Black flies — there really is only one solution to them: don’t be hanging out until they are gone for the night. That means waiting for darkness to come over the land. Then the party can get started.
Black flies aren’t out all night. So that’s the best time to up and own doing things. Like cooking dinner, drinking beer, and hanging out by the campfire. There is nothing wrong with staying up all night during black fly season, because the days really aren’t that wonderful, if you don’t like getting eaten alive.
Granted, in the darkness, you are somewhat restricted in what you can do. But bring a flashlight, and hell, maybe a bunch of Christmas lights, party lights, and big bright 100-watt equivalent florescent lights, and pretend it’s day light. It’s also cooler, and generally much nicer in then in the day time.
During black fly season, the whole purpose of the day is to be sleeping, and recovering from the hang overs of the previous night.
Today is the first day of autumn. While technically we have a little more daylight then night, we are now in the season of when they nights will grow longer then the days.
Today is the first day of fall. It’s also the first night of year when the night time equals or exceeds daylight. It seems rather strange after a summer of short nights and long days, to have the process reverse, but it’s a natural process, that man can not overcome.
I was setting up camp last night, and it really struck me how long the night time really was. I had to be camp by 7 PM, because it was already dark. The sun doesn’t rise until 6:30 or so now in the morning. It makes the evenings awful long with all their darkness, even if my campsite is well lit.
Long winter nights are all part of nature’s cycle. New England ecosystems depend on those winter nights, to keep ecosystem healthy. Darkness is just part of the whole cycle of winter, and cold and snow it brings. But it sure seems like 7 PM is an awful early hour to get dark.
It will be even stranger when the time changes in November, when the days start after 6:40 AM and end a little after 4 PM. Winter certainly is dark in the northeast.
Regardless, I guess the darkness doesn’t matter that much. Man has gotten good at lighting the way, so any darkness is offset by man’s artificial light. But it seems so strange returning to days when darkness exceeds light.
When I go camping, I rarely stay at a campsite more then 2 or 3 nights. After a while, staying at a single campsite tends to become boring, and uninteresting, after you’ve explored all of the land around the campsite. Camping should be a break from the routine, not a repetition of the same experience over and over again.
You need a camping permit if you plan to stay at the same site more then 3 nights in a row in NY State. Which is fine, especially because I never really reach that level. I am always traveling and going to new places, because frankly staying in the same campsite more then a couple of nights is real boring.
I would much rather travel and go place to place, rather then spend all night in same old campsite, night after night. New vistas and new experiences are more important, then the temporary inconvience of breaking camp, the reassembling camp, in the next state forest or wild forest I am camping in.
Maybe I’m just young and like to ramble. But I also get tired of same repetition, and are always seeking new vistas and places to explore, and not the same old boring experience.
I normally am not a fan of rain when I am camping. I don’t like getting wet, and rain can put a damper in plans to go hiking. I worry about rain washing out the roads, or making the mud so deep and slippery the roads become impassable and I’m stuck on whatever truck trail I am currently on.
My truck cap leaks. By at least one of the windows, the fiber glass has shrunk around the window — probably from my use of Sterno to heat the cap — and allowed water to leak in whenever it rains. The wet isn’t bad, but it does make it damp.
The windows can’t be open when it rains — at least heavily — because of the slant to make the truck cap more aerodynamic. It gets humid under the cap, with no air flowing around to make up for the moist air I breathe out.
I worry about severe thunderstorms, as the I know laying in the steel truck bed, in a severe thunderstorm offers no protection from lightening, and the fiberglass would tear and shatter if a tree came down.
Yet, worst of all, it can be entrapping. There is relatively little room, especially with gear. I might have enough room to sleep in the truck cap, but it really isn’t big enough for doing any real living inside, with nowhere to stretch or move, without flipping down the tailgate.
Regardless, I kind of like the sound of rain on the truck cap. I can be loud, but it also is so soothing.
I spent a night up at Beebe Hill, at the Chance of Thunder Lean-To about two weeks ago. It was a very humid night, and it clouded up much too early, however, it still was enjoyable experience.
My camera’s batteries where weak, as this was a last minute decision to spend the night up there, so some of these photos are from a previous spring pictures.
As you can see, it was very hazy at night.
The sun sets into the haze.
By night time the wind was whipping around, with the steel in the tower giving a bit, and it was hard to get a steady photo on the tower, even with the tripod. Yet, it was so beautiful — I went up there at 9:30 PM then once again at midnight. You could see the lights from Ravena to Hudson from the tower, including farms and houses, and while the moon was still out, the outline of hills and valleys, and very faintly the Catskill mountains. It was amazing.
The next morning it was very foggy out from the humidity, almost looking like rain, but it was not raining.
I descended the mountain, headed home around 9:30 AM, as I had to get cleaned up for the Bethlehem for Peace Picnic.
This is a re-run from April 27, 2009, camping out at my parents house last year. This past weekend I put the cap on my truck, and look forward to the spring.
— Andy
Last night was the first night of the year I spent sleeping out in the bed of my pickup truck. I have the cap on, the sleeping pads and bags back in, an it was a delightful 75 degrees out last night. The weather was amazing, the stars where great, and I built a big campfire in the back field a ways from my parents house.
I had forgotten the wonders of the night. Sitting out and listening to the spring peepers and creek flowing by. Watching the flames flicker in the campfire. Swatting the black flies. Wandering around the field, looking at the stars and the distant city lights. Tossing stones over the creek bank into the stream 10 feet below.
As the fire burned on, I took off my clothes in the warm springtime eve air. I hopped in the creek, illuminated by the campfire. It was so refreshing after a warm summer day, and it cleared my thoughts. I could hear the owl in the distance, and the water bubbling down and over the rocks. It was so wonderful. I got out of the creek, and up the bank, and quickly dried off with the warm air.
I sat and listened to some old Gunsmoke radio programs I had downloaded to my Mp3 player and on my truck’s radio. The hours ticked by and the moon rose. It was almost 1 AM when I climbed in the bed of my truck, turned out the florescent lead lamp, slammed shut the tailgate and went to bed. I looked up through the back window of the truck cap at the stars and closed my eyes to sounds of the crickets.
Morning came, and I awoke with the hot sun beating down on my truck cap. It certainly was bright and beautiful out. I heard the neighbor’s cows mooing to be milked, and the occasional neigh of sheep and squeal of geese and hogs. Morning had arrived once again. I folded up my sleeping bag and moved things from the cab of my truck back to the bed, fired up the truck, and off I went on this beautiful warm spring morning.
About 8 miles from where I live there is the Henry Hudson River Park in the Town of the Bethlehem. I’m not a big fan of urbanized parks, but this one is fairly rural and sits on the beautiful Hudson River. You can sit down there, and watch the boats and barges go up and down the river, and the people walk around.
It’s a peaceful oasis not too far from craziness of the city. It’s a quick refreshment that is still affordable to go down and enjoy, regardless of the gas prices. It’s some beauty that is accessible with out consuming lots of gasoline. It’s the kind of place one wants go after a long stressful day. I might even have ridden my bike down here, had it not been for my bike being in the shop.
I need a place to go sometimes to clear my head, and enjoy the peace of the river. This is one of those great places. To think, to find some of myself in the river currents as the go floating down and away. To explore. To throw some pebbles to in the river. Just to be myself.
![Untitled [Expires August 14 2024]](https://andyarthur.org//data/photo_012117_large.jpg)
