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October 15, 2017 Morning

Good morning! Average High is 60. Three weeks to Daylight Savings Time Ends. Cloudy with fog and 65 degrees in Williamsport. There is a east-southeast breeze at 8 mph. The dew point is 57 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around noontime.

Today will be cloudy, with a high of 74 degrees at 4pm. 15 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 60 at 2pm. Southeast wind 8 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1897. There was a dusting of snow in 1939.

The sun will set at 6:26 pm with dusk around 6:53 pm, which is one minute and 32 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy conditions and 71 degrees. The dew point will be 60 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 14 mph with gusts up to 20mph. Today will have 11 hours and 5 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 39 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have showers likely, mainly before 11pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low of 52 degrees at 5am. 10 degrees above normal. Southwest wind around 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2016, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 45 degrees. The record low of 25 occurred back in 1978.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Daylight Savings Time Ends when the sun will be setting at 4:57 pm with dusk at 5:26 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 57 and 32 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 52 degrees. We hit a record high of 75 back in 1994.

Day one of the Great Autumn Trip wasn’t particularly sunny but it was mild and in many parts the colors were pretty good. I know today we are supposed to get showers by evening, but I’m hoping that the skies will be clear for the bulk of the day. We did have a few sprinkles in the evening when I was camping at County Bridge but it wasn’t a big deal.

I didn’t get a real early start on my trip because I wanted to make sure everything was packed that I needed. I think I succeeded at that goal, as I used a check list and I left my apartment pretty darn clear.

US Route 6 hasn’t changed much. I have driven that route too many times, but it’s still a hell of a lot more scenic and interesting to drive then the Southern Tier Expressway. It’s interesting to see the industrial small towns, the paper mills, slaughterhouses, and all the industry that supports the natural gas industry. Unlike New York, rural Pennsylvania has a lot more heavy industry it seems. I think they have different tax laws and are generally friendlier to smoke stack industries. Whether or not that is a good thing is a debate point, but once can saw at least the land is being put to work. I like the gritty nature of Pennsylvania backcountry. Just like I like West Virginia and Virigina. I kind of like the landscape, it reminds me of what America had to have been like during the 1950s. Backwards maybe, but charming at the same time.

I often find myself needing to take a piss while driving. I stopped twice at rest areas and then ended up stopping at the McDonald’s and getting a milk shake so I could use their bathroom and take a piss. I think the milkshake was like $3.50 — for that price, I think I would have been better off to go to ice cream parlor or if I was in New York State, Stewarts.

I was going to stop at Stewarts and buy some firewood but I passed the last Stewarts on my way down to Pennsylvania. So I ended up skipping that and was able to find some firewood around the campground, but the wood I found was pretty damp and punky, but after a good smoke show, some paper and plastic from he campground trash cans, I had a decent fire going by around 7:30 PM. Once the whole mess got started it, wasn’t that bad. I didn’t need the fire for the warmth — it was well in the mid-60s until after in later in the evening, when I put my beloved orange hoodie. I expect I will be wearing that for most of the rest of the week, especially after the front comes through.

First time camping at County Bridge Campground, which is four miles from Morris Run, which like many Northern Pennsylvania villages is little more then a grouping of old houses and hunting camps from some historical era. Blossburg is the next village of any size, but it’s just an exit on US 15 aka future Interstate 99. It’s a fifteen campsite campground, well spread out. There was somebody camping on the other side of the campground in an RV, but they were a good ways away. It was pretty under the maple trees when the sun was open. Lots of nice color. The Morris Run made a nice background for sleeping at night even if it made me kept thinking about taking a piss.

So far the trip has been going well bar the firewood issue I’m ready for the rain showers, especially if I camp at Ohiopyle State Park, where they have hot showers. I was surprised that the none of the Park Service Campgrounds on the Blue Ridge Parkway have showers, even though they charge $20 a night. Well then I probably just overnight at North Creek Campground which is half the price, usually empty on weekdays and doesn’t have showers. Maybe on my trip back home, I should find out if there is a “Modern” campground in Pennsylvania that I can stay at for $20 that includes showers. Maybe I could come farther east and camp on the way back. I’ll figure out at the week progresses. Heck, it tempts me to do Shenandoah National Park, as they have coin showers at one of the campground. But I don’t know I’ve done that before, and I’m not that interested in revisiting much of my 2015 trip. I want to see new things on this trip, and the problem with Skyline Drive is it kind of locks you away from seeing things down in the valley. But on the other hand, it had so many nice views and the road was well maintained.

Discovered last night that I left my card reader home with the second microSD card. Not a big deal but I want to get another microSD card so I can save my trip and pull stuff off it each night. Sometimes the adapter that comes with the SD card can ean be tempermental, but hopefully it will work or I will have to buy another SD card reader. Not expensive but I am annoyed because I thought about this before leaving but did not act. Walmart should save my ass though with this. I plan to stop this morning.

Today I plan to drive down through Mid-State Pennsylvania along I-99 and US 15/US 220 to Ohiopyle State Park, stopping at the Flight 92 Memorial, which is located off the old Lincoln Highway. Ohiopyle looks quite scenic, at least for the overlook. I know we are getting some rain this evening, but I’m hoping it won’t be too bad.

The Appalachian Throughway is absolutely beautiful between Blossburg. I will be posting more photos and videos later on from that part of the trip. 

July 10, 2017 10 AM Update

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Three weeks to Mutts Day. Partly sunny and 76 degrees in Albany. There is a south-southwest breeze at 8 mph. The dew point is 59 degrees.

Looks like a beautiful summer morning. Today should be a nice day but more rain is expected for Tuesday. I guess everyday can’t be perfect. Now the weekend is sliding down hill but that’s still a long ways away and is subject to change. 

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 70 degrees at 3am. Nine degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 66 at 4am. South wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2016, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 59 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1986.

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 in 1962, Telstar, the world’s first communication satellite is launched.

It was pretty last night once the moon started to rise. Lots of moonlight all over the land. Sun came up pretty early and I awoke around 5:30, got up, took a piss and went back to bed for a while. 

Truck smelled a little like gasoline while I was camping last night, as I spilled some gasoline over the bed of the truck, as I didn’t have the gas can properly sealed. It was my fault, I didn’t put the cap on right after filling my camp stove at Moose River Plains. Fixed that, and things are still ventalating out, but I had plenty of gas fumes to breathe last night. 

I am hoping to get my new phone this evening from the FedEx store. I also ordered a protective case so hopefully I won’t drop it so much and if I do it will be more protected. I also look forward to doing more Instagram photos once again because they are fast and easy and are shared both on social media and the blog. 

The more I think about it, the more I’m leaning towards camping at White House. Then I could swim at Wells or Speculator Beach and paddle the flat water of Sacandaga River. Although I wouldn’t mind going back to Pisceo Powley Road again. I do like the trip up there and being farther back in the back country. Assuming that the weather is decent next weekend I have options. Otherwise it’s just another quiet weekend at home before summer vacation in the Finger Lakes. 

Thinking about this year bringing my kayak on summer vacation. I usually don’t because I don’t like hauling the kayak all over but in the heat of summer it might be fun to paddle and fish on the various Finger Lakes. What I’m thinking is that once I set up camp I could lock my kayak to a tree so I’m not driving around with it all week. I could do the same thing when I’m at the Allegheny National Forest and are going out to Presque Isle State Park. That way I wouldn’t have to drag the kayak around everywhere.

Today will be mostly sunny, with a high of 85 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 63 at 6pm. Southwest wind 8 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 79 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1936.

The sun will set at 8:33 pm with dusk around 9:07 pm, which is 29 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly cloudy conditions and 78 degrees. The dew point will be 64 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 14 seconds over yesterday.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Mutts Day when the sun will be setting at 8:15 pm with dusk at 8:47 pm. On that day in 2016, we had rain, drizzle, fog, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 71 and 63 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 82 degrees. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1917.

June 12, 2017 Night

Good evening! Partly clear and 79 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 7 mph. The dew point is 62 degrees. Pretty warm evening after a hot day but it could be a lot worse. We only tied the record for today and the dew point was only in the muggy, not the oppressive range. 

After getting back from my evening walk, I’m sitting out back in a lawn chair with the fan in my truck cap blowing air on me making it feel a little better cooler. With the breeze from the fan and the relatively low dew point its pretty reasonable but when I was in my apartment earlier getting changed, it’s still pretty oppressive. I’m quite impressed by this little oscillating fan. It pushes around a lot of air for being an inexpensive 12 volt fan. I have the truck cap lights doing the slow cycle through their colors. 

Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low of 73 degrees at 4am. 16 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 66 at 5am.  As the night progresses, it will get stickier. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming southwest after midnight. In 2016, it got down to 52 degrees with rain and mostly cloudy skies. The record low of 38 occurred back in 1974.

Waning Gibbous Moon tonight with 77% illuminated. The moon will rise around 9:58 pm. The Last Quarter Moon is on Saturday night with chance of t-storms expected. The Full “Buck” Moon is on Sunday, July 9th. The sun will rise at 5:16 am with the first light at 4:42 am, which is 4 seconds earlier than yesterday. Tonight will have 8 hours and 42 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 31 seconds over last night.

Nice summer evening, the air smells a little like fresh hay from the farm chopping it down the road. The stars are decent tonight, although it’s not totally dark yet. Some fire flies around, although I think I walked a bit too early to see the bat. I’m sure he’s around although I don’t think they are common as they once were. That’s kind of bad, because we need more bats after such a buggy spring. I heard more rain the second half of the week into the weekend. 

Today was the work picnic at Martell’s at the Albany Golf Course. Wasn’t a half bad evening but it was hot. I made the mistake of walking back to my truck parked up by SUNY which made me into a sweaty pig. I didn’t mind abstaining from drinking because the one glass of Coors Light I had made the diet soda taste good in constrast. Food, while basic picnic food was pretty good and by evening it had cooled down a bit. Nice way to close out another session year. I think I had the biggest truck in the lot but then again they’re aren’t a lot of people in government who drive pickup trucks, at least to work. 

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high of 85 degrees at 2pm. Nine degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 69 at 11am. The mercury won’t be as high tomorrow as today but it will feel a lot more muggy. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Some relief expected Thursday when it becomes less humid. A year ago, we had rain, mostly cloudy skies and a high of 66 degrees. The record high of 94 was set in 1892.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 78. Maximum dew point of 66 at 4pm. Sunday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 83. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 71 at 4pm. That’s going to be pretty oppressive.  Typical average high for the weekend is 79 degrees. Summer like temperatures but not a lot of sun expected this weekend for sure. 

In four weeks on July 10 the sun will be setting at 8:33 pm, which is 9 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had rain, drizzle, patches of fog, mist, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 79 and 63 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 82 and 61 degrees. The record high of 100 degrees was set back in 1936.

Finally got the photos and videos uploaded from the last weekend. It was a good weekend if it was fairly ordinary on Pisceo Powley Road. I keep playing with video. My only complaint is that I wish the weekend was a bit longer and the weather a bit sunnier and warmer on Saturday. It was almost perfect on Sunday though, until it was time to go home. Bugs were bad though. 

Been having some problems with my dashboard camera locking in the mountains due to a GPS bug. I noticed that they have a firmware update that may address this issue. I like how the dash cam manufacturer keeps putting out meaningful upgrades and how all you have to do to upgrade is save the file on the root of the flash card then put it back in the dash cam and turn it on. Doesn’t require Windows or any specific PC program to update the firmware. 

Next weekend I’m heading to the Gas Up. It looks like Saturday will have the best weather. I want to get the homemade ice cream there, made by the antique Blackstone engine or whatever that is called. I want to poke around the exhibits more and make some more videos. Probably no to camping this weekend but it depends on the weather. 

Then the following weekend I might go swimming at Mine Kill State Park, camp at Burnt Rossman, fish the Schoharie Creek and maybe visit the farm markets in Fulton for fresh fruit. And maybe hike the Cliffs of Middleburg. So many fun things to do in Schoharie County. Probably just one night as I expect to be tired after a busy week at work. 

Using the headphone speaker wire to tie my wallet to my belt seems to work fine, although I guess to the paranoid it looks like I’m wearing a wire for spying. But especially with the suit on it looks essentially invisible and if it does fall out of my pocket I’ll feel the wire tug on my belt. The insulated headphone wire is quite durable and because I break ear buds with some regularity, i should have plenty of wire to replace it when it wears out and breaks again. 

Looking ahead, Mutts Day is in 7 weeks, Strugeon Moon is in 8 weeks, Last Sunset After 8 PM is in 2 months, Labor Day is in 12 weeks, September 11th is in 13 weeks, More Night Then Day in Albany is in 15 weeks, Columbus Day is in 17 weeks, Christmas is in 28 weeks, January 1, 2018 is in 29 weeks and 35th Birthday is in 33 weeks.

With that sun coming up so early and the mercury now dropping a bit, I probably should retire to bed. 

December 7, 2016 9 AM Update

Good morning! Today marks two weeks to First Day of Winter. Globby rain and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. About an inch of wet globby snow on the grass and pavement. The skies will clear tomorrow around 5 pm. Almost perfect timing for the bus this morning, and it is a brand new bus that I’m taking downtown.

Today will have a chance of rain between 9am and noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 43 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees above normal. South wind around 7 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had fog and a high of 48 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1998. 5.5 inches of snow fell back in 2003.

Discovered a rip in the shirt I was going to wear to work today. I guess I will be retiring that one to rag pile. I might actually use it for a rag as it’s torn in the elbo, or I might donate it to the shirt recycling bin. i try to get rid of worn clothing soon after it’s ripped, because otherwise it just accumulates and keeps me from finding actually usable clothing for work and casual use.

It certainly looks like it will generally be a cold and damp December day. Just clouds tomorrow but cold for Saturday. The high for Saturday is 33 degrees and even colder for the Adirondacks.  Sunday will snow, with an inch expected by afternoon. Not a lot of snow, but certainly enough to make the roads slick with the lower temperatures expected. I was hoping to get up north with their sunny skies on Saturday but now it looks like it will be winder then earlier expected. It’s possible that I will instead go down to Kaaterskill Falls and the rail trail on Saturday. Depends how cold it is. Or I could stay local and maybe just go for a walk along the rail trail to the South End.

The sun will set at 4:21 pm with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 3 seconds earlier than yesterday. Pretty much the earliest sunset of the year. Today will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 58 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 27 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight. In 2015, it got down to 26 degrees with periods of fog. The record low of -3 occurred back in 1902.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until First Day of Winter when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm. Four minutes later than today.  On that day in 2015, we had rain and temperatures between 48 and 33 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high for the first day of winter of 59 back in 1957.

Yesterday, I got notice from the Comptroller’s office that starting within the next three months, I’ll have 10 years of state service in. That means I won’t any longer have to contribute with a payroll deduction for my pension. Which is nice because it frees the money up for me to invest elsewheres. I can’t believe ten years has come and gone so quickly, but then again, in a few weeks it will be 2017. Before you know it, will be 2020. If I stay with the state and continue for another 22 years, I’ll be able to retire at age 55 with a full pension. But I doubt I’ll do it, but who knows.

Today in 1941, was the World War II Attack on Pearl Harbor. The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

In 1972, Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth. There was a time before remote sensing and the earth imagery that has now become common place and widely accepted with technologies like Google Maps and Orthophotograhpy.

 

November 27, 2016 Morning

Good afternoon! Happy Sunday. Four weeks until Christmas. Mostly cloudy and 40 degrees in Delmar. There is a northwest breeze at 7 mph. The skies will clear around 3 pm.

Today will be mostly cloudy, with a high of 42 degrees at 1pm. Some clearing later. One degrees below normal. Northwest wind 7 to 11 mph. Last year, mostly cloudy with a high around 64. The record high of 66 was set in 1896. There was 4.8 inches of snow back in 1940.

The sun will set at 4:24 pm with dusk around 4:55 pm, which is 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. Today will have 9 hours and 21 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 1 minutes and 35 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low of 27 degrees at 6am. One degrees below normal. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm after midnight. One year ago, cloudy with a low around 35. The record low of 6 occurred back in 1951.

There are 4 weeks until Christmas when the sun will be setting at 4:28 pm with dusk at 5:00 pm. The average high temperature is 33 degrees, with a record high of 66 in 1889. 

Today in 1978 in San Francisco, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former Board of Supervisors members  and police officer Dan White who resigned in protest over a juvenile facility for violent criminals being built in his neighborhood. People make this out to be a big gay rights or gun control story, when the truth is it’s more an overheated angry political debate that turned violent. It’s not clear that Harvey Milk was even shot because he was gay. Moreover,  you aren’t going to be able to take guns away from previously law-abiding retited cops and elected officials. 

Yesterday my sister brought her young daughter over to my parents house. We sung Christmas songs and she was cute. It was a fun afternoon. Spinach casserole for dinner. Yum. 

Continuing to make progress on getting my new laptop setup. Everything is fully restored except for the PostGIS database. I have the database files and I believe they will work fine once I get the backported version of Postgresql 9.4 installed on my laptop and converted to Postgresql 9.6. Once that is done I’ll be back in the map making business. I also have left to install the photo management app that I like but have forgotten the name of the program. 

I finally removed the old registration sticker from my truck and got the new one on. I was hoping for a nice sunny and warm morning so the sticker would remain firmly affixed but that was not to be. Pocket knife, and steel scrubbing pad, warm water, wet towel got it done. I do need to buy or find in my man cave  yet another glass scraper and lock it in the truck. Now with the new registration sticker Donald Trump and his gestapo can’t call me an illegal. I registered with his government.  The old one was going to expire on on Wednesday.  Topped off the windshield washer fluid this morning. 

Made an omlet this morning. I use the mixer and the frying pan on low. That’s one of nice things about being home, although I actually eat more eggs when I’m camping. That said when I was living in North Syracuse, I never had eggs because I didn’t really have a place to cook them. Eggs make a good breakfast especially when mixed with lots of healthy veggies. I try to eat more veggies every day. 

I also bought a bunch more breakfast stuff, including the mega box of 60 frozen toaster waffles they sell at Shoprite. Nearly half of my freezer is waffles – I had pull out a gallon of ice. Going forward I don’t expect I’ll need much ice as it’s winter. It pretty full with left overs, and part of a squirrel I chopped up a while back. 

I like waffles topped with tons of frozen fruit, skipping syrup and butter. It makes it fairly healthy, although I do also have breakfast sausage. Easy to make, just toss it all in the oven and continue to get ready for work. 

It’s such a gray day. I was originally thinking about going to Kaaterskill Falls and the rail trail but it was removed from the agenda. I might walk the local rail trail this afternoon, if we ever see the sun again in Delmar. Forecast says maybe. 

Probably going down to the library for a bit, so I can try to get the back ported postgresql up and running. I also have some minor blog updates to upload. We will see. I need to run to Walmart to get sandwich meat (I find that the fresh cut from the local grocery stores don’t last) and wash the truck in Glenmont. 

Oiled the shotgun this morning. It needed it, I spotted some rust on the barrel. I’ll probably be back out in the field once big game season is over. Thinking about camping in the Adirondacks in two weeks. 

Need to run to Sears this week to get more Oxford shirts. I also need to get a new winter coat and a sportscoat for work. I guess if I have to take some money from savings so be it. Things eventually wear out no matter how careful you are. I tend to fully maximize the life of things that I own. 

October 2, 2016 Morning

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Cloudy, damp and 57 degrees out hiking in the fields of Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville. Calm wind. The dew point is 55 degrees. The skies will clear Tuesday around 7 am.

The colors are starting to come out a bit, although the trees are still mostly green with some yellow popping in locations. Columbus Day will be close to peak color, although it may be fairly late in these lower elevations. On a cloudy day like this you get better pictures if you set the white balance set properly on the camera, although that can be fixed on post processing if the photos aren’t over exposed. I’m afraid I didn’t get a good picture of the buck that ran out in the field. 

Joggers on the trails are pretty annoying but it is still pretty quiet on the open meadows that dominate the hilltops up here. 

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 69 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 4pm. South wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. The record high of 85 was set in 1927. The sun will set at 6:41 pm with dusk around 7:10 pm, which is 1 minutes and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. 

As we head towards the winter solstice, our days quickly get shorter. Today will have 11 hours and 37 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.I remember back to the 26th when we had 12 hours of light and day. Thank God for coal fired power plants, electric lamps, and headlights. 

Tonight will have showers and possibly a thunderstorm before midnight, then a chance of showers. Low around 53, with a low of 53 degrees at 6am. Another mild evening. Nine degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 6pm. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1945.

There are 2 weeks until the Hunter’s  Moon when the sun will be setting at 6:18 pm with dusk at 6:46 pm. The average high temperature is 60 degrees, with a record high of 88 in 1947. Autumn always comes and goes so quickly. 

September 20, 2015 evening

Good evening on this chilly late summer evening. Already down to 43 degrees and clear. Heading 38 degrees by daybreak. While the colors are just starting to turn in the Tug Hill and Western Adirondacks, they certainly will accelerate with the cooler nights of recent.

The morning was cloudy and cold. I wasn’t feeling that great with a cold and sore throat kind of knocking me out. But around 11 AM it cleared out and I had a nice breakfast of grilled sausage and eggs. Eventually I got up and going,   packed up and headed over to Whetstone Gulf Trail.

I hiked the South Rim Trail over to the Overlook then halfway back to Corrigan Hill Road. It was a nice hike and my ankle was fairly strong but I also wore my ankle brace. A bit sore at the end of the hike but by evening was fine. I drank plenty of fluids which kept my throat from getting too dried out.

Later I hiked inside the gorge. With the campground closed, they also had the Day Use Area gated up. But you could still walk inside the gorge. The upper end of the developed area in the gorge, was a mess as earlier this year a landslide caused Whetstone Creek to reroute through the picnic area, leaving tables dumped around everywhere. I hiked beyond the developed area along the old trail, deep into the glen. No remarkable views, but a pretty, deep glen. My cellphone battery was dead, but I got photos on my Digital SLR camera. Will post these photos later on.

It took a while for my phone to charge so I didn’t have my GPS mapping app to find my way to Whetstone Reservoir. I missed a turn but I remembered the directions later on and turned around. I got up to the Whetstone Reservoir and found it was drained. I am guessing that they drained it to reduce the flow when fixing the park below, or maybe to fix the causeway, or maybe because the dam was damaged in the same storm that damaged the park below.

I proceeded to get lost trying to find the causeway across the reservoir without my phone GPS. I took a wrong turn and ended up on North Road, heading south through the Lesser Wilderness State Forest. Beautiful state lands with a lot of marshes and boreal forest, but not exactly where I was planning on going. Spotted two ring-necked pheasants along the road. Eventually my phone charged up enough and booted up. I found my way to the Causeway across Whetstone Reservoir and what used to some beautiful views of the area was now just mud flats. Hopefully, they’ll restore the reservoir by next summer. Jesse told me that the fishing was fairly crappy there as it’s so shallow but the DEC says it’s stocked with large mouth bass and tiger muskie. Oh, well.

Puttered around the dirt roads up there for a bit, hoping to find a dirt road back to NY 177 and then Lowville but the road I was on, while appearing to be a through road on the often very out of date topographic map either petered out or became rough enough when I reached another portion of Lesser Wilderness State Forest, I turned around and went back over Graves Road and through the middle of Maple Ridge Wind Farm. People talk about wind being wonderful but it really is just another industrial source of energy with many of the same impacts as fracking. Wind turbines are noisy and cast shadows. But at least they’re carbon free once constructed. Some nice hunting cabins and pretty rural land up there.

Drove to Lowville and got cough medicine. Got back to camp and started a fire, cooked up some hot chilli with corn, kielbasa, and cheese. With cold milk, tasted good. Sat by the fire for a few hours but retired to the truck around 10 PM as it was getting cold and I was tired. And now I finishing up this blog post under the covers…. Good night!