The East Shore Of Black Pond, Headed South - Part 2

The dogs and I continued southward toward the trail head and I was quite anxious to get there as my legs were becoming weaker and more painful by the minute. I reminded myself to look at the wondrous beauty all around me and enjoy it:

And also to enjoy my happy dogs, though I confess that at that point I was getting crabby and hollered at them a few times for various minor infractions. Ever anxious to please, they adjusted to my crankiness and continued to have a good time:

The eastern shore of Black Pond was totally different than the western shore, with many coves and inlets:

I became a bit confused when we crossed this bridge, thinking we were almost at the trail head. Suffice it to say that I was wrong:

There was an unmarked trail intersection and I almost took the wrong trail, changing my mind at the last minute and continuing to follow along the water's edge:

I love this photo! Its lighting reminds me of the magical aura which so many wild places have. It also reminds me of the scenes in my childhood Viewmaster. For those of you too young to recognize that name, you can read about it here:

The trail took us past a peat bog and, tired though my legs were, I climbed over a fallen log for the privilege of walking out onto its floating surface:

Being much lighter than me, the dogs didn't cause the floating sphagnum mat to bounce the way I did. They just enjoyed giving everything the sniff test. I could see the fire tower atop that mountain across the pond which identified it as St. Regis Mountain. I still plan to hike that some day soon:

Seamus was heavy enough to cause a bit of bouncy on the sphagnum mat. He seemed a bit perplexed by it:

But onward we hiked. The trail veered away from the pond now and then, taking us through old forests and new growth forests. When the dogs got too far ahead, I gave them a call and they ran back to me with great excitement. I made sure to pet them and tell them how good they'd been. But we still weren't back to the trail head and my legs were very bad at that point. I'll post more tomorrow: