I’m sitting here waiting for the roof to dry so I can finish the wolf pup solar install.   For a good waterproof install the roof needs to be clean and dry, So early this morning I scrubbed the roof up good and rinsed it down, and now I’m hoping the sun will shine and dry it out.  Akela is waiting for someone to toss the ball for him.  He has been very disappointed in me this month as we have had limited time to play. Even though I have been home.  I have had to lock him out of the Wolf Pup while working inside since I am running the A/C during these recent 95deg F days.  Luckily the A/C in the camper does work off the 110 house outlet.   But I am going to have a 30amp plug installed sometime int he next week or so.  It will cost.  But it is necessary!! 

I am working with Renogy to try out their New “BiFacial” solar panels.  They are a uniquely built panel that has a clear bottom so that light can be absorbed by the panel from the underside.  This means if the panel is on a white roof (Like mine) if the sun strikes the roof from an angle and goes under the panel and reflects off the white roof, the panel will use that light to make electricity.  They claim they produce 30% more power.  And I would think since the sunlight almost always hits the panel from some sideways direction, if that light can be captured it would add to the over all power generation.  I can’t wait to see, but Renogy is being a bit suspicious, even though they use my original Aliner Solar power install video as what they would like the video to be like. 

I will have to keep the camera hot and running to show the solar power with the new set up.  I have been working practically non-stop on this rebuild. So many things to modify and change and so much to add in the solar arena.  It is keeping me busy.   During the early morning its working on the outside of the trailer (or the lawn) and during the middle, afternoon of the day working on video editing.  I did a lot of travel in just 3 weeks and had a lot of video to turn into Videos for YouTube.  I was power starved while traveling so cold not edit and publish while on the road as much as I thought I would be able to.  So it all had to wait until we got back home.  But now all the trips video is complete and on YouTube.  Time to travel again.

As a supplement to the 2 latest videos, The Charles E.Baker State Forest and the Stoney Pond State Forest, they are both New York State Forest areas that have very nice campground set ups.   The Charles Baker forest has a special area exclusively for campers with horses and it is a great campground. It does not have any “human Water”, but it does have a very nice hand pump for animal water.  There are about 20 large campsite, and there are more at an “Assembly Area”  down the road 300ft.   The Baker “human” campground is called the Cherry Ridge Campground.  It does have a potable water pump. The water pump here is not as easy as the pump at the horse campground.  It is a rotary screw pump and needs to get going rather fast and still may take 2-3minutes before the water gets to the surface.  Both camps are “First Come – First Served”.  Cherry Ridge has 12 campsites.  The sites are nicely spaced and fairly well separated, but due to heavy use they are starting to “sprawl” into one another.  Especially the ones in the middle of the loop.  But the sites are relatively flat, dry, and there are porta-potties at the top of the loop which are very nice and clean.  Well maintained.   Also, though this is a free campground, there seems to be a huge amount of dead wood scattered all around to be used for firewood.   So that is a big bonus in my experience.

Stoney pond is a much smaller state forest and its primary use is snow shoeing and cross country skiing.  There are a lot of trails and some nice areas to explore. In the summer of course, the skiing is minimal.  But the pond has a pretty good population of bass, perch, sunfish and bullhead.  Along with a bunch of other fish.  The Pond is usually a little more muddy than I would want to swim in, but it is a heavily waded pond when kids are there in the heat of summer.  The pond is created by an earthen dike and there are several “walk-in” campsites on the far side of the lake by walking across the dike.

These forests are “Managed” and so you might see or hear loggers of firewood harvesters.  They typically are small operations that leave less of a mess than the big operations.  But they still start up their chain saws at 7am.  New York generally prohibits ATV or 4×4’s off road in the state forests.  They are allowed on the regular forest roads and “Truck Trails”.  But there is no “tear up the earth” trails in most of NY.  Its a liberal environmental thing. We like the forest taken care of, not destroyed by machinery for fun.

There are 4 other forest campgrounds I have covered in my previous videos.  In the Finger Lakes there is Sugar Hill which has the same type of set up as Charles Baker with a horse campground and a human campground.  The Horse Campground has a actual flush toilet bath house.  Though last time I was there the showers were decommissioned.  In the lake George area there is the Darcy Clearing area on the east side of the lake.  That video is old but I doubt that area has changed much. Let me know if you’ve been there.  All of the information can be found on the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation website under state forests.

As I planned my “Big Trip” last fall (The trip I didn’t finish due to weather and computer problems), I found out that in other states, the do not allow overnight camping in their state forests.  Vermont has strict laws and fines for camping in their state forests except where they are part of the AT or Green Mtn Trails..  Pennsylvania also does not allow camping in their state forests (with very few exceptions). Connecticut and Rhode island prohibit it.  Maine and NH are friendly and have a lot of available free camping spots. If you know about other states that prohibit camping on public lands, let me know.  

Oh and don’t miss my wonderful “Donation” button. at the top of the page.  And my Computer files pages where I have added some interesting new checklists and Maps of places I have been.  I am trying to up date the map with links to the information relating to places we have been.  But it has some weird functionality I have trouble getting it to work.   Keep checking it out, eventually I’ll get it.

Anyway, On to the wedding and then a quick run home with a few stops, so more great camping places you might want to visit.   Sign up and subscribe, you’ll get notified when I scribble some down here…   Thanks for stopping by, We’ll see you on the road!

Rick & Akela
GoingNoWhereFast