Heading North Again - An Adirondack Rest Stop Along Route 9N

Yes, I'd just been up to the farm but the contractors were making rapid progress on the barn and I was on my way back up there again. When I exited the Northway for Route 73 I went immediately to our favorite little campsite along the Ausable River to give the dogs a rest stop. But another car was parked there already so I went on to the pull-off where I'd found the Globe Thistle in bloom last year. The dogs were excited and ran out into the clearing:

I hoped to find the Globe Thistle and collect some seeds but it was nowhere to be found. The area, however, was lovely and filled with last year's growth such as these spent Milkweed pods:

I stomped around at first trying to find where the Globe Thistle had grown. Winky followed me, so when it was time to move on down the trail I first had to convince him to come along with us. He's resistant sometimes:

But once we were on our way along the trail everyone was happy:

The dogs sniffed around, checking for terrorists or whatever it is dogs check for:

While I just enjoyed the glorious scenery:

The younger dogs ran on ahead but I had to hang back to be sure Wally and Winky came with us. Wally is nearly blind and Winky, besides being ornery, seems to be losing his hearing. But I kept calling and got them moving in the right direction:

We went farther into the forest than we'd ever gone before and discovered a small pond, still frozen over in spite of the summer-like weather:

But this was only a quick rest stop and I soon began getting all the dogs moving back toward our parked car. Once they were all inside and I'd counted noses several times, we continued on our way. I'll post more about the journey tomorrow: