Wetlands And Wildflowers - Part 2

The dogs and I were walking the Rutland Nature Trail eastward, through abundant wetlands (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). The trail was lined with New England Asters in bloom:

And the dogs were ecstatic and muddy. The black cinders which once held up the railroad ties covered the dogs and got into my shoes and leg braces:

 At the other side of a pond were a Snowy Egret and Canada Goose. The Egret ignored me but the Goose honked angrily, upset that I'd invaded its territory:

Most of the red which you see on the sides of the trail was from Roughleaf Dogwood bushes:

And here is a closeup of Roughleaf Dogwood and its berries:

Seamus gave me his biggest smile:

 I was happy to see one Fringed Gentian, but I began to see more of them, then hundreds of them. They were great beauties:

And the dogs got increasingly covered with black, gritty mud:

Little Jack ran to and fro, always with a great smile:

 More Fringed Gentians:

My shoes and leg braces had become so gritty that walking was painful and I saw nowhere to sit and clean them. So we turned around and began heading back towards our parked car:

 I thought I recognized this sapling with the red leaves, so I looked it up when I got home. I decided it was a Black Tupelo, another species I've seen in pictures but never before in real life:

The dogs had finally tired themselves out and walked with me nicely. I didn't have to keep calling them back:

We passed by some channels along the trail:

The walk back was peaceful and calm:

Milkweed pods were getting ripe but not yet ready to burst and scatter their seeds. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: