A New Favorite Hike - The Santa Clara Waterfalls - Part 2

The dogs and I had just hiked to a waterfall on the east branch of the St. Regis River (see also Part 1, posted yesterday), and the views were magnificent:

There was a natural channel along the side of the river above the falls into which water was cascading sideways, then flowing downhill beside the main falls. As you can see, Fergus went up to explore:

And then Clover joined him:

Seamus stayed at the base of the roaring waterfalls with me, where it was relatively safe:

Then we began walking upstream to see the top of the falls. This photo illustrates the pure, wild beauty of the area:

The trail paralleled the river but not right along the edge, which would have been dangerous:

We were clearly headed uphill:

The dogs were happy and still a bit silly. They hadn't yet tired out:

The Mountain Maples were already turning colors:

And then the trail took us to a high point above the river:

There was a high rock alongside the river which the little dogs wanted to investigate. The waterfall was downriver, just about where that fallen tree trunk was caught on the rocks:

The four little dogs were excited to be exploring. They are always up for a great adventure (sometimes too much so):

They scrambled down the rocks to the water's edge but Seamus and I wisely stayed up where the walking was safe. There was still much to see on this adventure, though, and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: