A Surprise Thaw And A Hike To Moose Pond - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking the trail to Moose Pond in Bloomingdale, New York (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). We arrived at an unmarked fork in the trail but luckily, I'd read that the easiest access to the lake was to take the left fork. The dogs wanted to take the right fork, but they gave up when it became clear I was going the other way:

It didn't take long before we could see Moose Pond ahead of us, as well as an old fireplace and chimney, a reminder of a cabin which once stood at the water's edge:

The lake was as lovely as I'd read, a wild, Adirondack treasure, surrounded by high peaks:

We walked out onto a large, flat rock to see and experience Moose Pond:

It was quite a wonderful place to be, and all the more so on a miraculously warm winter day:

Daphne and Clover, AKA "The Silly Sisters," ran and played at the water's edge:

Fergus, always more nervous than the others, was more hesitant. But he soon came out to join us and explore the shoreline:

My eyes were on the high peaks. I couldn't identify a single one of them, though I suspected that pointed one with the slide was Whiteface:

But I wasn't ready to stop exploring, so we began trekking through the forest along the edge of Moose Pond. I was hoping to locate that alternate trail which we'd passed by on our way here:

Fergus is a sensitive soul and checks with me often to be sure everything is OK and he's not in trouble. Clover is quite the opposite, and if I holler at Clover, she's unperturbed - but Fergus gets upset. I have to be careful. We continued exploring this lovely forest, following the shoreline and hoping to chance onto the alternate trail. But I'll post about that tomorrow: