Lovely Forests On Our Way Up Windham Mountain

We were still only at the beginning of our hike up Windham Mountain and so far it had been a pleasant experience on easy trails. But the grade began to increase as we continued on our way:

Clover and Daphne, the two young Papillons, were so full of energy and enthusiasm that they were having a grand time:

Seamus was having fun too, thanks in part to his recent weight loss. He was enjoying his hike in the Catskill forest and so far was keeping up with the younger, lighter weight dogs:

The forest became more and more Hemlock growth and the trail became more rocky as we continued upward:

Little Clover stuck a nice pose near a giant old Hemlock. You'll have to click to enlarge the photo in order to see him, but Fergus was ahead on the trail looking back to see what was taking us slow pokes so long:

And Daphne, not about to outdone, struck her own rather goofy pose:

Clover, however, is the climber of the family and runs across fallen trees and branches like a spotted squirrel:

A very lovely butterscotch mushroom along the trail:

Yes, Daphne, I already pointed out that you can strike goofy poses, and this one looks very much like the last one:

In many places the top layer of soil had been eroded and tree roots had been exposed. This was interesting to look at but made for difficult walking since I was wearing sneakers. I'd worn sturdy boots for the Jug End Ridge hike and came home with sore feet. So this time I wore sneakers thinking they'd be better. I was wrong:

And onward through the lovely Catskill forest. That's a much nicer Papillon pose this time, Daphne. I'll post more about the hike tomorrow: