A Return To Dyken Pond - Part 3

I was hiking the Long Trail within the Dyken Pond Nature Preserve in Grafton, New York with four of my dogs. We'd explored a marsh and I got to taste a wild Cranberry. But soon enough we were back on the trail through the woods:

The trail continued to skirt the marsh and as we approached its southern end, I decided on another foray out into the wetland. The dogs, of course, are always up for any new adventure:

My feet had stayed nice and dry at the northern end of the marsh, but were beginning to get quite wet as we tromped around in its southern end. Indeed, there was open water nearby:

Fergus and the puppies wanted to keep as dry as possible:

But Seamus, true to form, waded right out into the water:

"Follow me, Clover. It's too wet around here. Let's go back to a dryer place:"

My feet may have been taking on water, but I took a moment to point my camera northward to capture the beauty of the marsh. We had lots of trail yet to explore and I'll post more tomorrow:

We exited the marsh and followed the trail through the woods to the wetland's southern end where the moving water was reborn as a forest stream. There was a plank there which led us across what many decades ago must surely have been the beaver dam which began this ecological progression. I imagine that for decades, the beaver pond was filled with the standing trunks of dead trees. Then the sphagnum moss moved in and began filling in the pond. Eventually, the trees long dead and mostly gone, the peat bog was solid enough for the cranberry and other plants to gain a foothold. But the dogs cared nothing for such speculation. Walking the plank was for them another opportunity to play:

A Return To Dyken Pond - Part 2

I was hiking the Long Trail at Dyken Pond Nature Preserve in Grafton, New York with four of my dogs on a cool but sunny Sunday afternoon. The trail began by taking us through the deep woods:

But it wasn't long before the trail skirted a lovely marsh. I saw what appeared to be a deer trail down into it and of course decided to take it. The dogs and I all traipsed out into the marsh. Amazingly, it was not too wet since we were at the upper end:

Daphne and Clover, the two Papillon puppies, of course romped and bounded and wrestled and acted silly. I guess that's what puppies do the world over. The scenic value of the place was lost on them:

Seamus is of a more placid nature and often seems to be drinking in the beauty of such scenery. Or maybe he's just snoozing while standing(?):

It wasn't wet enough for Pitcher Plants or Sundews, but there was a wide variety of amazing plants. I don't know what plant produced those white fluffy tufts, but they were ubiquitous and beautiful:

And trees in their autumn array framed the picture in every direction I looked. The puppies continued to run, wrestle and play:

I took a moment to be still and listen. With puppies along, such moments don't come as often as I'd like. But the contemplative, meditative moments in nature are, for me, the big pay off:

We were all happy:

I noticed big red berries at my feet and picked one up. It was a rather large Cranberry and tasted pretty darn OK:

There were tiny Cranberry plants everywhere I looked:

And a tussock with a small sapling at the top was covered in red moss:

We continued to explore the bog, avoiding the wet areas. We'd only just begun and there were miles of trail ahead of us yet. I'll post more tomorrow: