Saranac Lake Ice Castle - Part 2

I was working my way through the second story passages in the Saranac Lake ice castle (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

All along the walls, in keeping with the prehistoric theme, were cave wall drawings. This was a Mammoth:

And some sort of deer with antlers. The cave drawings were 3D, made of sculpted snow. I must confess, though, that it looked to me like they had been colored with urine. Then again, I've been know to have a sick mind:

I reached the steps which led back down to the interior of the ice castle, and realized that these were the steps I'd passed previously:

There were two thrones, used by the Queen and King in the official opening ceremonies:

I had been disappointed that there was no Adirondack lean-to made of ice this year, but then I heard someone say it was just down this passageway:

Indeed it was. It just that the lean-to was inside the castle this year instead of separate, on the banks of Lake Flower:

I walked around the maze in the back of the castle. It's that lower wall you can see in this rear view. I thought it was more skillfully planned this year, and more interesting to walk through. But I'd seen all there was to see, so I walked toward the parking area:

There were no hot dogs or hamburgers for sale this year, but they did have kettle corn:

And a booth with what seemed to be Adirondack antiques:

I got back in my car and drove to a small park on a different part of Lake Flower, where students from the Adirondacks' Paul Smiths College were going to present logging/lumbering demonstrations:

I could see that they were set up for various competitions, but they hadn't yet begun:

But some students were there, all ready to go:

Just to get warmed up, the students began practicing their ax throwing skills:

The guy in the above photo missed, but I managed to get a shot of this guy's successful throw. This was the end of my visit to the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival. I got back in my car and began the 50 mile journey back home. A heavy, slippery snow began falling as I drove, and the roads became hazardous. I'm glad I didn't leave any later than I did:

Black And Long Ponds, Keese Mills - Part 4

We were hiking southward, back the way we'd come, and passed the fish barrier dam between Long Pond and Black Pond:

 This was only my second "real" hike in my new braces and, while they were keeping my ankles from pain, they were making the rest of my feet and legs both tired and sore. I stopped for a rest along the shore of Black Pond:

 My seated position gave me a good opportunity to photograph the happy dogs. Fergus was again looking noble:

 And Daphne, I noticed, had filled out with a full, adult, Papillon hair coat:

Clover was looking regal::

 We got up and started hiking again. Daphne took a detour into the Horsetails:

 The trail took us along the western shore of Black Pond:

 Another species of dragonfly, differently colored than the smiley-face species I'd seen before, but similar enough that I wondered if it was closely related:

 The pooches stopped for a cool drink:

 The trail was extremely scenic, and Wood Duck nest boxes were attached to trees at intervals:

 Even Clover and Daphne were slowing down at this point:

 We rounded a bend and I was thinking ahead to taking more photos at the Black Pond lean-to when my camera's memory card beeped that it was full. So I put my camera away and we finished our hike without any more photos:

Black And Long Ponds, Keese Mills - Part 3

We had hiked northward along the western edge of Black Pond (previous two posts) and had arrived along the shore of the smaller Long Pond. Wild blackberries were blooming wherever a bit of sun got through the forest canopy:

We stopped when we got to the Long Pond lean-to:

The big attraction at the lean-to was its pier, leading out into the water and providing wonderful views:

The dogs and I all walked out on the pier, but only the smaller dogs went right to the end of it. Seamus and I stayed back a bit because the end was tipping and sinking:

This was the view looking south, down the length of Long Pond, while standing on the pier at the lean-to:

Clover and Seamus were very happy:

I had to arrange this posed picture of the dogs in the Long Pond lean-to, but by this time they'd expended all their excess energy and were willing to hold still - temporarily:

Wide patches of Bunchberries in bloom filled the forest floor:

And I discovered a new wildflower I'd never seen before or even heard of. It was Twinflower, in the Honeysuckle family, with double, pink, trumpet shaped blossoms. It's a creeping ground cover which likes cold, northern forests - so it sure was growing in the right place:

Fergus waited for me to catch up:

We turned back south from the lean-to and were retracing our steps along Long Pond:

The dogs were happy and often traveled in a little cluster. I told them to heel for much of the hike and they seemed to enjoy it just as much as running free. I liked it because I didn't need to keep hollering at them for running too far ahead. All in all, they behaved better on this hike than ever before:

Black And Long Ponds, Keese Mills - Part 2

We continued northward along the western shore of Black Pond:

There were lots of White Admiral butterflies along the trail:

And Daphne was a very happy girl:

We crossed a series of plank bridges which spanned tributaries. Seamus fell into one of them but was able to get back out without much trouble:

There were enough Balsams to perfume the air along much of the trail:

Newly emerging maple leaves were scarlet, shining in the sun:

Black Pond narrowed at its northern end:

And there were multitudes of Dragonflies and Damselflies of various species. This black and white dragonfly really did have a "smiley face" (click to enlarge for a better look) and was by far the most common species:

Fergus looked entirely noble as he rested along the trail:

Almost to the northern end of Black Pond:

The trail pulled away from the shoreline a bit:

And then we arrived at a fish barrier dam, designed to prevent the spread of invasive species, between Black Pond and Long Pond. Our next stop was Long Pond, but I'll post about that tomorrow: