Chapter Three, Hays Brook Truck Trail

The dogs' paws had begun to hurt because of the snow, and my ankles were becoming quite painful (I later learned that I'd injured some tendons). So I decided to turn back toward the trail head:

I continued to marvel at the forest's beauty as we proceeded down the trail:

I stopped to admire the Balsam needles all covered with snow:

And the golden clumps of Beech leaves, still clinging to their branches and holding snowy orbs aloft:

The dogs began to run as they realized we were headed back to the car:

We crossed back over the Osgood River:

Seamus' paws were bothering him by then so I picked one up for a look. Well, it was no wonder they hurt. The snow was packed in between the pads:

But the dogs were happy, and so was I:

We continued along beneath the pines:

Clover looked back, much as Madeline had done earlier, to make sure we were still coming:

We hit the access road again, though it didn't look much different than the trail. But the dogs knew where we were and were very excited:

We trotted back to our parked car. We hadn't made it to Hays Brook, but it had been an excellent experience and we can try it again this summer: