Bear Mountain, In The Cranberry Lake Wild Forest - Part 2

We were hiking the trail to the summit of Bear Mountain and were almost to the top:

When we reached the summit, there was only this limited view of Cranberry Lake. Clover didn't care, as she was busy playing on the rocks:

Here's a little better view of Cranberry Lake from the summit:

Hoping there might be another scenic overlook, we continued on the trail for some time. We never found another viewing spot, but there were giant rocks which the dogs thought were canine playgrounds:

All four dogs climbed up and down the rocks, enjoying themselves immensely:

They didn't care about scenic overlooks. This was just what they enjoyed:

Seamus and Fergus found the highest spot of all and posed as nobly as they were able. Their haircuts were only one day old and they did look nice up there:

But there was nothing more to see, so we began our way back down to the car, passing the scenic overlook one more time along the way:

The trail dropped off as we left the summit and we began the downhill hike, maneuvering around rocks, mudslides and fallen leaves:

It was still chilly and I had to put something over my bald head to keep the heat in:

The trail became more level and less rocky as we neared the trail head:

The final shot of the day was of Clover, who had climbed up on a fallen log. We reached our car and began our journey back home, stopping for lunch along the way:

Bear Mountain, In The Cranberry Lake Wild Forest - Part 1

On day two of my sister's visit, we made PeeWee comfortable, put the other dogs in the car and drove down Route 30 toward the village of Tupper Lake. But on the way, we stopped at Lake Clear to walk the sandy beaches:

It was still early in the morning, the winds were strong, the temperature frigid and the waves pounded the shoreline almost like we were at the ocean:

We walked a short distance on the golden sands and admired the autumn colors and distant mountains:

We explored into the forest just a bit to get a look at a tributary:

But then we headed back to our parked car. The dogs loved this romp on the beach but frankly, I was shivering:

We drove to Tupper Lake and then turned west toward Cranberry Lake, where we located the trail head for Bear Mountain and began hiking up the trail:

The trail began easy enough, and the autumn leaves were lovely. The dogs ran and played:

I set Fergus on a mossy log for a picture, but he seemed to be embarrassed about it:

We passed a lean-to, and stopped briefly to take a closer look:

It rained several times while we were on the trail, but the trees overhead protected us:

The trail became steeper and much more rocky, presenting my injured ankles with some tricky walking. We made it in fine shape, though I paid a price for it with ankle pain that night:

I'd never hiked Bear Mountain before and was looking forward to the scenic overlook. But I'll post about that in Part 2, tomorrow: