Madawaska Pond

My sister, Lynn, and her husband, Tim, were visiting from Ohio and we'd just hiked in to see the Santa Clara waterfall (see the previous two posts). Our next stop was Madawaska Pond, which required a five mile drive on rough, one lane "roads" through the forest. We arrived at the parking site and started walking:

The trail to Madawaska Pond is through a stand of large White Pines and is both beautiful and peaceful:

The dogs had already used up some of their excess energy, so they were much better behaved by this time. Seamus' back legs were beginning to fail him, and I eventually had to put him on a leash to keep him from falling or wandering off to unsafe places and getting lost:

The trail to Madawaska Pond was not only lovely to look at, but also wonderful to smell because the White Pine aroma rose when the sun hit the trees and fallen needles:

We took a side trip to a hill overlooking the marshy edge of Madawaska Pond. The red leaves you see on the hill were Lowbush Blueberries:

Lynn and Tim stood and took in the expansive views, backed by the White Pine forest:

But then we hit the trail again, which took us along the edge of the pond:

These miniature red-capped lichens were called British Soldiers. They are never large, but these were the smallest I've ever seen:

We found several water access sites. This one was marked as a canoe launch:

Recent rains had produced a crop of unusual mushrooms all along the trail:

And I got another a photo of Tim and Lynn:

I've never seen a mushroom like this, but its general lumpiness and orange color seemed appropriate for Halloween:

We walked to the end of the pond, then turned around and began the trek back to our car. We were all tired by this time, and happy to reach the car and sit down. We headed home for a nap and dinner:

Annual Pink Ladyslipper Walk - Part 1

Time seems accelerated this year, and I'm racing to keep up with everything. One day it occurred to me that it was time for my annual Pink Ladyslipper walk along the sort-of trail I discovered in the Brasher State Forest. I parked along the road and let the dogs out. There were no Ladyslippers there, but I knew they'd be found back in the forest, beneath the pines. But there was an abundance of Wild Strawberries by the road:

And one lovely Blue-Eyed-Grass:

The dogs cared for none of that and ran joyfully for the forest. The mosquitoes were out in force and hungry, so I was too busy swatting them to worry much about the dogs. They got to run more freely than I usually allow:

Besides, I knew there would be no other people anywhere near - and the dogs behaved pretty well without me carping at them:

Then I began to find many Starflowers, a lovely spring wildflower with both leaves and flowers in a star pattern:

And Canada Mayflowers, sometimes called Wild Lily-Of-The-Valley:

And then I began to see Pink Ladyslippers, our native wild orchid. They were exceptional this year:

There were so many that I came home with 104 photos. I whittled them down to 31, which I'll present in two blog posts. How could I not take pictures of such wild beauty?:

Clover wasn't concerned with orchids. For her and the for the other dogs, this was just a romp in the forest:

A close-up:

Two Ladyslippers, just a few feet apart:

A tall specimen at the base of a small tree:

We began in a White Pine forest, but it changed to mostly Red Pines as we got deeper into the woods. The dogs seemed to find something putrid, though I didn't notice it at the time. I sure did notice it when Seamus vomited in my car on the way home. They were all fine, though, whatever it was they got into:

A patch of tiny lichens, including British Soldiers (with the red caps) and Pixie Cups (like tiny goblets):

Seamus went ahead into the deep forest, and I followed. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

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:

Beautiful, Peaceful Slush Pond - Part 1

My sister and I had hiked with the dogs up to The Pinnacle (see previous posts), but the day was still young. So we drove south on Route 30 to a narrow, unmarked road into the Adirondack forest which I happened to know would lead us to Slush Pond:

We parked the car, let the dogs out and began heading toward the floating peat bog. But on the way, we enjoyed the tiny treasures on the forest floor such as the various mosses, the British Soldier lichens, the Pixie Cup lichens and the Reindeer lichen:

Here's a close-up of a patch of Reindeer lichen. If you click to enlarge it, you can see a lot of detail:

The dogs were happy and enjoyed the mossy forest floor:

There were puffballs growing amidst the pine needles:

But we were headed out to see the floating peat bog and Clover led the way as we carefully walked out across its spongy surface:

Millions of ripe cranberries dotted the surface:

And I was more than happy to taste a few:

And there were plenty of red, carnivorous pitcher plants. They seemed to be partly beneath the sphagnum substrate, perhaps because the recent rains had raised the water level:

Pitcher plants are really quite lovely. Their flowers look like alien invaders, though I haven't seen one in years:

There were golden patches of sphagnum and red patches, which I've recently learned are different species. This red patch was further ornamented by scarlet cranberries, rather like gems on a crown:

The dogs led us out past the young tamaracks toward the edge of the bog:

This channel led to the rather large Slush Pond and the dogs had no fear of walking right up to the edge. But there was yet more to see and experience in this wild, lovely place and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: