Happy Dogs In Brasher State Forest - Part 1

It was a lovely day but kind of chilly. It seemed to me that it was time for a short hike and the dogs, as you might imagine, were in full agreement. I loaded them into the car and drove to nearby Brasher State Forest, where we pulled off the road and into the forest to park:

Released from the car, the pooches took off like rockets and I had to do a bit of yelling to rein them back in and keep them closer to me. But they know the routine by now and quickly adjusted:

Our spring season has been very late arriving and there were still no leaves on the hardwood trees. I focused on the ground and saw much green - these Star Moss and Partridgeberries, for instance:

And baby White Pines:

But the dogs had investigations of their own to perform:

And they did those mainly by sense of smell:

Our woodland wildflowers were just emerging. I believe these were Canada Mayflowers:

I saw a trail leading off into the forest and we all turned onto it, just to see what we might find:

We found this shelf fungus with a bright orange stripe:

We continued on through the pines for a short while:

Then stopped and looked around:

I decided it was time to return to the main trail and the dogs thought that was a fine idea. They ran ahead with all the enthusiasm they could muster. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: