An Extravagance Of Wild Orchids - Part 2

The dogs and I were walking through the Walter F. Pratt Forest, part of Brasher State Forest, in a quest for Pink Ladyslippers in bloom (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

And I was finding many of them, perhaps even hundreds. We'd hit the jackpot!:

Caring nothing about flowers, the dogs ran and played:

While I snapped more photos of our beloved wild orchid:

Because I was preoccupied, the dogs got more freedom than usual. Luckily, they'd already used up their excess energy in the previous hike:

I have read that Ladyslippers can live for twenty years. They were certainly thriving in this forest:

But our hike was almost over, and I could see the road just ahead:

Ladyslippers bloomed in great profusion. In this photo, you can see three of them:

Clover was a happy girl:

I took a couple more pictures before I put my camera away:

Well, maybe just one more:

But we'd arrived back at the road, where our car was parked. This was the densest population of the orchids I've yet seen. I hope to return next year and find them again: