Always the nicest day is the day when you got to head home. And I’m not even stoned, just enjoying the pure beauty of the cloud free morning with a nice breeze at here at Powley Place.

A dragon 🐲 lives forever, but not so do a camping adventure no matter how much grass you smoke. But in two to three weeks I’ll be heading out to the Finger Lakes for nine nights, and I have plenty of cannabis left over for the next colorful adventure. ⛺ Honnah Lee isn’t that far away. I left the kayak 🛶 at Powley Bridge, I’ll explore the East Canada Creek this morning then down to the Potholers midday and then down to Tribes Hill and Fort Hunter and ride the Erie Canalway from Schoharie Crossing to Canajoharie and back, 🚲 spending some time exploring Fonda and Fultonville.

I was so happy to make it back to Ferris Lake 🏞️ after my first attempt at heading back, trying to wade across the north east branch of the East Canada Creek ended me nearly knee deep in mud, leaving me searching in the muck for my fake crocks. Ultimately soaked and covered with mud, I returned to camp ⛺ and grabbed my kayak 🛶, portaged it on my back down to Powley Bridge and paddled on the East Canada Creek to where the branches come together.

I secured the kayak to a tree and then bushwacked 🌲down to Franks Pond outlet, following that part of the way to Franks Pond then climbing up the ridge and following it around Franks Pond and then down to Ferris Lake. 🐸 I was so happy to make Ferris Lake, I’ve been planning this hike for 13 years but figuring a good route in the back country with there being so many hills, dense old growth forests, creeks and marshes long gave me pause. Using the kayak though to cross the East Canada Creek was the key 🗝 , followed by using Franks Pond Outlet and climbing the ridge was key to finally getting there.

Truth is the hike back to Ferris Lake is maybe 45 minutes or less 🚶 once you cross the East Canada Creek. You also don’t want to get too close to Franks Pond unless your planning on visiting it as the shoreline is marshy, the hillsides on both the north and south lined with thick messes of trees. But it’s worth it to have finally made it to Ferris Lake. Reminded d me a bit of Wilcox Lake, another large namesake wilderness lake, there were several loons 🦆 singing there. Good year for grouse 🦤 – flushed several out on my hike back there.

Got back to camp around 3 pm and cooked up some zucchini 🍆 and bacon 🥓 and had a good lunch. Walked the tube 🛟and floated on the East Canada Creek for a while after a good toke. It was kind of hot with the sun out ☀ on that black tube. Had to seek out shade. Came back to camp as a thunderstorm ⛈ was quickly bearing down and headed back into the camper shell for a good nap as the rain bore down.

The forest ranger came by around 6 pm and buzzed by the campsite twice 👮 maybe because he saw the tube out front of the truck and it caught his eye 👁‍🗨 or maybe he smelled the cannabis, even though it’s totally legal to smoke these days. 🐉 No idea but then again I don’t like playing ten dozen questions with law enforcement, though if I knew the right questions I could ask about the next place to explore. That said, I probably wasn’t thinking 💭 clearly last night so best not to speak at all.

Around 6 pm I headed out on my mountain bike 🚵 to Gold Mine Stream Falls. 💠 Sat down by the falls though did not swim until around 8 pm when I hiked back to the road and the back to camp. It was nice down by the falls, especially with enough DEET applied to keep the deer fly at bay. 🪰 Sometimes just sitting by the golden waterfalls is enough for me. It seems like the trail has been getting a lot more use this year compared to most years.

I had a craving for pancakes for dinner 🥞 – specifically apple cinnamon pancakes – so I cut up some apples 🍏 and mixed some whole wheat 🌾 flour, stevia, water, and baking powder together and had pancakes hot off the griddle. Built a rip roaring fire 🔥 sat and studied the stars. ✨ Stayed up until around 11:30. Eggs for breakfast, 🍳 and I’m laying in the hammock enjoying the morning before taking down camp shortly.

This week I think I’ll have to break down and buy a new phone 📱. The power button 🔳 has quit working on the phone and the screen has more and more problems with misfiring and generally not working. I’ve put up with a broken phone for some time now but I should get one. Plus replace my boots 🥾 which after a year the hole gets larger and larger in. I hate buying new and throwing away but there is only so much use you can get out of shit and usually impossible or much more costly to replace. I’ll drop the old boots off at clothing recycle ♻ bin and I should take my stack of broken old phones to Staples or somewheres similar for r-recycling. I’ve burnt shit like that in the past but it’s pretty noxious. 🔥 I’m a professional, I make good money 💵 , I shouldn’t have to deal with all this broken crap all the time.

Finally cut into that watermelon 🍉 last night. Delicious! 😋 I found some wild blueberries around 🫐 but they are just starting to ripen and aren’t real sweet. Didn’t grab the ones right by the campsite, lest folks or dogs 🐶 had peed on them, as the book 📙 I was reading on foraging notes. Had a lot of good eats at camp but after my first smoke those cherry tomatoes 🍅 were quickly gone. So bright and red juicy!

I was thinking it’s been 13 years since I have regularly been coming up to Piseco-Powley in the summer. ⛺ That number is significant in my mind as I’m only 13 ½ years away from my 55th birthday 🎂 when I can file for early retirement, move out west, have acerage and the homestead 🏡 I really want. Yet, while much has changed, a lot has stayed the same at Piseco-Powley, bar the loss of the 1904 bridge during that Halloween 2019 storm which seems like a distant memory now, a half decade ago. 13 years ago I was still driving the Ford Ranger 🛻 and was a Researcher – now I’m the Director of Data Services and my big jacked up Chevy Silverado is a getting old and I have many memories of adventures with it. 💭 Who knows who I’ll be at age 55. Maybe the off grid homestead in the mountains is just a pipe dream but a mighty good one too. The