Fort Jackson State Forest Via Barrett Road - Part 2

The dogs and I had hiked down to the banks of the St. Regis River and it was lovely. But the time soon came to return to the car, so I gave a call and we began retracing our steps:

The lower forests, near the river, were mostly old growth Hemlock:

Seamus, Fergus and Madeline on the trail. The two "Silly Sisters" were off somewhere, no doubt acting silly:

Little clover smiled for the camera while Daphne looked on from above:

We all walked around this fallen tree except for Madeline. She insisted on walking right through its branches:

As the trail brought us higher, the forest became mostly mixed hardwoods:

More fallen Mountain Maple leaves. They have more variety than any other species I know. Some day I'll find a collection of different colors and patterns and photograph them all together:

As the trail brought us higher, the forest became mostly Red Pine, with a green carpet of mosses and lichens on the ground:

It all appeared quite magical, reminding me of Black Forest scenes in my old Viewmaster when I was a youngster. Could the Big, Bad Wolf be just around that bend?:

The dogs played on the green moss:

And we continued on:

We saw the car up ahead. That produced as much doggy excitement as did arriving here:

Everyone jumped happily up into the car, which I very carefully turned around and aimed homeward: