Exploring The Oxbow Of The St. Regis River

Our hiking was done for Easter Sunday and I pulled away from the Duck Pond Trail Head to begin the journey down the narrow lane toward Blue Mountain Road:

But I saw a turn-off toward the left that seemed headed for the Oxbow we'd seen on the way in. Well, you just know that I had to turn down there and take a look. What I found was wild, serene, beautiful:

The road ended in a grassy meadow, so I parked and all the pooches piled out of the car and headed downhill toward the Oxbow (a channel on the St. Regis River flood plain which had been severed from the main current when the river washed out a new shortcut):

We stopped when we'd reached boggy, squishy footing and looked back toward the parked car:

We all explored the grassy meadow as we headed toward the trees:

I noticed that Trout Lilies was just emerging, with leaves only about an inch long at that time. They were in full bloom down by Albany:

In the woods, I saw this amazing tree growing atop a boulder with its roots running down the side of the rock to find the soil below:

I took another look at the idyllic scene and snapped a photo:

And then another picture from a slightly different angle:

And that was the end of our Easter morning hiking. We all clambered back up into the car and I began the journey back to the farm where Wally and Winky were waiting for us: