A Return To Dyken Pond - Part 2

I was hiking the Long Trail at Dyken Pond Nature Preserve in Grafton, New York with four of my dogs on a cool but sunny Sunday afternoon. The trail began by taking us through the deep woods:

But it wasn't long before the trail skirted a lovely marsh. I saw what appeared to be a deer trail down into it and of course decided to take it. The dogs and I all traipsed out into the marsh. Amazingly, it was not too wet since we were at the upper end:

Daphne and Clover, the two Papillon puppies, of course romped and bounded and wrestled and acted silly. I guess that's what puppies do the world over. The scenic value of the place was lost on them:

Seamus is of a more placid nature and often seems to be drinking in the beauty of such scenery. Or maybe he's just snoozing while standing(?):

It wasn't wet enough for Pitcher Plants or Sundews, but there was a wide variety of amazing plants. I don't know what plant produced those white fluffy tufts, but they were ubiquitous and beautiful:

And trees in their autumn array framed the picture in every direction I looked. The puppies continued to run, wrestle and play:

I took a moment to be still and listen. With puppies along, such moments don't come as often as I'd like. But the contemplative, meditative moments in nature are, for me, the big pay off:

We were all happy:

I noticed big red berries at my feet and picked one up. It was a rather large Cranberry and tasted pretty darn OK:

There were tiny Cranberry plants everywhere I looked:

And a tussock with a small sapling at the top was covered in red moss:

We continued to explore the bog, avoiding the wet areas. We'd only just begun and there were miles of trail ahead of us yet. I'll post more tomorrow: