A return to our favorite Ausable River Rest Stop

When we arrived at the Ausable River on our journey home, I pulled far off the road into a hidden campsite which has been a favorite rest stop for the last several years. I let all the dogs out to relieve themselves, but old Wally and Winky didn't want to walk anywhere. So I lifted them back up into the car to snooze while I went exploring with the youngsters:

And explore we did, the dogs sniffing the base of every tree. Left to their own devices, I supposed they'd cover the whole forest, one tree at a time:

And then we climbed down the rocky hill to where a path followed the Ausable River:

The Ausable is a beautiful and wild river, surrounded by pines, spruces, balsams and moss covered ground:

The dogs found a campsite and fire ring and promptly checked for food drippings:

And then had a good romp through the forest:

No one headed down to the water, and I was leery myself because I'd taken a bad fall their last year:

So we stayed in the forest next to the river:

And went farther down the trail than we'd tried previously:

The dogs had lots of fun - as evidenced by this shot of Fergus in mid-leap with his ears out like wings:

Daphne and Fergus went down to the Ausable for a cool drink:

And then Seamus went in. Just ahead of him, you can see Clover taking a drink from the safety of the mossy riverbank. I stayed off the rocks and just enjoyed the scenery. But that was the end of this trip to farm. Now that I'm officially retired, I was sure that the next trip would be soon. In fact, I'll post about it tomorrow: