The Last Leg Of The Jug End Ridge Hike

It'd been a glorious hike to the Jug End Ridge and we were making the return trip back to the trail head. We arrived at a split log water crossing though my four dogs ignored it and simply trudged through the water:

And then a plank walkway over a muddy spot. I found it quite lovely, actually, as it snaked its way through the forest. But then I was extremely tired so perhaps my judgments were not to be trusted:

By this time even lively little Daphne was wearing out and stopped in the middle of the planks to look up at me plaintively. Sorry, Daphne, there's nothing to be done but keep on hiking:

But we of course did reach the trail head at beautiful Guilder Pond. I estimated that we'd hiked ten miles so far and our car was parked another two miles down the road:

In spite of all the colorful and varied mushrooms I'd found on the hike, I was a little disappointed that I'd seen no slime molds. Then I saw this tree trunk on the shore of Guilder Pond:

Was this a slime mold? I'm not sure, but the answer is a definite maybe:

We began walking down the washed out gravel road. Fergus suddenly felt a burst of renewed energy and ran around the edge of the pond to explore:

Seamus took a side trip also, apparently feeling the need to check for whatever it is dogs check for:

But as for me, I slogged tiredly down the gravel road. My toes hurt from jamming into the front of my shoes on the sharp declines in the trail, so much so that I tried walking down the road backwards. That, as you may guess, did not go well. You can certainly see here how much damage Tropical Storm Irene did to the road and why it'd been closed to vehicles:

And then I spotted a florescent orange slime mold on a tree stump. At least I'm pretty sure that's what this was. Luckily, it was right next to the road because I would have been too sore and tired to walk into the woods to take a picture:

And eventually we reached the locked gate and my parked car. Several other vehicles had been parking there but were just leaving. The dogs weren't even interested. They just wanted to get into the car and lie down. Me too, but I first had an hour and a half drive. But I'd been promising myself to return to Jug End Loop for a decade and I'd finally made it. Well, almost. But this would have to do for the time being:

Lots More Mushrooms, Hiking The Jug End Ridge

What a marvelous and beautiful hike it'd been so far, with some of the most beautiful, even mysterious forests I'd ever seen. The dogs and I had passed through lowland trail flooding, the result of Tropical Storm Irene the previous day - and we'd climbed up onto Jug End Ridge with its piney aromas, sunny warmth and lovely vistas out over the Berkshire Mountains. I snapped this picture of all four dogs on the trail just before it dropped sharply downhill into the valley below:

And all along the route I'd encountered a huge variety of mushrooms. This one was a sort of buckskin color and looked quite happy surrounded by moss:

We were on our way back to the car and had reached the lowlands were the trails were wet and often flooded. But Seamus saw that as an opportunity for a cool drink of water:

I'd only seen one purple mushroom and had almost given up finding any others when I notice this pair - one purple and one red. Indeed, it felt like a magical landscape:

Little Daphne stood at point when she heard some noise off in the forest:

A new kind of mushroom, this one looking like dark leather ruffles:

And two more purple mushrooms! I'd learned the hard way that the tops of these were very sticky and trying to remove sticks from them damaged the mushroom caps. So this time I left them alone and just snapped a photo:

Some enormously enterprising crew had positioned large square edged boulders into a set of steps leading up a hill. Fergus ran up them right away and then looked back at the rest of us slow-pokes:

More stones set into the bank and Seamus went ahead this time:

This odd pair of mushrooms looked exactly like the interior of a rotted log. I wonder if that had some sort of evolutionary value? They grew on the ground, not on a log:

Another "stairway," this one built of logs set into the hillside. The trail had been quite wild and unimproved, so these amenities were a sure sign that we were nearing the trail head. But I'll post more tomorrow:

High Rocks On The Jug End Ridge

We'd made it as far as several scenic overlooks on the Jug End Ridge, though not actually to the Jug End itself. That's a sharp cliff where the Appalachian Trail drops abruptly down off the ridge. I'm sure there were other spectacular views I didn't reach, but we'd already hiked about six miles and still had a return trip of about six miles to go to reach the car. My old body was protesting, so I began the journey back to the trail head. In this photo, Fergus may look unhappy but he was having a grand time. You can easily see, however, how steep the trail had become and why my toes were jamming into the front of my shoes on the downhill parts:

More steep, rocky trail. If you click to enlarge this photo you can tell by Seamus' position that he too was tired:

The "Silly Sisters," however, were still full of pep. They could run up and down those rocks all day long:

We reached a high, flat spot and Seamus dropped to the ground. He needed a rest so we lingered for awhile:

And we passed by more glorious overlooks. I stopped to watch the shadows of clouds drift slowly across the forests and fields below:

And the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts wherein nestled sleepy, historic, little towns:

We continued onward across the ridge. The vegetation at that point was mostly scrub pines and oaks:

And another rest stop. Both Seamus and Fergus were getting tired by then:

This is one of my favorite photos of the hike and definitely worth a click to enlarge. Two happy, playful Papillons surrounded by beautiful forest waiting for their tired old dad to catch up. Notice the bright red mushrooms right in front of Clover. Indeed, the whole forest had a magical quality:

We continued to follow the trail across the ridge as it began its descent, the forests growing taller as we went downhill:

And another bright red mushroom. The variety and plenitude of wondrous fungi added a great deal to the appeal of the hike:

Finding The Overlook On The Jug End Ridge

We were hiking along a rocky ridge leading to a sharp cliff called Jug End. I'd hiked this way once before many years ago and remembered it as being wonderfully beautiful. Well, we'd already come about 5 miles and I was getting both tired and sore. But just as I was contemplating giving up, I spotted this wondrous scene through the trees:

I continued hiking and soon the entire valley east of the Jug End Ridge was spread out before us. This was looking toward the northeast, so the closer mountains were the Berkshires and the higher, more distant mountains were the Green Mountains of Vermont:

And looking toward the southeast I saw a valley filled with forests and farm fields. The Jug End Ridge and Mount Everett, by the way, are part of the Taconic Mountains:

We continued hiking, but I was tired. So I laid back on a rounded promontory and allowed myself a good rest. The dogs all did likewise, curling up together just below me. I shot this picture through my feet at my four tired dogs:

And I relaxed and watched the clouds drift by as Mountain Maple branches waved in the breeze. What could be better than this?:

But of course we couldn't relax all afternoon as we had many miles yet to hike. So we continued onward, walking along the eastern edge of Jug End Ridge:

I set the camera on self-timer and got a photo of myself with Seamus. You can see that he was tired:

I'd hoped to make it all the way to the Jug End, but we'd already hiked about 6 miles, some of it on rough terrain, and that meant there were 6 miles yet to hike back the other direction. So at that point I turned around and began heading back toward the trail head. The scenery was absolutely magnificent. If you want to see it better, just click on this picture to enlarge it. Notice the drop off on the left:

On and on and on and on we hiked. My toes were becoming very sore from all the walking down steep rocky cliffs:

The Papillons continued to lead the way. Fergus and Seamus just wanted to walk at my heels, but I kept shooing them forward:

And the whole ridge was covered with pine needles which were baking atop the rock in the afternoon sun and filling the air with a heavenly aroma. I may have been tired, but I still appreciated the sights, sounds, smells and textures of nature:

Almost There: The Jug End Ridge Hike

We were nearing the high point of Jug End Ridge. I could tell by the blue sky showing through the trees, the increasing rocky ledges and the aroma of pine needles baking in the sun. Clover and Daphne led the way:

I passed yet another of the many red mushrooms which adorned the trail:

We were, in fact, already walking the ridge although the views had not yet opened up. The "Silly Sisters" were still full of energy, racing and wrestling:

More red mushrooms growing out of the mossy ground, these two with nicely upturned edges. I couldn't tell if these differently shaped red mushrooms were different species or the same species at different stages of growth. But I sure appreciated their beauty:

Small, elegantly formed brown mushrooms:

And tiny beige toadstools shaped like bar stools:

And then I began to see the eastern valley off through the trees. I knew from a previous hike many years ago that even better views were just ahead:

We were very close to the edge and could glimpse the landscape below whenever we crossed a high rocky ridge:

Daphne ran on ahead, crossing the rocky ledges like a tiny mountain goat. She looked back as if she wondered what was taking me so long:

But I had paused at a whole colony of fawn colored mushrooms under the fern fronds. Well, we were almost there. I'll post more tomorrow: