power plant and then take to the road Keyser and then to Cumberland Maryland, then take US 220 and Interstate 99 to Mount Pisagh State Park for a drive with hopefully good colors then overnight at County Bridge outside of Troy.

I will pitch the tent down in West Virginia with the heater. No fires down there due to continuing fire ban 🔥 but I’ll save the paper plates and other burnables and have a fire the last night when overnight in Pennsylvania. I also have a little bit of kiln dried wood to burn at County Bridge. It’s fine – most nights I’ve been laying back in the hammock fairly early and letting the fire go out. It’s going to quite mild and the tent heater will be toasty. Not having to gather wood means that I’ll have more time for relaxing and reading 📖. Fires are really a lot of work and kind of a waste of fire wood.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Halloween 🛥️ when the sun will be setting at 6:13 pm with dusk at 6:41 pm. On that day in 2018, we had mostly cloudy, patches of fog and temperatures between 61 and 28 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 54 degrees. We hit a record high of 73 back in 1946.

October 5, 2019 Night

Good evening! Partly clear and 50 degrees at the Allegany National Forest. There is a south-southeast breeze at 13 mph. 🍃. Chilly night, I’m glad I bought firewood for sure. I probably could have gathered wood but by the time I set up camp it was getting pretty dark.

Chilly night for sure. 🔥 Glad I have a fire. Regardless of where I stayed tonight I was going to be in Pennsylvania – if I had stuck to my original plan I would have camped at the County Bridge Campground but with my plans to stay in Pennsylvania multiple nights I drove all the way out to the Allegheny National Forest where I can have a campsite all to myself and not have to worry about making too much noise or smoke with my fire. ⛺ West Virginia via US 219 is still a possibility but first I’m going to wait out the rain at the Allegheny National Forest. Technically I can stay at this campsite all week, I could do that, I’m undecided. Going to take it one day at a time and make decisions come Monday. New River Gorge seems unlikely but maybe possible. I think they may have to wait until 2020 or 2021 but that’s just next year. So who knows! I could see doing my West Virginia trip in November 2020.

Tomorrow I’ll fine firewood for Sunday and Monday night. I fully expect the next two days to be fairly rainy and gray but so be it. I’ll probably pitch a tent tomorrow ⛺ so I can warm up next to the heater when it’s raining. Might go for a drive tomorrow just to top off the batteries as I’m not expecting much solar through Monday.

Today was cold enough I left the truck alternator connected all day to the accessory batteries. 🔋 Didn’t smell any sulfurization and honestly the alternator dropped the voltage after several hours of driving. It never got above 55 degrees according to Big Red’s DIC. That said, I did drop the voltage low enough that the low voltage disconnect did kick in briefly so I ended up starting my truck briefly to restore the lights. 💡 I thought about installing a override again to the low voltage disconnect but that never happened. I removed the switch after my last wiring project with the truck.

It’s wasn’t a bad day but it’s an awful long drive from Albany to the Allegheny National Forest. It wasn’t a bd trip except for the part through Binghamton when there was just a lot of busy traffic although it was moving. I ended up stopping both in Cobleskill and Oneonta in search of mantels for the lantern 🏮 but ultimately I found them in Oneonta. They don’t sell them at every Walmart. In the future I’ll just have to plan ahead and order online. The lantern is still burning rather yellow – I think the generator tube in it that pressurizes the gas is clogged with dirt. I wonder if I can order the part online. I wish I had brought carburetor cleaner – I have some at home, if it continues to smoke and not burn real bright 🔆 I’ll have to look at that. I have such problems with camping gear getting plugged with dirt – propane lines and everything else it seems. That said, ever since I used the other type of filter with the propane heater it has been quite reliable and the stove is good since I replaced the burners. I do use my equipment a lot – but happiness for me is nights in the wilderness.

Such a long drive out here. 🚙 A swear after driving all day I start to get a bit delirious. 😜 I find my attention drifts away from driving. Fortunately in bum fuck Pennsylvania traffic is pretty light and cops 👮 are far between. At any rate I made it hear safely. If I had followed my original trip plan I would have cut two hours or more off today’s drive camping At County Bridge Campground, that ten dollar 💵 a night primative campground outside of Troy on the way to future Interstate 99 and ultimately West Virginia. But I don’t like staying at campgrounds, especially with others around as I like having fires and listening 👂 to music 🎶 that oths may not care to hear.. Wilderness camping is a blessed experience for sure. It’s not only free for the site use but is free 🆓 in the sense of freedom. Much like my off grid property some point in the future.

Tonight will have a chance of light rain after 5am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 49 degrees at 9pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 23rd. South wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 47 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1965.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 63% illuminated with the moon setting at 11:43 pm. The moon will rise at 3:15 pm. The 🌕 is next Saturday with mostly clear skies. The sun will rise at 7:17 am with the first light at 6:49 am, which is one minute and 5 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 12 hours and 26 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 47 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of light rain before 10am, then showers after 10am. 🌦 High of 65 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 1st. Maximum dew point of 57 at 5pm. 🏖️ South wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 65 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1900. There was a dusting of snow in 1954.❄

Tomorrow I probably will string up a tarp and pitch the tent in preparation of the certain rain ☔. Ironically it looks like West Virginia might only get clouds ☁ and a few drops of rain rather than the soaking rain they need badly. 💦 But the Allegheny National Forest is due for a good soaker. But if that happens I’ll have the tent set up which will keep me dry with a good book 📙 to read. I got four of them out of the library on Friday. 📚 Even if it’s cold and pouring rain, hot tenting will be nice. As I previously said I’ll probably go for a short drive tomorrow – maybe just to Jake’s Rocks to bring up the voltage on the batteries 🔋 on the truck. Not expecting a lot of solar tomorrow.

Looking forward to a quiet day in the Allegheny Wilds tomorrow with a good book. 📚 Life has been so busy lately and the quiet tomorrow will be good, doing a bunch of cooking 🍳 on the camp stove. Life has been so crazy lately I’m looking forward to the quiet.

In four weeks on November 2 the sun will be setting at 6:09 pm,🌄 which is 42 minutes and 2 seconds earlier then tonight. I’m not sure what to think about November although some of my favorite camping trips happened then. In 2018 on that day, we had rain and temperatures between 64 and 48 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 53 and 35 degrees. The record high of 82 degrees was set back in 1950.

Looking ahead, Northern Zone Regular Season 🦌 is in 2 weeks, Election Day 2019 🗳️ is a month away, Small Business Saturday 🛍️ is in 8 weeks, Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 is in 2 months, First Day of Winter ☃️ is in 11 weeks, 4:30 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 12 weeks, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is in 15 weeks and 5 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 16 weeks.

It’s almost eleven. While it’s nice sitting by the heater I should think about bed. 😴

The Man Who Thinks The U.S. Is Better Off As A Bunch Of Separate Countries | FiveThirtyEight

Political Confessional: The Man Who Thinks The U.S. Is Better Off As A Bunch Of Separate Countries | FiveThirtyEight

This week we talked to Chris, a 35-year-old white man from rural Pennsylvania. Chris wrote in that he thought, “the U.S. should have a velvet divorce,” a reference to the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia — now the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic — in 1993. Chris went on: “I live in heavy Trump country but know he’s an idiot, but even Trump haters wouldn’t agree to break up the U.S. And certain areas (the South, the Midwest) would be horrible for minorities and destroy the environment. But it’s obvious the U.S. has run its course.”

July 10, 2019 Morning

Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. Going to be hot later or so I’m told by Mr. NOAA and his brave men and women based on their fancy computer models. 🔥 Three weeks to my Teeth Cleaning Day 😄Clean teeth are important. Now, I just need to schedule a physical 😷 and get my tetanus booster. 💉 Partly sunny and 69 degrees at the Elm Ave Park & Ride – CDTA. ☀ Calm wind. The dew point is 57 degrees. Nice morning, enjoyed my walk down to the bus.🚏

Today will be mostly sunny and hot ☀, with a high of 91 degrees at 5pm. But maybe not too ungodly humid? Muggers won’t be that active today. They’re lurking in their dark corners for tomorrow. Nine degrees above normal. It’s called summer time, the hottest time of the year starts Friday, the first sunset before 8:30 is on Tuesday. Maximum dew point of 60 at 11am. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. It became sticky as the day progressed. The high last year was 92 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1936.

The sun will set at 8:34 pm with dusk around 9:08 pm, which is 28 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 84 degrees. The dew point will be 62 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 15 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, an decrease of one minute and 12 seconds over yesterday.

This evening, I have another Save the Pine Bush event 🦋 to go to, namely the Guilderland Town Planning meeting over that Rapp Road development. Should be an interesting meeting, and hopefully the building will be well air conditioned. I might go for a hike after the meeting, although more likely then not, I’ll end up going to another meeting with the Pine Bush folks probably at a dinner. ☕

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 69 degrees at 5am. Eight degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 11pm. Light south wind. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 63 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1986.

I saw another one of my fellow high schoolers bought a house. 🏡 In Upstate New York of all places. Seems like I’m getting to the age where everyone’s buying property, while I’m just buying stocks and bonds. Based on the numbers I’ve seen, renting my run down apartment, walking around town and taking the bus 🚍 to work and investing I still come out ahead. If I owned land, I’d probably get in trouble for burning shit I shouldn’t be be. 🔥

I don’t live in Pennsylvania, where people burn everything from couches 🛋️ and old buildings on-down.🏚 Eventually when I am a little more financially secure, don’t have family anymore nearby, and I will move to a more rural state that has a lot more freedom. ✊ Maybe Wyoming? 🤠 That’s a segue, although I don’t know what I would do out there, but I’ve heard good things about moving out west in places like Idaho or Missouri.

On this day in 1890, Wyoming is admitted to the United States as the 44th US State. 🌋Many liberals regard that as a mistake, although it has some beautiful country out in Yellowstone and lots of oil and coal. 🏭 And no nearby neighbors, which is fun if you want to have big bonfires all of the time, drink beer, ride four wheelers, have hogs, cattle, and other animals 🥩like on Our Wyoming Life.🤠 And in 1962, Telstar, the world’s first communication satellite is launched.⭐ And they wrote a song about it, 🚀 until it was destroyed by the nuclear tests that not only nuked our satellite but put cesium-138 into our milk and ice cream.🐮

Going to be a nice, hot summer weekend. 🏊 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Maximum dew point of 64 at 7pm. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 84. Maximum dew point of 63 at 6am. Little less muggy then the second half of the week. Typical average high for the weekend is 83 degrees. I think my plans for the weekend remain constant. It’s going to be hot 🔥 but no so bad out in the country in Schoharie County. I wonder if they will have sweet corn 🌽 out there. Swimming, fishing, maybe hiking. I’m sure it will be cool down by the Betty Brook. Then next weekend is the real vacation.🏖 I hope that my state parks pass is activated — it should be — but I haven’t tested it yet.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Teeth Cleaning Day 😃 when the sun will be setting at 8:16 pm with dusk at 8:48 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 86 and 67 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 82 degrees. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1917.

A Push to Bring Back Native Forests to Coal Country

Reclaiming Appalachia: A Push to Bring Back Native Forests to Coal Country

It's interesting to watch the progress they've made at the Winslow Hill Elk Area and also the Flight 93 Monument ...

"Such aggressive bulldozing is part of a new and evolving approach to healing forests destroyed by decades of surface coal mining in Appalachia, from Alabama to Pennsylvania. These lands were supposed to have been reclaimed in recent decades under the 1977 federal Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act. But scientists and conservationists say that many of those reclamation efforts were failed or half-hearted efforts that did little more than throw dirt, mining debris, grass, and non-native trees over scarred lands."

"Now, Green Forests Work and other groups are attempting ecological do-overs with the aim of restoring native forests on large swaths of previously reclaimed public and private lands throughout Appalachia. The deep-ripping technique developed by Barton, with support from a team of other scientists, involves uprooting the non-native trees and grasses planted by coal companies and starting the entire land restoration process from scratch."

"At 2,000 acres, Cheat Mountain is Green Forests Work’s largest undertaking since it began operating as a nonprofit in 2013. Barton has partnered with public and private funders to coordinate the planting of more than 2 million trees on 3,300-plus acres in Appalachia. Other former mining sites that it is tackling include a 130-acre plot within the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pa., the former mine site where one of the four hijacked planes crashed on Sept. 11, 2001; a 110-acre site near Fishtrap Lake in Pike County, Ky.; and a 86-acre area within the Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in eastern Ohio. These and other planned restoration sites are part of an estimated 1 million acres that the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) has designated as legacy coal mine sites."

October 13, 2017 Night

Good evening! I hope you made out okay on your Friday the 13thand nothing too bad happened to you. Between the day, the traffic, the random construction equipment lying in the road and the stopped pickup truck in traffic where it had hit a deer. Cars parked all over for the bar. But I made it home safely, my wash is done and partially packed. I got some dry goods at Hannaford for the first few nights of camping, I’ll buy more stuff as the week progresses. At least for the canned and boxed stuff, Hannaford had some really good prices. I am surprised. The water containers, stove, and a lot of gear is packed but I have more to do some the morning. I like to have things are clean and neat as possible for when I return and so I don’t have problems with bugs or mold if I can avoid it.

Mostly cloudy and 59 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 9 mph. The dew point is 51 degrees. The skies will clear Monday around 1 am.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 55 degrees at 4am. 14 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 51 at 10pm. South wind 7 to 9 mph. In 2016, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1958.

While I suspect sleeping will be difficult tonight my alarm is set for 7 AM tomorrow, and I will finish packing and cleaning by 9 AM. I need to stop at the bank to get cash for the trip — especially small denomination bills to pay for camping and firewood — then I will try to be on the way down to County Bridge Campground outside of Troy, PA by 10 AM. I want to have time to stop a few places, then set up camp at that campground by 4 PM — while I still have ample daylight left. The next day I will most likely head down to Ohiopyle State Park and Flight 92 Memorial outside of Pittsburgh then West Virigina on Monday. Mid-week I want to spend some time poking around the back roads of the Shenadoah Valley, and then do some of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Maybe visit Harpers Ferry later in the week — then drive back up through Pennsylvania. Things are a bit in flux depending on my mood and how much time I want to spend at any particular location. I hope to have a great time and take many great pictures. Stay tuned.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon with 32% illuminated. The moon will rise tomorrow at 1:24 am. The New Moon is on Thursday night with mostly clear skies. The Beaver Moon is in 3 weeks. The sun will rise at 7:07 am with the first light at 6:39 am, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 12 hours and 53 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of showers before 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 71 degrees at 3pm. 10 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 60 at 1pm. South wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 57 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 1920.

Looking ahead to Sunday, a slight chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. South wind 7 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Maximum dew point of 63 at 2pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 61 degrees.

In four weeks on November 10 the sun will be setting at 4:36 pm (Standard Time), which is one hour, 38 minutes and 24 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 50 and 29 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 50 and 33 degrees. The record high of 72 degrees was set back in 1931.

Andy Arthur.org

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