Good afternoon! Happy Sunday. Did you remember to spring your clocks forward? It’s a little after noontime and mostly cloudy at 51 degrees with a 10 mph northeast wind, sitting on the steps of the Dutch Settlement State Forest aka Cotton Hill Lean-to.
I am planning a spring trip up here, and wanted to make sure the lean-to was still here and not totally gross. It only takes one asshole to burn a lean-to down or dump maggot covered deer guts into it to ruin it for everyone. That said, the lean-to looks good although it’s no longer brand new. The wood supply up here is a bit marginal but if you’re willing to drag it, you can get a decent supply. It has good cell service up here for playing on socialist media when camping.
Yesterday after hiking Vromans Nose, I went down to Mine Kill Falls then went over an set up camp at the large campsite on Betty Brook. They’ve built a pedestrian bridge over Betty Brook. No snow up there and the ground isn’t that wet. Spring came unusually early this year. Reminds me a lot of 2012, although that spring I spent a good portion of it down in Newburgh.
It was a nice night in the woods and the first time truck cap camping since November except for that one December night at Cherry Ridge on December 27th when it poured. I stayed up until 10:50 pm standard time, which is later than I’ve been up all winter camping because after so many hours next to the fire, drinking, one tends to get tired.
It was colder than expected, it got down to 29 degrees by morning but with the hooded sweatshirt and the Big Buddy heater toasting my ass next to the fire it was plenty warm. Almost warranted pitching the tent. Still a very pleasant evening with the stars out and the moon up until around 9 PM yesterday.
I ended up getting a fairly early start as I had minimal cell reception but heard I had a voicemail. It wasn’t super important like from work but I couldn’t listen until I took down camp and drove to a place with decent cellphone reception. I was up by 7:15 daylight savings time, made coffee and scrambled eggs and took down camp and left at 10. I’m on call this weekend, so I really shouldn’t have camped in the hollar where there is no cell reception.
Hiked along Old Route 30 at Max V. Shaul State Park until the Irene washout. It’s too bad that the old road is now permanently closed to hikers and even you walk past the trail closed signs with the road bed collapses, it’s impassable. Also checked out the fishing hole under the Route 30.
Back to the weather as I better start heading home on this pleasant afternoon. Later this afternoon in Schoharie we will have mostly sunny conditions, with a high near 49. Northeast wind around 8 mph. That’s about 6 degrees above normal.
After the recent days of above average weather, today and tomorrow will be typical for mid January. The record high of 70 degrees was set back in that very mild month of March 2012.
Tonight the sun will set at 7:02 pm with darkness around 7:30 pm, which is 1 hour, 1 minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. I love daylight savings time!
Today will have 11 hours and 52 minutes of daylight, an increase of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over yesterday. More then 12 hours of sunlight come Thursday! No, daylight savings time doesn’t actually make the days longer, but instead makes you go to work an hour earlier so you have more daylight after work.
Kind of nasty weather on tap for late tonight. Tonight will have a chance of rain, snow, and sleet before 4am, then a chance of snow and sleet between 4am and 5am, then a chance of snow and freezing rain after 5am. That’s kind of like a Budweiser that’s gone flat and is about 80 degrees. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 29. East wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow and sleet accumulation expected. That’s about 4 degrees above normal. The record low of -6 degrees was set back in 1948.
There are 19 days until April Fools Day when the sun will be setting at 7:24 pm. The average high temperature for April Fools Day is 52 degrees, with a record high of 77 in 1986.
