Martin Road, Town Of Bangor, New York

I was touring Brockway Road in the town of Bangor (see yesterday's post), and saw a shorter side road, Martin Road, which I turned onto just to see what I could see. There were old farm houses:

And old barns:

There appeared to be apple trees in front of this barn:

Corn fields:

Grain bins and multiple farm buildings:

A closeup view of the above farm, showing dirt piled all along one barn wall. I could only guess that they were installing a water and/or drainage line:

Several old barns, with what looked to me like an old milk room sticking off to one side:

I neared the end of the Martin Road but was taken with this structure they had build to support and display their vines. They'd put a lot of effort into making it attractive and interesting - and indeed I admired it and wanted a closer look:

I enlarged the photo when I got home to see what they had on the top. It looks to me like six of the seven Disney's dwarfs:

This was the last house on my driving tour, and I was happy to spend a few moments admiring this fancy arbor with its Disney theme:

Deer River State Forest, Martin Road - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking off Martin Road in the Deer River State Forest (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and found the trails to be easy walking, the forest to be cool and lovely:

The mottled sunlight was challenging for my camera, but it tried its best. The dogs had begun our hike with too much boisterous enthusiasm, but they slowed down as we proceeded:

And then I saw this route sign, a real surprise in the deep forest. Apparently there are numbered routes, though I found no map of them online:

I was surprised by this bright orange shelf fungus. Clover and Daphne ran over to it and I followed, interested in a closer look:

It was indeed distinctive. I looked it up when I got home and suspect it was what is often called "Chicken Of The Woods," supposedly because it tastes like chicken. I'd never try it unless I had an expert on hand to confirm the identification, yet still it added to the interest:

We went quite a distance, making a number of turns. and I had some concern about remembering the way back. So before we got too far, I decided to begin our return trip to the car. Martin Road is a gravel road with no traffic, no buildings, no utilities, so just locating the car wouldn't mean we were back in civilization:

But the walk back was entirely pleasant and the dogs, having spent their excess energy, were much easier to keep close:

Jack still ran in big circles, taking detours through the woods, but even he was considerably calmed down. As for Seamus, he was plain tuckered out:

There were a few more side trips into the woods by the dogs, but I stayed on the trail:

There were mature stands of conifers and places I thought looked like the Black Forest, but I discovered that the pictures in such places had too little sunlight to be usable. The younger, hardwood areas had more light and more usable photos:

We trudged quietly along, with Ovenbirds singing all around us:

Right at the end, I almost turned left at an intersection. I was just about to do so when I glimpsed the bright red of my car, parked on the road straight ahead. There are times when a bright colored car is a real blessing. The dogs and I hopped back in our car and drove home. It had been a very nice short hike:

Deer River State Forest, Martin Road - Part 1

It was too nice a day, slipped in between days of rain, for me to stay home. So I took the dogs back to Deer River State Forest, a place I'd recently discovered and only been to once. This time I took Martin Road and, when I saw a dirt lane heading off into the forest, parked the car and let the dogs out:

The sandy lane was easy walking and I could have driven it easily - but we were supposed to be walking, not driving. The forest was lovely, alternating between light and dark, young and mature, hardwood and conifer. The dogs didn't care. They just wanted to run:

I had to keep hollering at the dogs to bring them back, but they're so used to my loud voice that they are not phased by it. Their feelings aren't hurt, it's all just part of the fun:

I began to see occasional road signs, indicating to me that these were not hiking trails, but access roads - and there were many of them, requiring me to make a choice at each intersection (and try to keep in mind the way to return to the car when we were done):

I never saw a single wildflower, but I saw lots of leaves where there had been flowers earlier. These twin leaves in the mossy carpet were Pink Ladyslippers:

The forest was dark, interspersed with bright sunlight where there were holes in the canopy:

And it was cool and quiet, with Ovenbirds singing all around. Notice the road sign up on the right, a squiggly arrow indicating a winding section of road just ahead:

Look at the expression on Fergus' face. He looks like he was just about to pee but saw me with my camera and was saying, "Can't a fella have some privacy around here?"

The forest floor was mostly open and easy to walk, so we did some exploring. I found a section with several kinds of club mosses, such as this Fan Club Moss:

And Tree Club Moss, or Princess Pine:

This one was more difficult to identify, but I think it was Running Club Moss:

Trillium, with its flower long gone and beginning to develop fruit at its top. But there was much more to see here, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: