Annual Pink Ladyslipper Walk - Part 1

Time seems accelerated this year, and I'm racing to keep up with everything. One day it occurred to me that it was time for my annual Pink Ladyslipper walk along the sort-of trail I discovered in the Brasher State Forest. I parked along the road and let the dogs out. There were no Ladyslippers there, but I knew they'd be found back in the forest, beneath the pines. But there was an abundance of Wild Strawberries by the road:

And one lovely Blue-Eyed-Grass:

The dogs cared for none of that and ran joyfully for the forest. The mosquitoes were out in force and hungry, so I was too busy swatting them to worry much about the dogs. They got to run more freely than I usually allow:

Besides, I knew there would be no other people anywhere near - and the dogs behaved pretty well without me carping at them:

Then I began to find many Starflowers, a lovely spring wildflower with both leaves and flowers in a star pattern:

And Canada Mayflowers, sometimes called Wild Lily-Of-The-Valley:

And then I began to see Pink Ladyslippers, our native wild orchid. They were exceptional this year:

There were so many that I came home with 104 photos. I whittled them down to 31, which I'll present in two blog posts. How could I not take pictures of such wild beauty?:

Clover wasn't concerned with orchids. For her and the for the other dogs, this was just a romp in the forest:

A close-up:

Two Ladyslippers, just a few feet apart:

A tall specimen at the base of a small tree:

We began in a White Pine forest, but it changed to mostly Red Pines as we got deeper into the woods. The dogs seemed to find something putrid, though I didn't notice it at the time. I sure did notice it when Seamus vomited in my car on the way home. They were all fine, though, whatever it was they got into:

A patch of tiny lichens, including British Soldiers (with the red caps) and Pixie Cups (like tiny goblets):

Seamus went ahead into the deep forest, and I followed. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Happy, Wet Dogs In The Benton Road County Reforestation Area

If you read yesterday's post, you know that I promised myself to return to Benton Road with the dogs. Well, I did so the very next day as our non-wintry winter continued to break all warmth records. Alas, it began raining, at times quite hard, but we got out of the car anyway and hoped the pines would shelter us:

The ground was covered with pine needles and many species of moss and Reindeer Lichens:

But for the dogs, running through the trees was the big attraction. Clover and Daphne led the way:

Jack and Clover explored, giving everything a sniff test:

I stopped to photograph this old log with many varieties of lichen on it. My favorite, as always, was the perfectly formed little Pixie Cup lichens:

This was indeed a beautiful area, but not very large. So we left the trail and began exploring in the forest on our own:

Clover was much better behaved this time and didn't run too far ahead - at least not too often:

This sawed off tree trunk had a full head of hair, comprised of ferny moss:

We continued on through the forest without concern. The area wasn't large enough to get lost in. The rain stopped and the sun came out as we walked:

I stopped to photograph this Reindeer Lichen:

It was a fun time for the dogs and for me:

But it was quick excursion and soon we found ourselves back at the car. We may come here again sometime when we want a short walk in a lovely pine forest:

The St. Regis River At Southville State Forest

I wanted to take a short hike to the west branch of the St. Regis River. So I drove to Southville State Forest, only 10 miles from home, pulled into the forest and let the dogs out:

Autumn was in full swing and there were acorns galore underfoot as we walked:

Clover, she who usually runs ahead and has to be yelled at to "Stop!," behaved pretty darn well on this day. We've been out walking more than usual lately, so maybe she's starting to get the idea:

We arrived a the St. Regis River and the Daphne, Seamus and Fergus ran right into the water:

Clover, never a big fan of getting her feet wet, explored the banks while I enjoyed the autumn color:

But that was about all there was to see, so we started making our way back to the car:

As in most of the state forests around here, we passed through several forest types in a relatively short distance:

The dogs played and sniffed at all the interesting smells:

I sat down on a bank to rest, and Daphne came to join me:

And right next to where we sat, I saw this cluster of various lichens, taking note of the Pixie Cup lichens, always one of favorites:

This was a short hike and we soon returned to the car:

But there was one more stop to make. A bridge over the west branch of the St. Regis River was right down the road, and I wanted to take a picture from there. So I drove to the bridge and parked on the shoulder of the road. Our short hike had taken place on the right (east) bank of this river, just beyond the bend:

The Leonard Pond Trail - Part 1

The access road to the Leonard Pond trail was directly across the road from the access road to Jamestown Falls (yesterday's post). But this time, we had to park at the trail head and hike - which was just fine with my joyful dogs:

We began in a coniferous forest, a boreal forest type, filled with the wonderful aroma of Balsam Firs:

The forest type kept changing as we walked, in this place a hardwood forest, but with pines and spruce just ahead:

I stopped to admire and photograph this wonderful ferny moss growing on a fallen log. Notice the Pixie-Cup Lichen at the top center, just below and to the left of those red spots:

The trail was lovely and easy walking:

We walked through a Red Pine forest:

I later read that the Red Pines had taken over after the forest fires of the early 1900s:

A variety of lichens on a pine branch:

We saw this green oasis just off the trail and stopped to investigate. It was a designated campsite, and a beautiful one at that:

There was supposed to be a spur trail which would lead us to Leonard Pond but there were a number of such trails and I had left my trail guide back at the car. Oops. We kept trying branching paths and then returning to the main trail:

I finally decided that we'd gone beyond where the Leonard Pond spur was supposed to branch off, so we just took the next one we came to:

And it was a beauty. Pond or no pond, this was a lovely forest and we were exploring. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: