Port Kent Hopkinton Turnpike To Route 30

I was driving along the Port Kent Hopkinton Turnpike on my way to hike, but I kept stopping to enjoy the scenery. I pulled off onto the shoulder of the road for another view of the St. Regis River but when I got out of the car, thought that surely the adjacent forest was so spectacular as to merit its own photo. It was filled with spruces, firs and cedars. The aroma of Balsam filled the misty air:

And right across that narrow road was the St. Regis River flowing through the wilderness:

The St. Regis River has multiple branches and seems to flow everywhere up around my farm. In some places it has been dammed and looks more like a lake. In other places it's a very large river. In places like this, it is a small wilderness river of extreme beauty:

I walked just a bit along the shoreline to admire the river's beauty. I snapped this photo on my way back to the car thinking it was such a lovely scene. Notice my little red car sitting down in the lower left corner of the picture, looking so puny next to that rocky ledge:

I turned left toward Malone when we hit Route 30. This is a major Adirondack thoroughfare, but you can see that it also is scenic and without much traffic:

And all along the highway were mountains clothed in autumn color with lazy morning clouds clinging to their tops:

The dogs were getting anxious about my constant stopping to take photos. They wanted to hike!:

There were occasional beautiful waters on both sides of the highway, though I couldn't tell whether they were ponds or streams in many places and they didn't seem to show on my map. Oh well, I could just enjoy their beauty:

And the autumn colors seemed to be intensifying as we headed northward:

I pulled off the road at this body of water because it looked like there might be a trail head here even though I saw no signs:

There had apparently been a road which the water had washed away. Then beavers built a dam there. It was scenic all right, but I was supposed to be searching for the trail head to The Ledges and hadn't even reached the road it was on yet. I had to get going, but I'll post more about that tomorrow: