A Summner Trip To Quebec Brook, Part 1

We'd had a lot of rain, so much so that I knew I should keep the tractor off the fields lest I tear up the soggy ground. Or at least that was the excuse I used for taking an afternoon off to go hiking. I went back to one of my favorites, Quebec Brook:

Quebec Brook trail is one of the loveliest examples of Boreal forest in all of the Adirondacks. We walked across carpets of moss through air filled with the aroma of Balsams:

I'd hoped that the copious rain would have produced a bumper crop of colorful mushrooms, but it did not. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful, wild and peaceful path through unspoiled forest. I'd noted when I signed the trail book that no one else had been on the trail for the past month:

Oh, look - a colorful mushroom. It was tiny and alone, but it was a wonderful red color:

It's been been clear to me for the last several years that little if any trail maintenance has happened here. Fallen trees blocked the way in places and the trail eventually became impassable, at least for an old codger like me with bad ankles. But for the time being, it was easy walking and with a cathedral-like beauty:

We walked down along Quebec Brook:

This brook, if I'd had a canoe, would have taken me to Madawaska Pond. I've read that it's also terrific fishing:

I ventured down a steep bank but Madeline and Seamus thought they'd just stay where they were:

But then we returned to the emerald-carpeted trail to continue on our way. I told Madeline to sit so I could get a portrait of her:

Black-Winged Damselflies were everywhere. This one, with its solid black wings and iridescent green body was a male. I'll post a photo of a female in tomorrow's post:

The trail began to get smaller and more overgrown:

Blackberries would be ripe here later in the summer, but for now I just admired their flowers. I'll post Part 2 of our Quebec Brook hike tomorrow: