St. Regis River Flow Trail - Part 3

The dogs and I were walking the narrow strip of land along the St. Regis River at Santa Clara, NY (see also Parts 1 and 2, posted previously):

 I recognized these Roughleaf Dogwood berries right away. This bush grows everywhere around the farm and its flowers are spectacular for a couple of weeks each year. The berries were plenty handsome also:

I'd planned to cut back up to the trail for our return trip but never saw an easy access - so we simply began retracing the route we'd taken along the river's edge. That was fine with the dogs, who loved wading out among the Bullhead Lilies:

It was a hot day and Daphne knew how to keep cool:

 Another Cardinal Flower:

We finally got back to the trail and began our return to the parking lot:

 But of course I had to stop for these Lowbush Blueberries and eat some:

Like much of the Adirondacks, the soil here is very sandy, sometimes almost all sand:

Many of the roads here are lined with millions of Black-eyed Susans, but on this trail there were only a few:

We were almost back to our car and I continued to let the dogs run and play as we had the entire place to ourselves. This was a short, easy hike, just right for a hot summer day:

St. Regis River Flow Trail - Part 2

The dogs and I were on the trail beside the St. Regis River Flow (see also Part 1, posted yesterday), and Daphne was the first to go go into the water:

Then Seamus, looking a bit like a black dinosaur, went in for a cooling drink:

 We usually walk down to the river and then back to the trail to continue upstream, but this time the water level was low and we were able to continue along a narrow band next to the water. I saw lots of what I believe was Pale St. Johnswort, Hypericum ellipticum:

  There were large patches Pale St. Johnswort, much like the Common St. Johnswort but a kind of miniature:

The sunlight danced on the water as Clover and Daphne waded among the reeds. I could imagine a baby Moses floating by in a basket:

The low water level had stranded some Bullhead-Lilies, and Jack blithely walked right over the top of them. I doubt being stranded hurt them, figuring they must surely have evolved to survive such dry spells:

Seamus didn't worry about the stranded Bullhead Lilies. He went right out into the water to greet them:

 As we walked along the shore, I encountered the first two Cardinal Flowers:

 Cardinal Flowers are our native Lobelia, a spectacularly colored wildflower:

We kept walking along the narrow strip beside the river, though the dogs often preferred to walk in the water. So far I hadn't seen any need to return to the usual trail. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

St. Regis Flow With The Dogs - Part 2

I was hiking along the St. Regis River with the dogs in Santa Clara, New York (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and the dogs were having a grand time splashing in the river:

Seamus has the longest legs and likes the water the most, but even he doesn't go into the deep water. They are all happy to just play, get wet and cool off:

Daphne splashed out to some Bullhead-Lilies:

Fergus looked abandoned when Jack ran off to try some new swimming spot:

And sometimes the dogs were calm, just exploring and drinking the clean, cool water:

We got back on the trail again and I found lots of Wild Blackberries. Alas, none of them were ripe yet:

And there were entire fields of Spreading Dogbane, a poisonous but pretty plant:

We came to another water access, and this one had a nice view of a mountain in the distance:

This photo was an accident but when I got home and saw it, I loved it. Jack and Daphne were pushing their way through the ferns and Oxeye Daisies. The yellow flowers in the foreground were St. Johnswort:

We made another detour down to the water's edge:

This is the place where we always see abundant Cardinal Flowers - but not this time. I couldn't remember what their leaves looked like, so I couldn't check for plants without flowers. We were probably too early and I'll have to go back later. Nevertheless, the dogs sure had fun. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

St. Regis Flow With The Dogs - Part 1

I walk along the path by the St. Regis River in Santa Clara, New York every year to see and photograph the Cardinal Flowers, but this year there were none. Furthermore, most of the other flower and tree photos I took were not usable. But the dogs sure had fun and the scenery was lovely, so I'll share the photos I have:

I was taught to call these Spatterdock but my field guide says that is a southern species which holds its leaves above the water. What we have in the northeast is Bullhead-Lily, and its leaves float on the water. It sure is beautiful and the frogs love it, just like in the cartoons:

We investigated the shoreline by the boat launch, then headed back toward our car and turned left into the field to find the trail which paralleled the St. Regis River:

Common Milkweed was just beginning to bloom, but already the air was so perfumed that everywhere smelled like a florist shop:

And the sandy Adirondack soil grew an abundance of Wild Strawberries and Lowbush Blueberries. The blueberries were just ripening, but there were enough ripe ones to snack on. There was also a lot of Reindeer Lichen:

We hit the main trail and turned toward the river access. The dogs knew where we were going and broke into a run:

That brown patch on the right was Haircap Moss with its brown colored fruiting bodies, producing spores:

Daphne, Fergus and Seamus stopped for a moment in the shade:

And then we saw our first river access point and the dogs once again began to run:

Seamus and Jack went right in. They didn't hesitate:

Daphne got wet right up to her chin and looked silly. But we were just getting started. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

St. Regis River Access Plants - Part 2

I was hiking with the dogs along the St. Regis River and photographing the abundant wildflowers there (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). There was a lot of Heal-All, and it was unusually large and deeply colored:

It was the Cardinal Flower I'd come to see, but there wasn't any to be found - until Jack called my attention to some. He walked right underneath a brilliantly scarlet spike of flowers:

I looked around and found more Cardinal Flowers growing next to the river. There were fewer of them than most years, but enough to get some good photos:

Some of the Cardinal Flowers were just beginning to open:

And some hadn't yet opened at all:

We walked uphill, away from the river, and continued on the trail where we found patches of Moss and Wild Strawberries. Now that we were back on the trail, I didn't know what kind of plants we might find:

We found lots of Yarrow in bloom:

And Cow Vetch, some of it 4 feet high, supported by the surrounding plants:

Wild Blackberries, though none were ripe:

More Common Milkweed. This one was so gigantic that I snapped a photo with my hand to show its size. It reminded me of the Rubber Tree Plants which were popular house plants when I was a boy:

And of course there were Oxeye Daisies. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: