High Falls On The Salmon River - Part 1

The day was lovely and I had a lot of farm work to do. But it was simply too beautiful to spend it forking cow manure and laboring, so I took the four younger dogs to Franklin County for a hike to High Falls, on the Salmon River:

The forest trail was lined with Bunchberry in bloom:

And it took us alongside the lovely Salmon River which, at this point, was quiet and serene:

There were log and plank bridges over muddy spots and ravines. The dogs had no problem with them, but I discovered that my braces were too wide to allow me to safely stand with my feet together. I began experimenting with different ways of walking across them:

I stopped to let the dogs go into the Salmon River but only Daphne was interested:

Foamflower was beginning to bloom and, in some places, fully in bloom:

Clintonia bloomed everywhere, filling the forest floor with its banana yellow flowers. My camera didn't register the color well at all. In reality, they were a gorgeous, full bodied yellow:

We'd had heavy rain the previous day and the trail was wet in places:

In some places, it was exceedingly wet. I was happy to note that some recent repair work on the bridges had made hiking easier:

Much of the trail took us through Balsam forest and the aroma was sweet:

The smaller dogs and I walked the planks, but Seamus didn't bother. He'd trudge through the mud or walk down into the gullies and back up the other side:

Like this:

It was a thoroughly pleasant trail through a lovely forest and toward a great destination. But we weren't there yet, so I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Part 1- High Falls On The Big Salmon River

I drove south out of Owls Head, New York and followed the directions toward a trail called the Cooling Ponds Trail. I never found it, but the High Falls Trail seemed to be just where the other should have been. Perhaps they'd changed its name. Besides, it was on the Big Salmon River and apparently led to a waterfall. What more could I ask on a hot summer day?:

The trail did indeed begin along the Salmon River, but it wasn't very big in that hot, dry season:

But the forest was cool and I passed lots of Bunchberries with - um, bunches of berries:

And the dogs were happy:

The woods were attractive and we had them all to ourselves:

The dogs played in the river for a short time, but then I called them and we continued following the trail:

There were butterflies galore flitting about the Joe-Pye Weed. I caught a photo of one when it folded its wings and landed. I sent it in to Butterflies And Moths Of North America for an identification. When I got an answer, they were unable to identify it but knew it was in the genus Haploa. I then used their own website to locate it and discovered that it was Haploa confusa, a species of moth native to the northeast United States with spotted forewings and solid white or cream hindwings which are hidden when at rest. When in flight they look like typical butterflies. Its common name is Confused Haploa. You can learn more by clicking here:

We passed Clintonia berries with their beautiful blue coloration:

And onward through the forest:

An orange and yellow mushroom:

The trail had hewn logs over the wet spots, though in this case, Seamus declined the help and preferred to get his feet wet:

The trail veered away from the river for a while, and then returned. That sunlight you see on the left is from the opening in the forest cover made by the river. I was beginning to hear the roaring of rapids or of falls. But I'll post more tomorrow:

Mount Everett, Part 4

This is the final post of my hike up Mount Everett. We were on our way back down the mountain when these photos were taken. This first is of all three dogs, Fergus, Seamus and Daphne, at the rocky shoulder which provided such grand panoramas:

You may need to click to enlarge this photo to see the dogs. Seamus is resting next to the trail on the left side of the picture and Daphne is cavorting, puppy-like, just beyond that big rock in the trail. And of course there's more wild Azaleas in full bloom:

Hey, Seamus is resting again! This big boy is not a ball of fire, but he sure is a companionable hiker as long as it's not too terribly hot and sunny. So we all took a brief rest on our way down the mountain. Descending is often more grueling than ascending because of the wear and tear on leg joints and the bruising of toes. At least it is for me, though the dogs seem just fine with the trips back down the mountains:

This picture demonstrates the dogs negotiating the large, sharp boulders in the trail. This seems to be par for the course when hiking in the Taconic Mountains:

And we arrived back at the stone lean-to with the nice view. The dogs were inspired by the large expanse of mowed lawn to run and play (as you saw in the video two posts ago):

Bluets and wild strawberries bloomed together in the grassy areas:

And violets mixed in with the wild strawberries in other places:

After we'd passed the stone lean-to, the trail was again a dirt road and much easier on the feet and legs. And still the wild Azaleas blossomed nearly everywhere I looked:

We continued hiking down the dirt road (which is closed to vehicles and therefore safe for dogs):

And I set the camera on a stump to get a self portrait. I'd wanted the dogs in the picture, but they were too busy playing:

Seamus did, however, pose in front of a large patch of Interrupted Ferns:

And also blooming was Clintonia, Clintonia borealis:

And Starflower, Trientalis borealis, aptly named as both flowers and leaves were star shaped:

When we reached the bottom of the mountain, I passed by our car and headed down to beautiful Guilder Pond. The dogs could get themselves cooled off and I could get myself all muddy:

The beavers had dammed up a corner of the pond, though it looked like they hadn't been active recently:

But the dogs surely enjoyed the muddy edges of the pond. Here's a couple of videos:



And a very brief video I'll just label "Mud Puppies:"