I met a nice man at the trail head who told me there was a woman with a leashed Golden Retriever on the trail, but she was almost back to the parking area and no one else was on the trail. So I leashed my dogs and started out, marveling at the beauty all around me:
The Shadbush was in bloom then, weeks behind the farm and perhaps a month behind Albany. But this is the Adirondacks, after all. Nevertheless, who could argue with such beauty?:
We passed by the woman and her Golden Retriever. She looked horrified to see my pack of (leashed) dogs. Once we had the trail to ourselves, I let my dogs run off leash but began buckling down on teaching them to stay close, perhaps within 15 feet. I had decided that they would either obey that rule or stay home when the rest of us hiked. I had to get cross, but they seemed to pick up the concept:
And still they had fun. This was a doggy (and human) paradise:
Whenever one or two of them got too far away, I'd shout "Stop!" and, when they did, I called them back to me for petting and praise:
There were burbling creeks to explore:
And what fun it was to climb down to the water!:
I had to keep up a constant dialog, but the pooches were beginning to grasp my new rule. And the trail was long, level and straight - apparently a former railroad bed. So I could see far ahead and far behind, enabling me to leash the dogs if someone was coming:
There were patches of balsams and several unusually large ones had fallen, filling the air with their aroma. For the dogs, it was all play time:
See, Dad. I'm not running ahead now! Am I a good dog?:
This was easy walking and spectacular scenery. But we were just getting started. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:
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