The Duck Pond Trail - Part 2

The dogs and I had hiked as far as the oxbow (see yesterday's post) but not all the way to Duck Pond. We began returning to our parked car. The dogs by then had run off some of their excess energy and were much better about staying close to me:

But they still had lots of fun, running and playing and exploring:

And it was a glorious day, with warm temperatures, sun and blue skies:

Though it doesn't show in these photos, I could see Azure Mountain through the trees almost the entire way, adding to the scenic beauty:

The road through the forest was lovely and I figured that flowers would be blooming in one more week:

The dogs continued playing and sniffing:

The pooches were happy, and so was I:

I saw this giant rock, a glacial erratic, leftover from the retreating glaciers, down in the woods and we veered off the road for a closer look:

The side trip was fun, but brief. We soon returned to the road and continued on our way back toward our parked car:

And soon we saw our bright red car, just ahead:

Another vehicle pulled in and parked just as I was loading the dogs back up into the car. A local man was using this for his base of operations, from which he planned to run on Blue Mountain Road. He came over to say hello to my dogs, who, I am glad to say, were perfectly behaved:

So we settled in for the drive home, with a much calmer Daphne, Jack and Clover on the seat beside me: