The Madawaska Pond Trail

The road to beautiful Madawaska Pond crosses private property and has been closed for several years. There is a trail which supposedly leads there from Blue Mountain Road, in the Adirondack Santa Clara Tract, but the last section of it too is closed to the public. I knew that when I began this trail with the dogs, but it's a wonderful trail anyway, through a magnificent example of boreal forest:

Balsam Firs are abundant here, and the aroma fills the air. Unfortunately, black flies also filled the air and I quickly got covered with bites in spite of using bug spray. In fact, I cut the hike short and headed back early to the car:

But the scenery was lovely and the dogs had a grand time. The black flies didn't seem to bother them. I suppose they didn't need to bite dogs when I was providing such an easy meal:

One of Clover's hind feet seemed to bother her and she was walking on three legs. I stopped to see what was wrong but found nothing. She began to run and play normally again - and then reverted to walking on three legs. I never did find the problem. Whatever it was, it fixed itself:

I stopped to photograph these tiny British Soldier Lichens, mixed in with Reindeer Lichens and what I call star mosses:

Seamus and Clover investigated some interesting smells, but the forest is so incredibly dense and the footing so treacherous that even the dogs refused to leave the trail:

We traveled onward, a happy band of travelers, making me feel like I was headed for the Emerald City:

But the heat and black flies were getting the best of me, and I decided to turn back toward the car. The dogs didn't care. They were happy to go either direction:

Seeing the impenetrable forest on either side of this former road got me wondering how it was built in the first place. It must have been a major engineering feat, and all the more so back when things had to be done without benefit of modern power equipment:

There were small white violets and Reindeer Lichen growing right in the middle of the trail:

But we were almost back to the car:

Jack was the first to spot the gate. He knew our car was parked just the other side of it and he broke into a run. There were no people and no cars to worry about, so I just let him run ahead and wait at the car for us to catch up:

The Leonard Pond Trail - Part 1

The access road to the Leonard Pond trail was directly across the road from the access road to Jamestown Falls (yesterday's post). But this time, we had to park at the trail head and hike - which was just fine with my joyful dogs:

We began in a coniferous forest, a boreal forest type, filled with the wonderful aroma of Balsam Firs:

The forest type kept changing as we walked, in this place a hardwood forest, but with pines and spruce just ahead:

I stopped to admire and photograph this wonderful ferny moss growing on a fallen log. Notice the Pixie-Cup Lichen at the top center, just below and to the left of those red spots:

The trail was lovely and easy walking:

We walked through a Red Pine forest:

I later read that the Red Pines had taken over after the forest fires of the early 1900s:

A variety of lichens on a pine branch:

We saw this green oasis just off the trail and stopped to investigate. It was a designated campsite, and a beautiful one at that:

There was supposed to be a spur trail which would lead us to Leonard Pond but there were a number of such trails and I had left my trail guide back at the car. Oops. We kept trying branching paths and then returning to the main trail:

I finally decided that we'd gone beyond where the Leonard Pond spur was supposed to branch off, so we just took the next one we came to:

And it was a beauty. Pond or no pond, this was a lovely forest and we were exploring. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

St. Regis Canoe Carry Trail - Part 3

We'd hiked the short distance to the St. Regis River and then decided to follow the shoreline through the forest, a bit of exploration:

It was a glorious day and I was happy:

But there wasn't much else to see, so we cut back to the main trail and began our journey back to the parked car:

This was a lovely forest and an easy trail, just what I needed with my new ankle braces:

And the dogs were well behaved. They finally seemed to have some understanding of not running too far ahead. They were pretty darn good about sticking close to me:

Through the forest we traveled:

And through the wet spots. You can see the earnestness on the faces of Daphne and Fergus. As for Clover, she was once again trying to keep her tootsies dry:

The pines gave way to balsams, and the air was again filled with their aroma:

Old Man's Beard, or Usnea - a lichen which hangs from tree branches:

We were almost back to the car:

We passed by the unnamed pond once again just before we arrived at the car. It had been a wonderful short hike and a great day to be alive and experiencing the wild forest. I hope that I was able to convey the joy of it to you in these posts:

St. Regis Canoe Carry Trail - Part 2

The trail was a short one, and soon we passed another unnamed pond. It's amazing to be surrounded by such exquisite beauty, with the balsams scenting the air and birds singing all around:

Fergus was a very good dog and kept coming back to me for approval. He got it:

But mostly it was a fun hike, with the dogs trotting happily just ahead of me:

When we were almost to the St. Regis River, I called the dogs back to me in case we found someone else there when we arrived:

We broke into the clearing and saw this lovely scene:

The St. Regis is wide and calm at this lovely spot. That mountain, I believe, is St. Regis Mountain:

The Silly Sisters ran down to the water's edge to play:

And then Seamus arrived for some serious water play. Clover took off, but Daphne stayed for a bit of splashing fun with her gigantic buddy:

I looked downstream:

And upstream:

And then we set off upstream to follow the shoreline and see the sights. But I'll post about that tomorrow:

St. Regis Canoe Carry Trail - Part 1

My second hike with my new braces was the canoe carry to the St. Regis River, just off of Blue Mountain Road. I parked the car and let the dogs out:

The trail was short and level, just what I needed. It was also beautiful, a walk through a Boreal Forest, perfumed with balsam and pine:

There was an unnamed pond at the beginning of the trail, and it was a gem:

So we veered off the trail, following a dry, sandy path covered with Reindeer Lichen:

It appeared to me that there had once been a road through the forest here, and it made a nice place for us to explore:

There was red Partridgeberry fruit left over from the previous summer, mixed in with the blue/green of the Reindeer Lichen:

I couldn't get near the water of the pond, but little Clover found a place to get her feet wet:

Since we really couldn't find access to the pond, we returned to the main trail and continued our hike:

The black flies were out and pesky, but the wind was blowing and that kept them at bay:

The ground underfoot was almost pure sand and the trail was level and smooth. It was a fine day for the dogs to be hiking and a good, easy walk for me with my new braces:

Clover, who normally tries to stay dry, jumped in the water repeatedly on this hike, though only enough to get her feet cooled off. But the St. Regis River was just ahead of us and I knew we'd be there soon. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: