Black And Long Ponds, Keese Mills - Part 3

We had hiked northward along the western edge of Black Pond (previous two posts) and had arrived along the shore of the smaller Long Pond. Wild blackberries were blooming wherever a bit of sun got through the forest canopy:

We stopped when we got to the Long Pond lean-to:

The big attraction at the lean-to was its pier, leading out into the water and providing wonderful views:

The dogs and I all walked out on the pier, but only the smaller dogs went right to the end of it. Seamus and I stayed back a bit because the end was tipping and sinking:

This was the view looking south, down the length of Long Pond, while standing on the pier at the lean-to:

Clover and Seamus were very happy:

I had to arrange this posed picture of the dogs in the Long Pond lean-to, but by this time they'd expended all their excess energy and were willing to hold still - temporarily:

Wide patches of Bunchberries in bloom filled the forest floor:

And I discovered a new wildflower I'd never seen before or even heard of. It was Twinflower, in the Honeysuckle family, with double, pink, trumpet shaped blossoms. It's a creeping ground cover which likes cold, northern forests - so it sure was growing in the right place:

Fergus waited for me to catch up:

We turned back south from the lean-to and were retracing our steps along Long Pond:

The dogs were happy and often traveled in a little cluster. I told them to heel for much of the hike and they seemed to enjoy it just as much as running free. I liked it because I didn't need to keep hollering at them for running too far ahead. All in all, they behaved better on this hike than ever before: