West Parishville State Forest - Part 1

I hadn't taken the dogs out for a long time, partly because of our harsh winter weather, and partly because of the trauma, earlier this winter, of Jack getting caught in a leg trap. But we had a surprise thaw and warmer weather, so one day I drove the dogs to to the West Parishville State Forest:

There was still so much snow along the sides of the road that I feared I'd never find any place to park, but our trail had a parking area and was free of snow. I let the dogs out and they ran amok, wild with pent up energy:

Right next to where I parked was this odd sight, which I decided must have been an old cellar hole from a former residence, the old stone foundation now holding the water:


We started on our way and I was pleased at the dearth of snow and ice. The dogs continued to run wildly, except to stop for pooping (as Daphne is doing in this photo):

We were in a predominantly Red Pine forest and I was hopeful for some nice scenery:

I had to keep calling the dogs back because they were so excited:

But we hadn't gone far before the entire trail was covered with slick ice, the forest floor covered with enough snow to make walking hazardous for me. I slipped and fell once, but suffered nothing more than a small scrape on one hand:

I considered turning back, but first tried walking into the forest to see how that went:

I soon returned to the trail, but walked along the edge of it, trying to stay off both the ice and the deepest snow. Meanwhile, the dogs were running and exploring:

They seemed to have no problem navigating either the snow or the ice:

And in spite of my earlier thoughts of turning back, we soon found ourselves going deeper into the forest:

Seamus struck a pose, looking very handsome. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: