Discovering The Rutland Nature Trail - Part 1

It had reached about 20 degrees by noon, warmer than had been predicted. The sun was out but the wind was gusting. I decided to take the dogs up to the Rutland Nature Trail and give it a try. It was a new discovery for me, and only a couple of miles from my place. If it was too cold, we'd simply return to the car and do something else. I parked on the shoulder of the road and let the excited dogs out:

They were, of course, ecstatic to be running along an open trail through the woods (notice Fergus' ears flopping joyfully). As for me, I was quite pleased that the trees cancelled the gusting wind. But that's when I discovered the hard way that there was a thick layer of ice beneath that snow:

I called Seamus over and used his big body to help me get up. Then we proceeded on our way:

Alas, I went down again about 10 feet from the first fall. Again I used Seamus as a handy prop for getting back up, but thereafter was very careful where and how I walked. The ice beneath the snow disappeared as we made our way down the trail and I began to relax:

It was a beautiful place, a former Rutland railway which runs for 21 miles, although it crosses country roads every couple of miles:

The dogs smelled something interesting:

And Seamus heard something which piqued his interest. He ran into the woods, prancing and looking for - for whatever it was. I think it was his imagination:

We made it only as far as the bridge over Allen Brook - not far, but altogether scenic:

The bridge's surface was a steel mesh and I feared the dogs would be unable to cross it, but there were wooden planks across it on which the dogs could walk:

But that was as far as I wanted to go on this first outing. We crossed the bridge and then continued a very short way beyond:

It appeared that the trail was pretty straight, level and monotonous. I wanted to see more, but decided it would have to wait for a warmer day. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: