A Return To The Hays Brook Trail - Part 1

I took the dogs to the town of St. Regis Falls to hike a trail about which I'd heard interesting reports. Alas, I couldn't find the trail head and decided instead to continue south to the old, familiar Hays Brook Trail. I parked there and let the happy dogs out:

They ran and frolicked, slowed only by my insistence that they stay within about 20 feet of me:

And the scenery was, as always, lovely:

The snow was mostly melted but a bit tricky to walk on with my damaged ankles. I decided I'd only go in a short distance and then walk back to the car. However, we walked to the end of the trail before turning around. That's still not a great distance, but it gave the dogs more time for fun and silliness:

Dogs get so ecstatic in the forest that it's a demonstration to crabby old people like me of what pure joy really looks like:

Fergus stopped to smell something awful. Oh, I see what it was. Just look at Seamus, behind Fergus on the trail:

We continued on through the mixed conifers, where the beech trees stood out with their retained, golden leaves. This small tree's top was caught in the snow and I tripped on it as I passed by:

We ventured off the trail every now and then just to see what we could see:

Fergus has learned that I want him close at hand, so he stops and looks back every so often to be sure I've not fallen too far behind or changed direction. Some people want their dogs to walk behind them, but I want mine in front of me so I can keep an eye on them and take photos. I just don't want them to go too far ahead:

We got to the end of the trail and wandered around in the forest. I've always believed the trail must continue on to somewhere, but we sure couldn't find any more trail on that day:

So we turned around and began making our way back to the car:

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! The dogs were full of joy. But we still had more trail to cover, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: