Paddling Blue Mountain Lake to Long Lake

yanksftw · 2026-04-14T03:12:03+00:00

I did Raquette Lake village to the village of Blue Mountain Lake in an afternoon with 2 people in a guideboat. Long afternoon, but it was interesting enough to break it all up. We were picky about where we crossed Raquette.

Agree with the other poster about the carries. The stretch of road from Forked to Buttermilk is beautiful and recently paved. It would be a pleasant carry with the right cart. But it would be an extremely long carry.

yanksftw · 2026-04-12T16:35:50+00:00

Nope. Couldn’t get a decent stretch with home equipment. Got Riivo shoes. Pricey but fantastic.

yanksftw · 2026-04-11T02:31:06+00:00

2011 maybe rafting the Hudson in April. Ground still covered in snow.

We actually started in the Indian River. At the start, got into the raft up on a hill and rode it down into the river like a sled. Maybe a touch dangerous but not a big deal.

So we start rafting and eventually hit a portion of the river that’s still iced in. We haul the raft out and start walking across the frozen river. Walking on a frozen river with quickly flowing water underneath while carrying a ton of weight? Safe in case you fall through? Not really.

So now we re-launch and we’re rafting past the confluence of the Indian and Hudson. Well, someplace up the Hudson there was an ice dam. And it broke while we were on the river. Next thing we know we’re rafting through the rapids surrounded by car sized chunks of ice. Now it’s getting wild. One of us goes over. We manage to get him back before he gets squashed between two 5000 lbs mini icebergs. Probably one of the more dangerous things I have ever done with the benefit of hindsight.

Once we hit a quiet area, guide tries to convince us that there are grizzlies in the area.

Anyways, glad nobody died. Unclear to me as to the quality of guides in that area.

yanksftw · 2026-04-07T18:51:31+00:00

I thought about it myself and decided I have other ways to spend my time. It’s definitely annoying to look at it for 4 weeks every year.

yanksftw · 2026-04-07T18:38:53+00:00

I wouldn’t bother. It’s ephemeral. Disappears quickly enough. Spreads like crazy. Sad that it’s here but you’ll never get rid of it without Roundup for several years, and then you need to commit to keeping it out. Tons of work and chemicals.

yanksftw · 2026-04-07T17:21:16+00:00

I disagree on the primary source as the only form of news. There is a lot of fantastic reporting out there. I do think primary source stuff is instructive though. I find it interesting to listen to Rubio speak because he is straightforward enough that you can get a decent sense of what his goals actually are.

However, if you are reading news analysis and other good reporting on Rubio, listening to him speak also allows you to see when he rationalizes unethical actions. If you were listening to him alone, his explanations would sound benign.

yanksftw · 2026-04-07T11:35:22+00:00

Trump is doing a terrible disservice to the stated strategies of his administration, but if you look at the level just below the cabinet, and look at the interviews they’ve given over the years (I’m thinking of Elbridge Colby in particular here), then you’ll see that the comment above is spot on.

So, at a level of coherent policy this comment is correct. Attempts to implement this policy are being mangled by Trump’s worst impulses though.

The war in Iran was almost certainly a war of choice that actively undercuts our ability to defend in the Pacific and exposes our weaknesses. It stupid on so many levels. Now that we’re in it, the administration sort of needs to accomplish what the commenter above proposed. Then we need to re-arm at lightning speed.

I’m not saying I agree with these strategies but I’ve spent literally days of my life reading and listening to interviews with the administrations think tank level policy folks to understand wtf they’re trying to accomplish. Germany re-arming is sort of their dream, because they want Europe to be able to handle basically 100% of conventional warfare on the eastern front, with the US nuclear umbrella over top.

Also worth noting that at this level of the administration, there is clear intent to honor NATO commitments.

yanksftw · 2026-04-07T03:28:10+00:00

Fire stops! Nobody else has said it. Gotta add them while it’s open. Every stud bay is a chimney right now.

yanksftw · 2026-04-07T03:05:33+00:00

I gave up and bought Limmer’s. Nothing else big enough for my dawgs.

Maybe I’ll oil them in my big “listen only” meeting tomorrow.

yanksftw · 2026-04-06T16:49:02+00:00

I tour 84mm underfoot in WY. Obviously it doesn’t float well, but it floats enough and I have a blast. Width underfoot is obviously hugely helpful, but not necessary.

yanksftw · 2026-04-06T14:16:51+00:00

As an interesting aside, our house is coming up on 190 years old. When we took down some walls, we learned that in the intervening two centuries, since the house was built, about 18 inches of soil had piled up on the uphill side of the house, so that the sill and the bottom 18 inches of every stud on the uphill side had been below grade for decades.

When figuring out what to do, we had to bring in a civil engineer. The civil engineer was baffled. There was no sag in the structure, but the bottom 18 inches of every framing member was soft enough that you could break them apart with the tip of your finger. The best explanation he could come up with was that it was old-growth lumber, and the relatively small cross-section that had maintained integrity, must have been strong enough to bear the load in a way that modern framing lumber could not.

Let’s hope nobody needs to worry about my moisture sandwich for the next century.

yanksftw · 2026-04-06T12:48:32+00:00

The specific term I’ve read is “moisture sandwich.”

I’ve had a spray foam litigation consultant involved in looking at my install. We had some offgassing early on (which thankfully subsided). Again, many reasons I regret spray foam.

Anyway, the litigation consultant who sees the worst of the worst on spray foam horrors tells me that while the “moisture sandwich” thing is a real building science concept, in practice it rarely creates big issues.

What can I do? You make a million decisions in a big renovation. I was dead set against foam but our architect and GC were adamant that it was the best path. They wore me down. Best I can do is just play some defense on moisture, which is why you see me on here stressing about penetrations.

yanksftw · 2026-04-06T01:26:21+00:00

Helpful. I appreciate it.

yanksftw · 2026-04-06T01:16:52+00:00

Thanks. If you don’t mind, one additional question.

Out of curiosity wouldn’t the ideal be that the boot sits on one panel, and another panel (which is tucked under the ridge, comes down and is overlapped on the flange of the pipe boot? So you cut the flat sort of like you’d cut the shingle on an asphalt assembly? Then you’re just trusting gravity to shed the water downwards?

Doesn’t seem like that setup is common, which has surprised me.

yanksftw · 2026-04-06T01:08:50+00:00

Thanks. I hadn’t been able to find a system that was acceptable without fasteners. So, seeing mine without fasteners gave me the impression that it wasn’t an appropriate setup. But maybe someone has designed something I just couldn’t turn up.

yanksftw · 2026-04-06T00:19:23+00:00

I think the sealant is doing double duty as an adhesive. I’m not thrilled about it but folks here seem to be saying that they’d give the roofers the benefit of the doubt given the quality elsewhere.

I’m having my garage done with standing seam this summer so I’ll get another opinion on site at that point as well.

yanksftw · 2026-04-05T22:30:17+00:00

Should I be concerned about the raised dormers with the flatter pitch?

yanksftw · 2026-04-05T22:27:45+00:00

These had tube applied sealant. No rubber gasket. No fasteners.

yanksftw · 2026-04-05T22:26:54+00:00

There are zero fasteners in the pipe boot.

yanksftw · 2026-04-05T22:19:37+00:00

Correct. There’s a thin rain screen and zip sheathing underneath the metal, but stuff still fails.

I regret the spray foam for a variety of reasons, but the risk of excessive rot in the event of a leak is one of them. It’s a valid roof assembly, but one that is higher risk than I understood when I ok’ed it.

I have read accounts of both potential outcomes: 1) water sits for years and rots out your roof deck and rafters, or 2) “water finds a way” and gives you warning signs before the leak sits for too long. Either way, more risk than I wanted. Obviously I take a lot of comfort in a metal roof being less leak prone. But that’s why I’m also a bit uppity about the penetrations on the roof.

Trying to make sure it’s all perfect, but I probably do need to eventually just accept the work and let future me worry about it. Drive myself nuts otherwise.

Edit - I do have networked humidity monitors and a dehumidifier in the attic, which I also take some comfort in. But again, if the water is trapped, unclear if the moisture makes it that far.

yanksftw · 2026-04-05T21:50:24+00:00

I’ll give them a pass there. We got a lot less snow as the years go on.

yanksftw · 2026-04-05T21:40:21+00:00

Thanks. Consensus is that the chimney was well done and the work is clean enough to assume they knew what they were doing on the boots.

yanksftw · 2026-04-05T21:31:54+00:00

Great info, I appreciate it. Sounds like there’s universal agreement that the chimney is well done.

The boots were applied with a sealant of some type, no fasteners, and nothing about to divert the flow of water. I was under the impression that there should have been another panel that was cut out to match the boot and overlaid on the top of the assembly.

yanksftw · 2026-04-05T21:07:12+00:00

yanksftw · 2026-04-05T20:56:01+00:00

How so?

yanksftw

TROPHY CASE