A Quiet End To Our Christmas Journey

Indeed the drive southward through the Adirondacks the day after Christmas had been beautiful (see the previous four posts). But the snow had been too deep at all our usual rest stops for me to pull off the road and let the dogs out for a run. But in the Keene Valley, I had an idea. I knew that several hiking trails began at the parking lot of Marcy Field. And if the trails weren't available I could probably just use the parking lot. I pulled in and found it plowed but with no other cars. And one of the hiking trails was just perfect for the dogs to run on:

I parked and we all began moving farther from my little red car (which you can see at the beginning of the trail). It posed a bit of a problem as each dog moved at his or her own speed. The Papillons and Fergus ran far ahead, Seamus stayed close to me and the Wally/Winky Chinese contingent lagged far behind:

My first order of business was to call Wally and Winky, speeding them up:

Then I caught up to Fergus, Daphne and Clover, the three live wires:

By the time I'd managed to get all the dogs fairly close together, we'd progressed far enough along that I could see the top of one of the mountains across the highway from Marcy Field:

Once all the dogs had done their business and sniffed their way along the trail and through the woods, it was time to return to the car. I snapped this picture from my parked car just before we left. The Adirondack mountains are beautiful at any time of the year:

From Marcy Field, it was on through the high peaks. There were rock climbers scaling this frozen waterfall and I found it fascinating to watch them. But they were almost to the top and, to be quite honest, I didn't want to be watching if one of them fell. So I got back into the car with the dogs and continued on my way:

Route 73 leads right through the heart of the high peaks region:

And through the Keene Valley to link up with the Northway, the main highway taking us back to Albany. Thus ended our Christmas trip to the farm: