Chapter Two - Beautiful Allen Falls

The dogs and I were hiking along the west branch of the St. Regis River on our way to Allen Falls and had been going uphill, leaving the banks of the river farther and farther below us. But the forest was lovely and the dogs were having a grand time. Fergus climbed up onto a log to watch us walk by:

And then he ran back down the hill to get the other dogs to join him, which they did with great excitement. Eventually, I did also:

The river at this point was all rapids and I was, I confess, a little nervous about the dogs getting too close to the edge of the cliff. But they were happy and having lots of fun:

Madeline sat down by a tree with the St. Regis River behind her. I thought it would be a perfect spot for a photo:

Seamus posed for a nice picture also, but his silly tongue spoiled any solemnity, revealing him to be the big, happy goof that he is:


And adventurous little Clover was our scout, leading the way. Do you see that sharp drop off just ahead? That's where the trail led us and it was a very steep descent which I made mostly by sliding down on my butt, grasping at tree roots:

The hill (or should I call it a cliff) was steep and treacherous, so I put my camera in my pocket in order to use both hands. About half way down I got it out again so I could show you what it looked like. For perspective, notice Madeline, Fergus and Clover on the mostly dry creek bed below:

 
When we'd reached the bottom of the deep ravine, the dogs ran up the little, icy creek bed instead of toward the main river. That was just fine with me because it allowed me time to carefully get my old body down the hill before they got near the falls and the rapids:

Once I was down to the river level, I called the dogs over and they were most happy to do so:

Ever the water lover, Seamus went right in. Daphne followed him for a few feet but ran back out again when she realized how cold it was:

There were still patches of ice everywhere, dark places where the sun had not yet reached:

But the main event was right there next to us - Allen Falls - and it was magnificent. A very large, roaring waterfall, it too had a few patches of ice on some exposed rocks. So then it was time to climb back up that hill/cliff and return to the car. But I'll post about that tomorrow: