Exploring Dyken Pond Nature Preserve - Part 5

This is the final post from our Dyken Pond hike. We'd explored the deep woods, several peat bogs and a boardwalk over the swamp. When the trail returned us to the woods, I was feeling unusually tired and took a shortcut back toward the gravel road on which we'd traveled to arrive at the trail head. The dogs must have lost their excess energy also, for they were by now pretty calm:

Another small boardwalk took us across a small stream:

Seamus was happy to use the boardwalk, at least initially, but Clover went immediately down into the wet ferns:

And this time all the dogs got a drink of cool, clean water:

Seamus and Fergus were happy to pose for a "Poodle Portrait:"

Daphne and Clover, the two Papillon puppies, were still exploring, checking every odor, sight and sound:

Even at the young age of four months, Clover now considers herself a confident, veteran hiker. She'll go exploring even when Daphne is busy elsewhere:

It's amazing what one sometimes finds in the forest. We passed this WWII Army trailer, apparently still used sometimes. It reminded me of the WWII Army canvas tarps of which the sweat lodges were built. But beyond that, it's all still a mystery to me:

We emerged onto the gravel access road and began the long trek back to the trail head. I was uncommonly fatigued, especially considering how flat the trails had been. I put the dogs on leashes and we walked back to where we began:

And I discovered that we were no longer the only hikers in the Nature Preserve. Six more cars had parked alongside mine. Still, that's very few people for such a large area. There's many more miles of trails we hadn't traversed, including three more boardwalks across swamps. I plan to go back there soon and explore them:

I'll end with two videos. This first one is the dogs enjoying the boardwalk and viewing platform at the swamp:



And lastly, a brief video of crossing a boardwalk through a peat bog. Seamus and Fergus were at my heels, so don't appear in the video. Clover and Daphne, the two Papillon puppies, are leading the way: