The St. Regis River At Southville State Forest

I wanted to take a short hike to the west branch of the St. Regis River. So I drove to Southville State Forest, only 10 miles from home, pulled into the forest and let the dogs out:

Autumn was in full swing and there were acorns galore underfoot as we walked:

Clover, she who usually runs ahead and has to be yelled at to "Stop!," behaved pretty darn well on this day. We've been out walking more than usual lately, so maybe she's starting to get the idea:

We arrived a the St. Regis River and the Daphne, Seamus and Fergus ran right into the water:

Clover, never a big fan of getting her feet wet, explored the banks while I enjoyed the autumn color:

But that was about all there was to see, so we started making our way back to the car:

As in most of the state forests around here, we passed through several forest types in a relatively short distance:

The dogs played and sniffed at all the interesting smells:

I sat down on a bank to rest, and Daphne came to join me:

And right next to where we sat, I saw this cluster of various lichens, taking note of the Pixie Cup lichens, always one of favorites:

This was a short hike and we soon returned to the car:

But there was one more stop to make. A bridge over the west branch of the St. Regis River was right down the road, and I wanted to take a picture from there. So I drove to the bridge and parked on the shoulder of the road. Our short hike had taken place on the right (east) bank of this river, just beyond the bend: