Wetlands And Wildflowers - Part 2

The dogs and I were walking the Rutland Nature Trail eastward, through abundant wetlands (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). The trail was lined with New England Asters in bloom:

And the dogs were ecstatic and muddy. The black cinders which once held up the railroad ties covered the dogs and got into my shoes and leg braces:

 At the other side of a pond were a Snowy Egret and Canada Goose. The Egret ignored me but the Goose honked angrily, upset that I'd invaded its territory:

Most of the red which you see on the sides of the trail was from Roughleaf Dogwood bushes:

And here is a closeup of Roughleaf Dogwood and its berries:

Seamus gave me his biggest smile:

 I was happy to see one Fringed Gentian, but I began to see more of them, then hundreds of them. They were great beauties:

And the dogs got increasingly covered with black, gritty mud:

Little Jack ran to and fro, always with a great smile:

 More Fringed Gentians:

My shoes and leg braces had become so gritty that walking was painful and I saw nowhere to sit and clean them. So we turned around and began heading back towards our parked car:

 I thought I recognized this sapling with the red leaves, so I looked it up when I got home. I decided it was a Black Tupelo, another species I've seen in pictures but never before in real life:

The dogs had finally tired themselves out and walked with me nicely. I didn't have to keep calling them back:

We passed by some channels along the trail:

The walk back was peaceful and calm:

Milkweed pods were getting ripe but not yet ready to burst and scatter their seeds. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Rutland Trail East - Part 1

I took the dogs back to the Rutland Nature Trail, only five miles from home, for a quick walk. It's a multiple use trail, so I'd intended to drive in far enough to find a parking place and then set out walking. My aim was to walk farther than ever before, seeing new places. Alas, a fallen tree across the trail caused me to have to back all the way to the road and park where I usually do. We started walking and quickly discovered this deer carcass which someone had dumped (clearly an illegally shot deer). The dogs were interested but showed no inclination to eat it. They all did, however, feel as if they had to pee next to it:

And then we set off walking, coming soon to the fallen tree which stopped my car. It may not look like much, but I couldn't move it. Also, you can see that with water on both sides of the trail, there was nowhere to park:

Once past the fallen tree, we began exploring the autumn scenery:

The dogs were wild with joy and I had to keep calling them back. I absolutely insist that they not get too far ahead of me, though I also don't like them behind me lest I lose track of them:

A small channel appeared to the left of the trail and Jack, Clover and Daphne went to check it out:

But they quickly lost interest, leaving only Clover behind:

I called them all back to the trail:

Farther along, we passed a huge body of water on our right. Several ducks flew up, quacking angrily at us for disturbing them, but I couldn't tell what kind of duck they were:

These oak saplings have been impossible for me to identify on previous walks, but I snapped a lot of pictures and worked hard at it when I got home, finally concluding that they were simply White Oaks, a common species:

And on we walked, the dogs stopping occasionally at interesting smells:

The Milkweed pods were at their most beautiful:

Daphne examined a puddle but found nothing of interest. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: