Autumn On The Rutland Trail - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking on a section of the Rutland Trail on a fine autumn day (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). The scenery was magnificent:

 I saw these Milkweed seedpods and wanted a picture. As common as Milkweeds are, I seldom see the exploding seedpods. These always remind me of my childhood, when I wandered the fields behind our house:

The dogs were happy and exploring every inch of the trail ahead of me:

 There wasn't much color except for Red Maple saplings:

 Paper Birch grew along the trail:

And Wild Ginger. Alas, I've never seen their odd flowers, which are born beneath the leaves in April and May:

These cones notified me that there were White Pines nearby:

Not that the trees were hidden. Indeed, they were the tallest trees along the trail:

This section of trail runs through wetlands, and water in one form or another borders both sides of the trail. There are "No Trespassing" signs in places, but with all the water, I couldn't see how anyone could stray from the path:

We arrived at the spot which previously had a foot of water covering the trail as the pond on the right emptied itself into the marsh on the left. But this time, someone had built a bridge and we were able to keep exploring. Previously, I'd always had to turn around here:

The pond on the right was large, bigger than it appears in this picture, and beautiful:

But the bushes began to grow up along the trail, hiding the water on both sides:

And we came to another bridge, this one a steel grid with rubber mats over it. We'd never been this far before so I didn't know if it was new or not:

 And despite the late season, I began to find wildflowers in bloom. These were Heart-Leaved Aster:

 Tall Meadow-Rue was not in bloom, but its distinctive leaves gave it away. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: