Clear Pond Loop - Part 1

The lawn needed mowing and some trees needed pruning, but it was such a lovely autumn day that I decided to forego all work and take the dogs hiking. We hadn't been to the White Hill Wild Forest recently, so I drove there, parked and let the dogs out at Clear Pond. Of course they ran straight to it and Jack lifted his leg on the bench the rangers had built:

I usually walk along the northwestern shore, but that would mean every photo of the lake would be aimed straight into the morning sun. So instead, I led the dogs out along the southeastern shore. Alas, it was so near noon that I had a lot of trouble with the sun anyway, and it bleached out many photos taken from lots of angles. But I got lots of usable pictures and the dogs were wildly happy to be running through the forest again:

I decided to let them run and not yell at them for getting too far ahead of me. Alas, my intended kindness backfired, as they seemed to think they were given free rein to run amok. In the end, I had to yell at them a lot - not that they minded. They stop when I yell "Stop!" and return to me when I yell "Come here!" but my anger doesn't seem to hurt their feelings. Apparently they think that's just how I talk when hiking:

There were not many easy access points to the water, but those we found caused great joy. Clover and Jack, not normally water dogs, even waded out into Clear Pond:

And some spots were absolutely gorgeous and peaceful:

The trail took us up away from the water's edge and into the forest:

And then back to the water again. Clover and Daphne climbed up on some overturned tree roots:

And then away from the water and back into the forest again:

I had never taken this trail any farther than this but it was so pleasant that I decided to keep going. That was just fine with the pooches, who responded with more running:

We seemed to have rounded the far end of Clear Pond and, I assumed, this was a loop trail which would take us back to our starting point:

I spotted some small, red mushrooms, a color so vibrant I don't think I could have missed them among the dead brown leaves on the forest floor:

And the dogs were having fun. They'd run ahead, I'd call them back, they'd run ahead, I'd call them back. They get a lot more mileage that way than I do:

This loop was taking much longer than I'd anticipated, but it was marked and I never lost sight of Clear Pond, so I wasn't too worried. When I got home, I checked a map and learned that we'd walked around the edge of large projection of Clear Pond which I hadn't realized was there. We were only about halfway at this point, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: