Five Overexcited Dogs In The Wild Forest - Part 3

The dogs and I had just hiked the Indian Rock Waterway Access trail (see also previous two posts) to the St. Regis River and the dogs were very happily enjoying the clean, clear water:

As for me, I climbed up onto a mound of earth to get a photo of the river beyond our location. People carry their canoes to this point so they can paddle into the wilderness and enjoy this spectacular scenery:

We explored the area a bit, but there wasn't much else to see so we began our return journey:

The dogs had slowed down a bit by this point, but not much:

These tiny plants were sporting whitish berries and I wondered if they were Partridgeberry or Wintergreen. I thought it was the latter, so I crushed a leaf and indeed, the aroma of Wintergreen filled my nostrils:

Seamus lagged behind and, given his age and faltering condition, I thought I'd better go back and find him. He was smelling something and seemed to have forgotten about us, so I got him back with his pack and we began walking the trail back to our car:

The little dogs were as spry and excited as ever - maybe more so:

It was a perfect day except for my constant yelling to keep the dogs close by me:

The dogs ran ahead barking at one point and, when I caught up with them, discovered they'd met a couple carrying two canoes. Luckily, they thought my friendly dogs were fun. Reindeer Lichen, Bracken Ferns and various mosses lined the sides of the trail:

We took occasional side trips to see the sights:

But mostly we stayed on the main trail:

When the parking area appeared ahead of us, I almost called the dogs to heel, but decided it didn't make much difference here:

So I let them run ahead to reach the car before me. I always marvel how they're just as excited to find the car as they were to leave it and begin their adventure: