A Final Rest Stop By The Ausable River

I was on my way home from a trip to the farm and had almost reached the limited access highway. I knew that this would be the last chance to allow the dogs a rest stop before we arrived in Albany. So I turned off on Route 9 hoping to stop at the campsite along the Ausable River. Alas, it was occupied so I drove on to a pull-off along the road which I knew had access to a side channel of the Ausable River. The dogs all raced down to the water's edge. Well, the word, "raced" is relative in Wally's and Winky's case:

Seamus was pleased to wade right in and have a drink:

Daphne just liked to run and play:

I held back until I could get Winky and Wally down to the water's edge. As I've said, they move at their own pace and often need both encouragement and assistance. In this picture, the two of them had just caught up to Fergus:

Clover and Daphne rushed about, investigating everything and turning it all into a game:

While at the same time Wally was slowly maneuvering along the shoreline:

Seamus tried to take a shortcut but discovered it was too soft for his heavy body. His back legs plunged all the way down into the stinky swamp mud. And so did my left foot, by the way. We traveled all the rest of the way home in a car filled with that delightful aroma:

But mostly it was fun exploring the sights, sounds, odors and textures of a wetland in summer (well, maybe not the odors so much):

I began moving the dogs back toward the car:

And they all decided to take a drink. That purple flower is Steeplebush, an Adirondack summer favorite:

The dogs were delighted to run back up the hill to the car - except, of course, for crabby little Winky. He poked along, taking his time, investigating everything along the way. I didn't pick him up this time, however, but instead just kept encouraging him to speed it up:

Clover ran back to see what was taking me so long. Soon we were all loaded back up into the car and on our way - me, six dogs and a good helping of stinky swamp mud. In another hour and forty five minutes we'd be home: