This past fall I hiked up Buck Mountain on a day when the fog was lifting. Not as clear as I had hoped, but still quite a nice little hike.
essays
I’ll Be Age 67 in 2050
Folks in my age group under Social Security can retire at Age 67 if they so please. While I don’t know if I will retire at Age 67, I generally believe that Social Security will be fixed by that point, and that will be an option if I so choose. I hope I have the finanical savings and a pension at that point to supplement social security if that’s what I want, or choose to continue to work if work is my passion and I feel that I am doing good for society by continuing to work.
The year 2050 is an interesting one. It’s a popular round number taken up by political pundits and futurists trying to predict the future.
Bill McKibbean and the 350 people insist that humanity must reduce it’s carbon outputs by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050, also known as the 350 ppm by 2050 goal. Others insist that there will be no Social Security in 2050, or that fossil fuels will run out by 2050, or that the world will be otherwise awful dark and bleak in 2050. Some like James Howard Kunstler think the year 2050 will be one of mass suffering and misery, as humanity fails to move away from it’s excessive use of fossil fuels and international commerence.
More hopeful futurists look at 2050 as era of great progress, an age of great equality, and technocratic success. Transportation will be automated and run on clean electricity generated from renewable sources that won’t harm the planet. Flying cars will wisk you to your destination! People will overcome their evil ways, and war will be obsolete. Humans will be healthier and avoid much of the suffering that is the norm of the day. Poverty will be a thing of the past.
I suspect both predictions will be look increadibly dated by the time I’m ready to enter retirement and my golden years. After all, the year of 2050 is about as far away as the year 1972. Since 1972, the world has not choked and died from smog or excessive development. There are still vast areas of open lands, forests, and farm land. Yet, there are still pollution problems, and we have yet to enter an age of golden prosperty. 39 years later, still a lot of people are still suffering, but things have gotten better for many people.
I truly believe that world is not coming to an end. I also don’t believe the world of 2050 will be vastly different then today, even if fashions change as do technologies. Some things will become easier, and maybe more automated, but the world will look remarkably like today.
How NY State is Connected By Roads
Most times when you look at maps, they contain a lot more information then just roads. Most maps have parks, water bodies, road names and numbers. Lots of data to make the map useful. Yet, that distracts from the main purpose of roads — a circulatory system for the state’s commerce, to allow goods and people to move freely across the state.
As you will see, Highway Systems could almost be maps of human veins and arteries. Terrain plays a role in highway systems, though modern highways can blast their way through almost any barrier, climb any hill, cross any water body, to be fully connected. Highways go where people have historically chosen to engage in commerce.
Expressways, Primary Arteries.
These are the most traveled and most important arteries of NY State, that allow commerce to flow across state. Not too surprising, but shows how cities across our state are connected.
Various NY State Cities.
Many Upstate Regions have similar looking arterial systems. There is an urban street grid, then a twisty suburban street grid, with major arterial surrounding the cities, often only partially completed after 1973 when Nelson Rockefeller canceled most major urban highway projects due to the recession and increased concern about urban expressway impacts. The arterial system around Binghamton is particularly interesting, as a reflection of the deep alluvial valleys and rugged terrain that surrounds this relatively small city.
Moose River Plains Renderings
Land Uses in Mohawk Valley
How much of the Mohawk Valley is developed, how much is farmed, and how much is forested? These images give you a clear overview, with all agricultural cropland and pasture colored yellow, all forest lands colored green, waterways colored blue, and developed areas are red. This is based on LANDSTAT and USDA NASS Croplayer data.
Overwhelmingly, the Mohawk Valley is about agriculture, although as elevation increases and farming is no longer profitable, then farm fields revert to tree cover. And while their are certainly single family homes and other rural residents under the tree cover, by no means is development the overwhelming use of the land.
Most of the farming in the Utica-area, occurs south of the city, due to the sandy soils, short growing season, and elevation making farming unprofitable north of city. This map may actually distort how much land north of city is actually farmed, as many of farm fields shown on this map have been abandoned and are slowly reverting to brush and ultimately tree cover.
As you get around Canajoharie the amount of farming activity picks up dramatically, and except for a small section right next to the Mohawk Valley, most of this area is not developed.
Heading towards Albany-Schenectady, you see more development, but notice how you don’t have to get far from the city for forest cover to be dominant feature, and not agriculture. A lot of this is rural residents, with acreage, and hobby farms around here. Farming stops when you get up on the Rensselear Plateau, although the farm lands right around Brunswick are quite profitable, until you start heading towards Grafton where almost all farming stops.
Lake Champlain Bridge Arch Lifting
Since the start of the replacement of the Lake Champlain Bridge, the NYSDOT has had an EarthCam WebCam focused on the bridge construction, so the public could watch the construction progressed. EarthCam allows one to either link or download the individual web cam images, snapped every five minutes, so I thought it would be interesting to put together an essay containing pictures of the bridge construction, every hour.
Friday, August 26, 2011, was a particularly interesting day, as that was the day the lifted the central archway on the Lake Champlain Bridge. A full-day project, it shows the bridge without the central archway in the morning, and by 9 PM the same night, full hoisted into place. The pictures are quite remarkable and beautiful to say the least.
5 AM.
6 AM.
7 AM.
8 AM.
9 AM.
10 AM.
11 AM.
12 Noon.
1 PM.
2 PM.
3 PM.
4 PM.
5 PM.
6 PM.
7 PM.
8 PM.
9 PM.
Utica Marsh
Despite the Utica Marsh being located right off of I-790, and easily viewable from a car speeding into Utica from the North, it’s not quite as easy to get to as a pedestrian, as the former Barnes Avenue Bridge is closed off to all but pedestrians. You now have three options if you want to see the Utica Marsh up and close:
- Park at the North Genesee Street Park and Ride / Harbor Lock Area, and follow Erie Canal Bikepath west, past NYSDOT building, past an old Utica garbage dump, over the Utica Harbor Lock, under I-790 to Utica Marsh. Roughly 1 mile.
- Park at the end of Barnes Avenue, and hike over abandoned Barnes Avenue Bridge along abandoned junkyard, to Utica Marsh. Roughly 1.5 miles to over look, but views along western marsh when you hike in this way.
- Kayak from somewheres on Erie Canal (e.g. somewheres around Utica, Whitesboro, Rome) to underneath most westernly I-790 bridge, pull out of water, walk like 100 ft to Marsh overlook.
I didn’t have my kayak with me this particular weekened, so I chose the Park and Ride lot. Nice hike, and you get to check out the Utica Harbor Lock — and actually cross it too. I didn’t particularly care for the gritty urban neighborhood that Barnes Avenue is located in, and didn’t feel safe parking there. So I recommend parking at the North Genesee Avenue Park and Ride Lot, which is just south of the Erie Canal, when you get off the Thruway.
You might want to include this in a kayaking trip along the beautiful Erie Canal in this area. While this is urban Utica, the reality the canal is cut into muck soils of the Mohawk River headwaters, and while much of the land is either landfilled or tiled for agriculture around it, it’s still very beautiful kayak ride with only one lock between South Utica and Rome.
This is a really good trip to make when returning from the Adirondacks in the evening — take NY 12 from NY 28 South to the Thruway. Or if your heading West to East in NY State, not a bad stop for an hour or two. Or you can head North from Madison County on NY 8. All worth the trip!
