Beginning At The Trail Head, Aiming For Wolf Lake

We arrived at the trail head for the Wolf Lake State Forest loop trail which would take us to Moon Lake, Wolf Lake and Huckleberry Lake. I'd feared there might be hunters, but there were no other cars at all. We had the whole forest to ourselves:

I let the dogs out to run, and their joy was immense. As for me, I'd had a painful, debilitating sprained ankle for several months but had wrapped it carefully and donned a new pair of expensive, highly supportive shoes. I simply couldn't let this glorious weather go un-hiked:

We'd hiked this trail earlier in the year (you may remember the photos of the Pink Ladyslippers and the biting fly attacks) and I recalled it as being flat and easy. It wasn't steep, but it also wasn't easy. The trail led me over wall-to-wall rocks which were hidden beneath brown leaves, potential ankle twisters of the worst kind:

I learned to intentionally limp as a way to favor my sprained ankle and was beginning to enjoy the beautiful scenery. We passed many beaver ponds:

And saw lots of beaver sign:

The water levels were quite low and would have been even lower if it weren't for such an active population of industrious, talented beavers:

As the temperature climbed to 70 degrees, I had to remove my coat. This was also my first real hike with five dogs. But they all behaved themselves and were a joy to have as company:

We reached a rocky ridge which ran through the forest and also served as the trail:

It was a happy day in spite of my sprained ankle:

Seamus and Fergus struck noble poses along the trail:

The stony ridge trail took us along the crest of a hill through the autumn woods:

And the dogs ran and played. This was, as I'd hoped, the perfect trail for a rare and perfect autumn day. But we were just getting started. I'll post more tomorrow: