Brasher State Forest During A Midwinter Thaw, Part 2

The dogs and I were exploring the piney woodlands in the Brasher State Forest (see also Part 1, posted yesterday), the same area where we'd seen such an abundance of Pink Ladyslippers the previous springtime:

Clover and Daphne were more focused and less excitable than usual, intent on checking out every interesting sight and smell in the forest. Jack, the reddish blur in the center of the photo, continued to run full speed:

Since we were in a temporary thaw, I was able to watch the ground, hoping to see Ladyslipper seed pods. I never saw any, but I did see lots of green ferns, mosses, lichens and Partridgeberry:

I decided to turn around before I got lost, and we began the trip back towards the road. The dogs had locked on an interesting smell, but they came when called and we all began a new adventure, heading back the other way:

I was amazed to find a number of small mushrooms which looked to me as if they'd survived under the snow until it melted. Of course they might have sprung up after the thaw, but they looked a bit ragged, as if they'd been there awhile:

The Red Pines had dropped seed everywhere, and there were thousands of cones, seedlings and saplings wherever we walked. There were also lots of small Beech trees and I wished, after we got home, that I'd searched for beechnuts:

We took several short trips off the trail (which really wasn't much of a trail anyway) and into the forest, just to explore:

Daphne and Clover seemed to be posing for this photo, with Clover looking like a miniature Pointer:

Silly Jack just ran in big circles. He did, at the end, run too far ahead and I had to begin hollering for him, but the forest was open enough that I could watch him through the trees as he ran in another circle, trying to find us:

Fergus made a real effort to pee on every tree in the forest:

But we had almost reached the road, so I put my camera away and concentrated on keeping the dogs near me as we made our way back to the car: