Blackhead Range Hike - Part 3

I continued hiking upward on the Blackhead Range Trail in the Catskill Mountains with my two dogs, Seamus and Fergus. The other dogs have all become too old to hike anymore. In this photo, I stopped for a rest, sitting in the soft leaves. It's too early in the hike for the dogs to want to rest. They're still anxious to run:

I tried to capture the look of autumn Catskill woodlands by shooting a photo down the hill we'd just ascended:

Sometimes the trail zigzagged from side to side so that the ascent would be less steep:

Seamus decided to explore but got tripped up in a fallen sapling and wasn't at all sure what to do next. I found him funny and watched as he tried to figure it all out. In the end, he just turned around and returned to me and the legitimate hiking trail:

We were actually headed upwards around this liverwort covered rock instead of descending. But the dogs had gone on ahead of me and, when they could no longer see me, returned back down the trail to see what was causing my delay:

Foggier and more mysterious the forest became:

This emerald moss covered rock is lovely but also demonstrates why there is so much wildlife cover in the Catskills. Holes, crevasses, ledges and caves are everywhere:

We'd reached the top of a "step" and the dogs looked down to see where we'd come from. Were they also watching for bears?:

Why are you always pointing that camera at us, Dad?

Let's go on ahead, Seamus. Dad is taking too long:

Another layered rock covered with emerald mosses:

And a closer view showing the spore capsules:

This "step" was steeper than it looks in the photo and there was a never ending succession of them. But we continued upward:

This colony of puffballs was picturesque. Clearly this is a different species than the giant puffball which makes such good eating: