Madawaska Pond - Part 2

I was hiking along Madawaska Pond with the dogs, one of the loveliest areas in the Adirondacks (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

The forest smelled of White Pines, heating up in the morning sun. The dogs were happy and the trail was easy to walk. It promised to be a fine day:

We stopped to walk down to the edge of the pond, where I was again taken aback by the low water level. The floating masses of peat were covered in mud, causing me to think it had recently been even lower during the drought:

The dogs ran down to the water and Jack went right in, paddling out to a muddy, floating mass of peat:

  He kept trying to climb up onto the peat but couldn't manage to get up there. I didn't dare step into that mud with my leg braces, so I tried calling him back. Becoming fearful, he just kept trying to climb up on the little island of muddy peat. So I walked away from the water, hoping he'd panic at the thought of being left behind and swim back to shore. It worked:

Jack was a tired, muddy mess when he rejoined us and stunk like swamp mud for several days afterwards, but he was safe and I'd like to think he learned a lesson (but I know better):

On the trail again, we passed some golden mushrooms like this one, which sat next to a White Pine cone:

The trail stayed along the shore of Madawaska Pond but rose up, giving us many scenic views:

A four lobed mushroom of banana yellow, also next to a White Pine cone:

A peach colored mushroom:

And a red mushroom, which I think was a Bolete. The green leaves, I believe, were Canada Mayflowers:

We passed over a section of low grass, Wild Strawberries, pine seedlings and, to my surprise, what seemed like Wild Blackberries which stayed only 2" high. I later learned that they were Dewberries, and their trailing growth habit was characteristic. But we had more yet to see, and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: