Rutland Trail East - Part 2

The dogs and I were walking the Rutland trail, a former railroad bed for the Rutland Railroad which traverses extensive wetlands (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

There was more beaver sign than I'd ever seen before, so I imagined that the beaver population was increasing:

Shelf fungi:

Jack kept running far ahead, but he always came running back when I called:

We came to a section where White Pines grew. Someone had cut down some of the biggest pines, dropping them in the water and leaving them there. I have no idea why:

My happy little troop trotted along the trail, delighted with being outdoors and moving:

The biggest body of water on the trail was just up ahead, but the dogs were busy sniffing along the trail and didn't notice it:

I stopped to photograph these dried Queen Anne's Lace flower heads:

And then these yellow leaves, which I couldn't identify. Looking them up when I got home, I decided they might be Gray Birch, native to the northeast United States:

We came to the bridge, beneath which the big pond on the right slowly drained into the marsh on the left:

We didn't go much farther, though, because the hard packed stone dust was causing my ankles to be painful, almost as if I was walking on concrete. Soon we turned back toward where we began:

It was chilly, but I'd come prepared. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: