Part 4 - Dyken Pond Nature Preserve On New Years Day

I was hiking the Spring Trail with my four youngest dogs on an unusually warm New Years day. We'd begun by following ski tracks which helped us make our way through the snow. But then we took a turn back toward the road and walked alongside a small brook where no one had broken through the snow before us. That was more difficult. We came eventually to a lovely forest of Spruce, Pine and Fir:

Fergus waded through the snow for a short distance, but then changed his mind and returned to join the rest of us where he could walk in the tracks I'd made:

A short video of our progress along a small brook. You can see little Clover in the lead, effortlessly walking on top of the snow. Seamus and I, being heavyweights, had a bit more trouble:


As noted in the above video, the two Papillon puppies, Daphne and Clover, were so light on their feet that they were able to walk on top the crusted snow. That, of course, made it much easier for them. As if those two needed any more energy!

Another brief, quiet video of our passing beneath the coniferous forest canopy:


We came to a place in the woods were we could see the plowed road just ahead of us:

And just beyond the road was Dustin Swamp:

We had a bit of a walk along the road to get to our car. There was, needless to say, very little traffic. Nevertheless, I put Daphne and Clover on leashes and gave them another lesson on how to heel. Fergus and Seamus already know how to heel, so I left them unleashed but gave them a chance to practice:

And before long, we arrived back at the parking area. Our New Years day hike was over. It was a wonderful scenic and contemplative experience in addition to good exercise. It was a great way to begin a new year:

A Return To Dyken Pond - Part 6

I'd been hiking the Long Trail at Dyken Pond Nature Preserve in Grafton, New York with four of my dogs. This was our second trip to the area and, just as before, we never saw another human being during the hike. We had all this beauty to ourselves. As we hiked the boardwalk across Dustin Swamp, the two Papillon puppies frolicked a bit on the observation deck:

Clover and Daphne are best friends and playmates. May it always be so. The play wrestling has, on recent occasions, escalated to a point which made me uncomfortable and I ordered them (loudly) to cease and desist. I'm pretty firm about enforcing peace amongst the dogs, whether or not they're in the mood for peace. But on this day the two "happy pappis" were like loving twin sisters:

There were few sounds of either birds or insects, but the sights and aromas were beautiful and the day was serene:

The boardwalk had raised up in some places and sunk down in others. It was much more extreme than it appears in these photos. You may notice that the rangers had nailed 2X4s to a low side of the boardwalk to keep people from sliding off into the water:

One last farewell look across Dustin Swamp before we hiked on:

I allowed the dogs to run ahead and they discovered a lean-to for camping. Imagine all the interesting smells for a dog - strange people, strange dogs, campfires, spilled food, bacon:

Happy pooches checking out the lean-to:




We reached the dirt access road a mile or so from my parked car and I decided that it was high time to give certain young Papillons a lesson in how to heel. Daphne was quite good at it, but Clover was determined to show me that she should be leading the way. I could only insist that I knew better and could be quite persistent. We arrived back at our little red car and everyone got to relax and rest for the ride home:

As we drove home, the two puppies zonked out on the seat next to me. They were more tired than they'd wanted to let on:

A Return To Dyken Pond - Part 5

When we reached the little stream which was swollen from all of our recent rain, the dogs and I followed a different path. At that point there seemed to be no more trail markers anyway and I did, after all, know which way to go to reach the road. So we turned away from the stream and began following another trail:

By this time it was afternoon and had warmed up under an October sun. The woodland was beautiful, peaceful and quiet. And for Daphne and Clover, the two Papillon puppies, it was a marvelous playground:

On and on we hiked beneath an emerald green canopy and blue skies. Brown leaves and pine needles were softening our footsteps and sending up a friendly, earthy aroma:

I stopped for a photo, but only Seamus could hold still long enough to be included in it with me:

Clover found a fallen tree and began climbing it as if she was a spotted version of a Gray Fox:

And then, to my surprise, we emerged out into another marsh. According to the trail map, this had to be Dustin Swamp. It looked much like the swamp we'd crossed in a previous hike, but not quite. Surrounded by colorful autumn leaves, it was gorgeous:

We walked out onto the boardwalk. I could see that there were places where it had risen or sunk considerably. There were bird houses nailed to many of the standing tree trunks, but I never did figure out what birds they might be for. The entrance holes were too small for Wood Ducks:

The puppies ran ahead while Seamus and Fergus returned to check on my welfare. To their way of thinking, I'm quite the old slow poke:

I shot this video clip as we began to cross the boardwalk and mention in it that this was not the same swamp we'd crossed in our previous hike. I later realized that it was indeed the same swamp, but we'd approached it from the opposite direction and the fallen trees had been cleared: