Peat Bog At Benz Pond

We were driving home from our short hike on the Madawaska Pond Trail (see yesterday's post) when I noticed Benz Pond through the trees. I parked on the side of the road (there was no traffic to worry about) and let the dogs out. They ran and I walked the short distance down to the pond:

Besides being a lovely Adirondack pond, Benz Pond offers a very nice floating peat bog. And this one floats in a very real sense. When I stepped onto the sphagnum mat to snap this picture, the whole floating mass bounced, clear out to where Clover was standing:

I saw no Pitcher Plants, Cranberries or Bog Rosemary, but it was scenic, with Azure Mountain in the background:

And there were plenty of Pale Laurels in bloom:

The dogs ran and played. No one fell into the water this time - not even Seamus:

Little Daphne looked dainty and cute as she strolled through the Pale Laurel blossoms:

Seamus was certainly not dainty, but he too looked good with the pink flowers and wild waters behind him:

Fergus, Daphne and Clover ran and played:

And then we all began moving back toward solid land:

The footing here is indeed boggy and my feet got quite wet. The little dogs had no such problem:

Daphne took one last drink of water before we climbed up the bank to our car:

I tried to entice them all to look out the window for a group photo but this was the best I could do - Daphne, Jack and Seamus. Clover and Fergus were occupied with other things at the time. But our hiking had ended for the day and I got back into the car and headed for home:

Happy Dogs At The St. Regis River Canoe Access - Part 1

I decided one morning to take the dogs for a walk and drove down Blue Mountain Road to the St. Regis River Canoe Access trail, in the Santa Clara Tract of the Adirondacks. The dogs were happy and it was a lovely day for a walk:

Lowbush blueberries were blooming all along the edges of the trail:

The aromas of Balsam and White Pine filled the air as we turned down a side trail toward a small pond. Daphne led the way:

The path was very narrow, and Clover and Fergus squeezed side by side, following behind me. Seamus (you can see his feet in the background) was behind them. Jack never followed us down this side trail, but was waiting for us back on the main trail when we rejoined it:

And there it was, an unnamed pond of exquisite beauty. There was no way, however, of getting any closer to it than this - at least here, so we turned around and headed back to the main trail:

Jack was happy to see us and I never did figure out why he hadn't come with us. The day was going to be very hot but it was still morning. I wanted to finish our walk before it became oppressive. The trails were dry and almost all sand:

I saw a new side trail which led to the opposite shore of the unnamed pond we'd visited earlier, so we headed down it. It was across a peat bog but reasonably walkable, and led to a lovely view of the lake:


Pink Laurels were blooming along the edge of the pond, and I recognized them as Pale Laurel, the same plant I'd seen blooming on the peat bog at Slush Pond. Those plants were only about 8" tall but these were about 24":

The small dogs ran out to the edge of the peat bog for a drink of water:

Daphne has become a water lover lately, but this was too deep for her. She enjoyed playing along the edges, though, and looked awfully cute, surrounded by the pink Pale Laurel flowers:

The Sphagnum moss we were walking on was mostly green, but the red and yellow varieties also grew there:

Wintergreen was growing there and I wish now that I'd have checked for its classic aroma - but I didn't. But we were still off of the main trail and needed to get back to it so we could get to the St. Regis River. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Exploring Slush Pond - Part 2

The dogs and I were exploring the floating peat bog and Slush Pond (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

There were lots of Pitcher Plants, some of them ruby red. Some of the sphagnum moss, as you can see, was similarly red:

Seamus explored the water's edge:

And Daphne checked out every sight and every smell:

This tiny pink wildflower was new to me, though I could tell it was a Laurel. It turned out to be Pale Laurel, Kalmia polifolia, in the same genus as the more familiar Mountain Laurel and Sheep Laurel:

Daphne and Clover got a little too close to the water for my comfort, but neither one fell in this time:

There were also these tiny pink bell shaped flowers, growing on plants whose leaves reminded me of Rosemary. Indeed, they were called Bog Rosemary, Andromeda polifolia. It resembles the herb, Rosemary, but is not related. You can also see both red and yellow sphagnum in this photo:

While I looked closely at tiny plants, the dogs were bounding across the bog and giving everything the sniff test:

This is a close-up of the very tiny Cranberry plant. It was much too early in the year for berries, but maybe we'll return in the autumn to find some:

But the mosquitoes were biting me and it was time to head back to the car:

I took a slightly different route, just for the fun of it, and that suited Seamus just fine:

We all piled back into the car and I squashed as many mosquitoes as I could before we began our return home. Jack, Daphne and Clover settled down on the seat next to me for the drive:

Part 2, St. Regis River Canoe Carry

We'd hiked in to the quiet (quiet here, at least) waters of the St. Regis River and the dogs ran excitedly down to the shore. Seamus, Fergus and Daphne went right in but only Seamus remained in the water when I caught up with them:

Lowbush Blueberries grew everywhere across the sandy shores and it looked like there would be a bumper crop this year:

We walked over to another spot on the shore and had to walk through the Pale Laurels to get to the water. The dogs seemed to find this to be great fun:

Seamus smiled. His joy was as great as his bulk:

And this is what we'd come to see, the quiet waters of the St. Regis, set amidst the Boreal forest with St. Regis Mountain (I think) as a backdrop. Who could ask for more?:

And I was very happy:

We took another swing by the dogs' favorite swimming spot before beginning our walk back to the car:

And the walk back was as lovely as everything else about this short hike. The Pale Laurels bloomed happily along the edges of the trail and Pines, Balsams and Spruce towered overhead:

It had been a great afternoon and I was ready to go home and rest my weary ankles:

Seamus and Daphne spotted a tiny pond just off the trail and walked through shallow water to get to it. There were Blue Flags (Wild Iris) blooming at one end, again much later than most Blue Flag. This spot must be quite cold, with a shorter and later growing season:

The only mushrooms I saw were these amazingly wood-toned fungi, but there were quite a few of them:

The dogs had by this point pretty much understood my new rule of staying close to me. But if I stopped to focus on a flower or mushroom, I'd then look up and see the pooches racing on ahead. Sigh. At least they came when called. But we soon reached the car and our hiking for the day came to an end:

Part 1, St. Regis River Canoe Carry

The afternoon was hot and humid. The dogs and I had just hiked the Quebec Brook trail, but I knew of another short, easy, scenic hike just a couple of miles down the road. I let the dogs out of the car amidst wildflowers galore:

And then we followed the trail into the forest:

The "soil" looked like pure sand to me, but the Boreal forest grew on it. On the other hand, the trail was easy on my injured ankles and the dogs were ecstatic to be out in nature once again:

Clover and Madeline sniffed around in the mosses and lichens with a large pond nearby, just behind those trees:

The shores of this pond are so marshy that one can't get near it, but I got close enough to take a quick photo. This is just about as wild as a pond and forest can get:

The Pale Laurels were still in bloom here, weeks behind other places. We continued on down the trail toward the St. Regis River. This trail was intended as a canoe carry:

I stopped for a close-up of British Soldier Lichens, so tiny that the mosses were bigger and pine needles looked like sticks beside them:

Happy dogs, spectacular scenery, peace and quiet:

Fergus was very happy:

The Papillons tended to hang out together:

We finally arrived at the great clearing. Just ahead lay St. Regis Mountain and the St. Regis River:


And slowly moving across the sand was a very large Eastern Painted Turtle. I didn't want to disturb it by picking it up for a closer look, especially as I had the dogs with me. This was probably a female looking for a sandy spot to lay her eggs. We passed her by and she was gone when we returned. We were almost to the water's edge, but I'll post about that tomorrow: