Catherineville State Forest - Part 1

Our hot, humid weather suddenly ended and we had a cool, sunny, breezy day. It was just right for a day in the woods, so I took the dogs to the Catherineville State Forest, just 8 miles from home:

There were lots of Wild Blackberries in bloom. Pretty soon there will be ripe berries along the sunny parts of the trail:

I pulled into the forest, far from the road. That gave us a head start and hid my car from passersby. We strayed from the trail soon, though, as the open forest was so inviting:

The dogs ran and played while I searched for wildflowers in bloom and took note of the tree species in evidence:

Back on the trail, I was thinking that I could have driven in much farther. We soon came to a tree fallen across the road so I decided it was a good thing I parked where I did:

Jack was running full speed and in big circles. He's a happy little dog:

As usual, all the dogs were a bit wild at first. I told myself I'd let them run and not yell at them, but it wasn't long before I had to start hollering for them to stop and come back. It seems they think the object is for them to run as far as possible, until I call them back, and then they run full speed back to me. They do, however, take time to sniff and pee on everything:

It was a beautiful forest and an easy trail, a near perfect day:

The forest alternated between deep, dark woods and bright, open spaces. There were also many forest types, clustered together in small groups. There were Hemlock, Spruce, Fir, mixed hardwood and Maple/Beech sections:

Seamus was our lookout. After all, he was the only dog tall enough to see over the weeds:

I saw the first Daisies of the summer on that trail - in the sunny spots, of course:

The dogs began to slow down, allowing me to relax more and enjoy the forest beauty. But we had farther to go, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: