Hannacroix Preserve - Part 2

It was a hot and sunny day, so I'd taken Seamus, Fergus and Daphne to the Hannacroix Preserve, just south of Albany, to play in the Hannacroix Creek. Apparently lots of people had the same idea as there were quite of few people with their dogs splashing in the cool water and hiking the shady woodland trails. Seamus has decided that he really enjoys the water but I had to encourage Daphne. She didn't mind it once she felt how it cooled her. And of course, she liked to follow the example of her big brother, Seamus:

Fergus was willing to get wet, but not truly enthusiastic. Mostly he hopped from rock to rock. As for me, I walked right into the water, shoes and all:

When we reached the falls, we discovered that there wasn't much water falling. Yet still there was a nice, deep swimming hole at the base of the falls:

People were playing in the water and friendly dogs were mostly staying along the water's edges:

But we got back on the trail and walked around to the quiet waters above the falls. The less turbulent water and the calmer atmosphere seemed to suit Fergus and he became a little more willing to enter the water:

Seamus lumbered through the water like a brontosaurus and I chuckled, imagining him as a prehistoric dinosaur with seaweed in his mouth:

I'd seen hints on the internet that Papillons can be swimmers. Daphne was certainly willing to experiment:

But Daphne's biggest thrill was discovering the tadpoles in the Hannacroix Creek. She's a devoted bug hunter and thought she'd also like to catch these little fishy things:

And speaking of tadpoles, here's a video of them:



The creek at that point was quite clear and full of fish as well as tadpoles. If you enlarge this photo you can see a school of them just past that rock about midway along the submerged branch:

Well, I'd planned to do some extensive hiking after getting all cooled off, but instead of energizing me, the waters seemed to have relaxed me. So the dogs and I headed back toward the trail head:

The shady trail leads through the forest with the Hannacroix Creek on one side:

And as we neared the trailhead, we once again encountered masses of giant Multiflora Roses. In this case, the flowering branches provided a perfumed archway under which we walked:

And alongside the trail I spotted this intimidating sight - a wall, perhaps 8 feet high, of thorny Multiflora Roses mixed with giant Poison Ivy. But we were almost finished with our outing and the car was just ahead. It'd been a great adventure and it was time to head for home: