A Surprise Thaw And A Hike To Moose Pond - Part 1

We had lots of snow and cold, followed by a warmer day with rain. Then it turned even warmer, an amazing 67 degrees. Well, I figured I needed to take the dogs on a pleasant hike and I already had a new one in mind to explore - Moose Pond, in the town of Bloomingdale. We parked at the trail head and crossed the Saranac River on a footbridge:

Entering the forest, the dogs began to run gleefully:

And I enjoyed the miniature "forests" of Princess Pines (AKA Tree Club Moss) and the smell of Balsams:

The trail was smooth and easy walking:

We only saw one other hiker, and that was at the beginning of our walk. A man with a rifle was just coming out of the forest to get into his car and go home. The rest of the time, we had the entire forest to ourselves:

This trail, I had read, was once a dirt road which led to Moose Pond. It was still in fine shape and no trail markers were needed (which was a good thing, because there weren't any):

I set Clover up on this old log for a photo, but she couldn't hold still very long:

The dogs drank from clear mountain streams:

And the air in many places smelled strongly of Balsams. That wonderful aroma seemed to me to be as sweet as candy. And because it was intermittent, it always came as a wonderful surprise:

These rocky ledges rose up on the left and continued on for a considerable distance. I knew we were getting close to Moose Pond, but I'll post about that tomorrow: