Search Results for: photo campsite 2 2

December 31, 2019 Night

Good evening on this final blog post of 2019 ! Cloudy and 31 degrees at the Cole Hill State Forest in Berne on this New Years Eve. ☁ We had a thunderstorm with some brief lightning and snow. ⚡ ❄ It was windy and intense for about five minutes and then it got quiet. There is a west-southwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. There is about 4 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ The skies will clear tomorrow around noontime.

It’s hard to believe that New Years Day is only a few hours away and it will be 2020. 🎇 To think it’s already the twenties when not all that long ago it was year 2000 and I was back in High School. I’ll be waking tomorrow to a brand new decade. Although it’s already basically 11 o’clock now and I could if I wanted to stay up the next hour listening to a podcast until midnight. I was outside by the fire until 10:30 when a snow squall and the breeze made me decide to jettison the cold ❄ outside for a nice warm tent 🎪. Maybe I will stay up to midnight 🕛, I’m in no rush to take down camp as things with the dropping temperatures are likely to be frozen early in the day until the sun comes out. Simple breakfast of instant oatmeal 🍚 and coffee ☕ for breakfast tomorrow and then it’s just a 20 minute drive home.

Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly before 10pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 25 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 7th. Even warmer back in the city. West wind 9 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. A few good gusts earlier for sure with that winter thunderstorm. The wind is a bit concerning with the ice on the trees being thrown or broken limbs but my campsite is relatively free of widow makers. 🍃 Chance of precipitation is 50%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2018, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. I was up at Cherry Ridge last year and I left the night before because I was worried 😯 about the road being slippery when the ice turned to mud. In retrospect, should have done Moscow Hill horse 🐴 camp instead. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1970.

Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon with 31% illuminated. At dusk you’ll see the moon in the south (190°) at an altitude of 37° from the horizon, some 251,948 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀It was kind of a pretty moon tonight and it seems like my astrological calculations are right. The moon will set in the west-southwest (257°) at 10:06 pm. The darkest hour is at 12:00 am (the beginning of the decade), followed by dawn at 6:55 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:27 am in the east-southeast (121°) and last for 3 minutes and 25 seconds. Sunrise is 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 8:13 am with sun in the southeast (129°) at an altitude of 6°. Tonight will have 14 hours and 53 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 42 seconds over last night.

New Year’s Day 🎇 will have isolated snow showers after 8am. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 34 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 22nd. West wind 15 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light drizzle by afternoon. The high last year was 53 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 1966. 9.2 inches of snow fell back in 1961.❄

This year my New Year Resolution is to stay the course 🚢and continue to build a better life for myself. I want to keep saving money towards buying land and an off grid cabin. I might stay in New York for another decade but when the time comes, I want to be prepared. I’ll have to see if Big Red needs repairs and decide on my future of motoring 🏁 or if I should try a life with more biking and local adventures. Sure these winter camping adventures are kind of fun but motoring is so expensive and bad for both the environment and ones health. I probably also drink and eat too much unhealthy food while camping although this time ⌚ I intentionally limited my drinking by packing less beer 🍻 being that I’m out in the real wilderness in the cold. That and I drunk most of it earlier in the week. ⛺ That said, this coming year I plan to spend many nights in the woods and maybe even so a bit more wilderness camping.

In four weeks on January 28 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (246°) at 5:04 pm,🌄 which is 31 minutes and 28 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had sunny weather and but rather cold temperatures between 22 and 8 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 31 and 15 degrees. The record high of 56 degrees was set back in 1916.

Looking ahead, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 2 weeks, Martin Luther King Day 🖤 is in 3 weeks, Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 is in 6 weeks, National Drink Wine Day 🍷 is in 7 weeks, St. Patrick’s Day 🍀 is in 11 weeks, 7:30 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 14 weeks, Cinco de Mayo 🤠 is in 18 weeks, Primary Day 🗳️ is in 25 weeks, Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 44 weeks and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 44 weeks.

Sun Filters Thru Trees

December 30, 2019 Night

Good evening! Cold and damp and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ Calm wind. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 10 pm. ☃️

We got some pretty good icing midday ⛄ so I’m kind of glad that I stayed home. The commute home in the ice and slush could have been miserable. Never got to upload my photos from my trip as the library was closed. 📙 My truck is not solid froze with ice. I know they predicted it in the outlying areas but I didn’t expect any ice in Delmar. I’ll deal with it eventually. I haven’t been shopping yet this week so I do got to kind of dig it out.

Tonight will be drizzle at times, mainly before 11pm. Cloudy ☁, with a low of 33 degrees at 1am. 17 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 12th. Light and variable wind. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of -17 occurred back in 1917.

Tonight will have a with 31% illuminated. The moon will rise at 11:01 am. The is on Wednesday night with partly cloudy skies. The is on Wednesday night. The sun will rise at 7:25 am with the first light at 6:53 am, which is 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 54 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 37 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of drizzle before 10am, then a slight chance of rain and snow showers between 10am and 11am, then a chance of rain showers after 11am. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 41 degrees at 2pm. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 3rd. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. 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 61 was set in 1895. 7.9 inches of snow fell back in 2007.❄

I looked at a lot of dash cam videos and photos 📷 to share on my blog over the coming days when I get a chance to upload them. I want to better tell my story and how seeing the open farm country and rural lands really made me feel. It was so nice to get away and out of the basement where I work, even if I didn’t make it to the Finger Lakes. I also have been getting really interested in the path of moon and sun and are going to incorporate more astrological data into my blog 🎑 in the coming weeks.

I am leaning towards backcountry camping tomorrow night 🌃 to close out the decade but that’s to be decided in the morning. 🎇 I think they’re is enough snow and ice left out in the hilltowns to drag my gear back on a sled. I’ll have a nice fire 🔥 and toast out the end of the decade. I might even buy some egg nog or hot coca to have around the fire. It will be a simple campsite with the heater to keep me plenty warm. Too much ice and snow might make it hard to get a fire going. Not a done deal though for sure.

In four weeks on January 27 the sun will be setting at 5:01 pm,🌄 which is 30 minutes and 58 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 40 and 11 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 31 and 14 degrees. The record high of 62 degrees was set back in 1974.

Looking ahead, Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡 is in 2 weeks, National Popcorn Day 🍿 is in 3 weeks, National Pie Day 🍰 is in 3 weeks, Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 is in 6 weeks, Presidents Day 👴 is in 7 weeks, Read Across America Day 📚 is in 9 weeks, Worm Moon 🌕 is in 10 weeks, Arbor Day 🌳 is in 17 weeks, 8 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 18 weeks, Flower Moon 🌕 is in 20 weeks, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 21 weeks, June 🍹 is in 22 weeks and Average High is 80 🏖 is in 25 weeks.

Rays Across the Reservoir

December 28, 2019 Afternoon

Good evening! Mostly clear and 33 degrees at Moscow Hill Camping Area in Brookfield. Calm wind as we are tucked down in the valley. Smoke is going straight up from the fire. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 7 pm. ☃️

Beautiful evening, mild for late December but the ground is still fairly frozen. ⛺ That said I’m sure these campsites have a thick pack of gravel because they’re trampled by horses 🐴 and heavy horse trailers and diesel pickup trucks all summer long. These sites have those nice little pavilions that the DEC has at a number of state forests in Central and Western New York. 🏡 They’re perfect for handing up lights and cooking and preparing food under. 🍲 I wish they had them up at Cherry Ridge 🍒 but only at the horse camp 🐴.

I was originally planning on going up to Cherry Ridge 🍒 but the road was icy as it’s plowed but not sanded or salted beyond the seasonal use only. I probably would have been fine going up it but there is that one steep section towards the top so I decided against it in favor of Moscow Hill horse camp. 🐴 The riding season is done for the year and while it’s right off of the county highway, there is very little traffic nearby, certainly far less than NY 8. I think I made a good choice camping here and I forgot how nice the pavilions are. Plus being only fifteen minutes away from Shurburne it made for a nice drive down there to visit the Rogers Environmental Education Center. 🐸 No cellphone here but I kind of enjoy the solitude. 📱

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 26 degrees at 4am. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 4th. Light and variable wind. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 26 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1933.

Madison County certainly is a brown and gray as I noted earlier. But that’s winter and that how the land is. So many neat old farm houses and real rough cut farms that are super muddy after it being relatively mild. 🐮 Lots of run down trailers, modular homes and even a few shed to homes. Not too many off grinders although I bet in the future – especially with new homes you’ll see more of that, especially on dirt roads without electric lines. 🔌

While I didn’t grow up in a trailer or a farm 🚜 I’ve always loved the gritty rural life. 😍 The piles of junk and manure. 🔧 The goats 🐐 tied to the tree, the homesteaders processing their own deer and hogs 🐖. They call it poverty or ignorant rednecks but those people are a lot smarter and privledged than I. Someday I’ll own an off grid cabin 🏡 and do a little homesteading myself but I’ll never be a true country boy :mrgreen: like those who were raised the life in a place like Southern Madison County. Sure, a lot of my neighbors growing up raised pigs and cows, llved in trailers or modular homes and even burned their own trash 🔥 but I grew up in an ordinary house in the country to college educated 🎓 parents. They had goats and chickens 🐔 buy were no means real country boys.

Tonight will have a with 15% illuminated with the moon setting at 6:57 pm. It is definitely a pretty beautiful little moon. The is on Wednesday night with mostly cloudy skies. The is on Wednesday night. The sun will rise at 7:31 am with the first light at 6:59 am, which is 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 56 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 29 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will rain likely, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a high of 37 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 13th. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 50 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1984. 6 inches of snow fell back in 1915.❄

Tomorrow morning I’m taking down camp ⛺ and heading to Glimmerglass State Park before the rain ☔. As it is a fairly mild night, 🌃 I decided to not bother with the tent – I’ll be plenty warm once I get snuggled under the covers in my truck bed. I do like the warmth of the hot tent but it is a lot more work to set up and take down. If I were staying multiple nights or if it was colder I’d definitely had considered the tent.

In four weeks on January 25 the sun will be setting at 5:05 pm,🌄 which is 29 minutes and 57 seconds later then today. In 2019 on that day, we had partly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 35 and 15 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 31 and 14 degrees. The record high of 61 degrees was set back in 1938.

Looking ahead, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is in 3 weeks, 5 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 4 weeks, February 🌧 is in 5 weeks, Average High is 50 🌸 is in 3 months, Average High is 60 🌼 is in 16 weeks, Average High is 70 🐮 is in 20 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 21 weeks, and Summer ️⛱️ is in 25 weeks.

Open Area [Expires March 9 2024]

November 24, 2019 Afternoon

Good afternoon! Rain and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a north-northwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 am. ☃️

It was nice camping ⛺ up north in the Adirondacks, and I was surprised that it wasn’t as loud as it sometimes is camping along the East Branch of the Sacanadaga River. Traffic just seemed lighter than normal but I don’t think Gore is open yet nor is snowmobile season and big game hunting season is winding down in the Northern Zone, a lot of people have already tagged out. That said almost all of hunting cabins up north that I passed looked fully occupied with smoke coming out the chimney and lots of pickup trucks parked out front.

Lot more snow than I expected ❄, although not really based on the snow fall estimates which are usually pretty good. Maybe four inches of snow at camp – not real deep but enough that I was glad the site was plowed out by the hunter who had the campsite for the season before they tagged out – probably yesterday – and packed up and left. They also left a ton of firewood 🔥 which was nice, although some of it was particle and chip board although both after I took my axe to it burned well and didn’t stink that much much.

Because I had so much wood I ended up hanging out in camp and starting the fire early 🔥, shoveling around as needed. I didn’t set up a hot tent because I didn’t want to have to dry out my tent in the morning. It did get a bit cold by the fire late around ten as I forgot to pack Long Johns and Wool Socks but once I was under the covers in my truck I was plenty warm. If I go back out on Black Friday to camp – possibly back to the same place – I’ll probably pitch a tent as it’s always nice to have a warm tent to curl up before bed in.

I sat back and had a nice breakfast. 🍳 There was light snow during the overnight, maybe an inch, but by 8 am the roads were just wet. Then relaxing next to the heater ♨, working on some blog posts in the winter wonderland until quarter to ten, while slowly taking down camp, it started to sleet then turn to big globs of snow. ❄ By the time I broke camp, the roads had started to ice up a bit with the fallen snow. South of Wells the snow was about an inch deep on NY 30 but after a slow slog down to Northville, the roads were just wet. I drive super slow and carefully on the icy roads because I do so little winter driving these days 🚘 – and I know if it takes a little longer than necessary to get home safely – it’s still a shit ton better than getting in a crash. Really foggy 🌁 in Amsterdam.

It’s nice being in the wilderness and having a big fire. 🐺 The woods is my happy place where I can make as much noise as I want with my music 🎶 and guns 🔫 and have a nice fire. 🔥 Tossing a wrapper in the fire and watching it burn down to nothing and unzipping my jeans and peeing where ever I want is the best! Few things are quite as warming as a wood fire although that 18,000 BTU heater feels great at camp. Listening 👂 to the birds 🐦 this morning and the coyotes late last night. I can’t wait until I can live a life like this permanently. Not next year but eventually. Living in the city is convenient but I ducking love 😍 the wilderness and the countryside.

This afternoon will rain before 3pm, then rain and snow likely. 🌧 High of 37 degrees at 1pm. Seven degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 11th. Northwest wind 11 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 40 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 2014. That said, a few weeks later I remember snow camping in the Adirondacks. 8.8 inches of snow fell back in 1898.❄

Heading out to the folks house for Sunday dinner around four. 🍲 Warm enough and will stay warm so I expect the roads won’t be bad like they were up north for a while. That said things can change but it’s not that far for a slow pace or staying overnight if necessary.

The sun will set at 4:26 pm with dusk around 4:57 pm, which is 37 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and snow 🌨 and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 13 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 28 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 48 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of rain and snow showers before 7pm, then a slight chance of snow showers between 7pm and 9pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 32 degrees at 5am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 16th. Northwest wind 8 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 2 occurred back in 1938.

Tuesday morning I’m going to the Urgent Care to get my arm checked out 🙋. Five bucks more per copay then my regular doctor who is currently closed. I’m sure they’ll say it’s Lyme and they’ll put me on antibiotics and the aches and occasional severe headaches will fairly quickly go away. It’s become more noticeable since the bulls eye appeared, especially in the arm but I’m sure I’ve had Lyme Disease since I got the tick bite mid October. 🎯It’s not that bad now but I know it will get worse untreated and they’re so much better at addressing Lyme disease than even a few weeks ago. I was hesitant to go and get tested before I had the bulls eye because the test sometimes comes back false negative if you get tested too quickly and I didn’t want the doctor to thank me for the co-payment and send me on my way untreated. 😷

Also need to get a hair cut.💈 My hair has so quickly gotten shaggy. I did shave my goatee back 🐐 as that was getting kind of long and nasty. But the hair I can’t do myself. 💇

My buck fifty cellphone holder 📱I got from AliExpress broke so I couldn’t have Waze open to display my speed yesterday and I blew past a cop 👮 accidentally pm Interstate 890 🚔but fortunately I did not get pulled over. My speedometer is not accurate on Big Red with the lift kit so I always use Waze to know my speed. That said, for me to blow past a cop means doing 60 mph in a 55 zone which is probably what half the motorists are doing all the time. I should get another one. AliExpress is mad cheap but the quality is a crap shoot and it will take a month or two to arrive on the boat from China. 🚤

Definitely thinking about heading back north on Friday depending on the weather. ⛺ Maybe the same site but two nights, plus some hiking and time in the woods with my shotgun. This time I will pitch a tent and hot tent. I really should hook up the low voltage disconnect reset as in the cold and long nights it seems like occasionally the battery voltage dips but probably could be used longer without turning the truck on if I reconnected the reset button.

Propane camp lantern 🏮 isn’t working at all now. Not sure the issue although I suspect the generator tube that pressurizes the gas is fully plugged with mud and soot. During my October camping trip I was having problems with it producing a ton of black soot and burning dimly. I would like to fix it although I’m considering getting an LED lantern like my parents use and putting rechargable batteries in it it or maybe getting a lantern that can be charged by plugging into the USB ports on my truck. LED lanterns are a lot less fragile but probably not as bright as the propane and they need to recharged. Gotta think about it more. 💭

Speaking of broken shit my portable radio 📻 needs a new battery. The rechargable lithium ion BL – 5C battery it came with has failed, it barely holds a charge and it’s gotten all bloated from overcharging or another failure internally of the lithium ion cell. So bloated the battery cover won’t even fit on the radio.🔋 I’m hesitant to charge it now without watching it lest it go thermal and burn up. Years ago I was burning some camp trash and a little CR 2025 button cell got tossed in the fire and man did that go bang. 💥Moral of the story, don’t mess with lithium ion cells.

As previously noted, next Sunday is December 🎄 when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 45 and 31 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 41 degrees. We hit a record high of 67 back in 1934.

Path

October 12, 2019 Morning

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Last full day in West Virginia. 🌲🍂🍃But it’s been a nice road trip, and Sunday night I’ll camp in Pennsylvania before heading home on Columbus Day. Next Saturday is Northern Zone Regular Season 🦌. Clouds with a few breaks of blue sky and 56 degrees at the Monongahela National Forest. ⛅ Seems like a There is a west breeze at 11 mph. 🍃 with gusts up to 22 mph 💨💨💨. The dew point is 50 degrees. Not real cold, no need for the heater but I can hear the wind gust around. The skies will clear around 4 pm.

Made up eggs 🍳 with all the fixings this morning. Should be a good breakfast that will keep me going all day. I am going to go for a hike up in Cannan Heights on one of the trails up here in a bit then will drive down to Blackwater Falls State Park later. ⛲ Today is my last full day in West Virginia but I’m far enough north that if I get a reasonably early start tomorrow, I can poke around the Canaan Wildlife Refuge 🐦 for a while.

Today will have showers likely, mainly before 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 48 by 4pm. ⛅ West wind 11 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. 🍃 Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Fortunately, my campsite is well protected from the wind by the mountain laurel. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 61 degrees. The record high of 85 was set in 1954. There was a dusting of snow in 1904.❄

The sun will set at 6:44 pm with dusk around 7:11 pm, which is one minute and 29 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 29 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have patchy frost after 11pm. Otherwise, mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 36 degrees at 1am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 27th. West wind 3 to 8 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 41 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1981.

Jetpack said my blog was down for a few hours yesterday. 👇 Seems to be working fine today now. Maybe click refresh? I guess it doesn’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things.

Despite washing up using rinse free cleaner along with wet wipes and a wash cloth, sure starting to feel a bit dirty going a week without a shower 🚿. I did shave well and trim my goatee 🐐. Put on lots of deodorant and I’ll shower again come Columbus Day. 🛁 I guess I really am a dirty hick. Certainly my blaze orange hoodie is more brown than orange at this point from the mud. 👃

I figure I smell probably no worse than that guy I saw spreading cow 🐮 manure 💩 in Maryland with an open cab tractor 🚜. I guess you farm with the equipment that you have. Old timers did it that way for many years.

As previously noted, next Saturday is Northern Zone Regular Season 🦌 when the sun will be setting at 6:34 pm with dusk at 7:01 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 60 and 29 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 59 degrees. We hit a record high of 79 back in 1963.

Paddlng Along the Cedar River

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.

2020 Center of Population