The River Loop Trail In St. Regis Falls - Part 1

We had a warm, sunny day and I was determined to take the dogs hiking somewhere - but someplace where there weren't a lot of other people. I chose the River Loop Trail in St. Regis Falls, not too far from home and a trail I'd never before tried:

The trail began on an old railroad bed and was straight and level - and unexciting. But I wanted to see what else it had to offer:

It seemed clear to me that people had been driving their quads on this trail, eroding much of the soil:

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day and the scenery alongside the trail was lovely. We walked off into the woods to see a green patch of Princess Pines and moss:

And the dogs, of course, were having a grand time. Little Daphne led the way when we got off the trail:

Jack, Daphne and Clover were running through the woods in big circles:

We got back on the trail and continued until I saw a marked foot trail veer off to the right, into the forest. The dogs knew immediately that's where we were going and ran excitedly down the new trail:

This was a true foot trail which hadn't been harmed by vehicular traffic. In fact, it was a handsome forest:

We strayed off the trail to see another patch of Princess Pines, this one quite large:

And then continued on through the forest, some of it young trees like these and some of it large, older trees:

We continued on through a grove of pines:

And came, eventually, to the St. Regis River. We were high up on a ridge but could see and hear it roaring below us. I hoped the trail would take us down to the riverbank, so we continued on. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: