The Riverside Trail - Part 3

We were hiking the Riverside Trail along the banks of the St. Regis River and began to see these lovely Gentians in bloom. It's difficult for me to know which species they were, but comparing them to my field guide now, after the fact, I'm inclined to call them Soapwort Gentians:

We pushed onward through the shoreline brush as the trail got longer and less well marked. I had not yet seen the trail intersection which would give us another route back to the car and I was becoming concerned. The dogs, however, were still having a grand time:

The trail continued to be sparsely marked, and then not at all. We retreated back into the forest to search for it, leaving the river just close enough to act as a guidepost:

I explored several possible trails which proved to be illusions. I finally decided that our only option was to return the way we came, so we started back along the riverside trail. Daphne and Clover danced out onto the rocks whenever possible:

Papillons aren't much for swimming, but rock hopping is definitely a specialty:

We returned the way we'd come, retracing our steps through the forest:

There were lots of white mushrooms growing on the forest floor, but these yellow beauties were my favorites:

Seamus and I were both slowing down at this point. In fact, I had to help Seamus over a fallen log and it became apparent that his back legs were very tired:

But the St. Regis River was ever present, ever lovely, a wild presence wherever we hiked:

We made fewer riverside stops on the way back, yet still there were places where we just couldn't resist:

We stopped at the river one last time where the trail made a sharp turn back into the forest and up the steep incline back toward where we'd parked:

It was all forest from then on and we were tired - even the Papillons. Poor Seamus was so exhausted that he needed help standing up when we'd returned home (he was all better by the next morning). So the Riverside Trail in Parishville had lots of surprises for us, both good and bad. But the most memorable part of the hike was the magnificent, wild St. Regis River:

The Riverside Trail - Part 2

We'd reached the St. Regis River and did a bit of rock hopping and exploring, but there was more trail to hike, so we went back to dry land and continued following it. Riverside trail, true to its name, stayed right along the shoreline:

And the views were stunning, the river sometimes churning wildly and sometimes placid:

We stopped frequently, whenever there were rocks on which we could venture out:

Occasional trees on the opposite shore were turning scarlet already, and Clover looked tiny and fragile as she walked along the edge of a broad, flat rock:

Daphne and Fergus were all smiles:

Just then I began to see Cardinal Flowers in bloom, with a red so intense that it seemed they might glow in the dark. Cardinal Flower is a scarlet Lobelia, a true joy to behold:

Seamus was not as adventurous as he used to be, and often stayed back on shore instead of rock hopping:

Goldenrod and ferns populated the open parts of the shoreline:

And Fergus posed beside a few more Cardinal Flowers:

Clover peeked around a corner to see what I was doing:

One last photo of Fergus and the river before we got back on the trail and continued hiking to wherever it would take us:

As soon as we were back in the forest, we encountered these Bunchberries and mosses. But there was more to see on the Riverside Trail and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

The Riverside Trail - Part 1

Our first attempt at finding the Riverside Trail in Parishville was a total bust (see yesterday's post), so we got back in the car and began driving home. About 500 feet up the road, I saw this sign. There was no parking area, so I parked on the shoulder and we began our second attempt to hike the Riverside Trail:

The trail began as advertised, a broad, level, easy trail through a lovely forest. And unlike the "trail" we'd just tried, this one was marked:

The trail narrowed as we approached the ravine, down into which we'd find the St. Regis River:

And then the trail turned sharply downward:

Clover was bright, alert, and happy:

When the St. Regis River came into view, Fergus and the Papillons broke into a run to get to the water's edge. Seamus just plodded along with me:

Clover and Daphne were the first to arrive at the river, and hopped out onto a rock for a better view. Accented by early blooming Asters, the two Papillons looked stunning in such a wild setting:

I looked upstream and downstream, enjoying the wildness of it all:

And Fergus did a bit of rock hopping also:

Seamus, however, was thirsty and had more pressing needs than sightseeing:

The rocks were big enough that even I ventured out onto them for a better view and to experience the water rushing by:

I looked back and saw both Seamus and Fergus closer to shore, near the edge of the forest, and knew we'd have to venture onward to explore more of this trail. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

A Return To The Hiking Trail That Isn't A Trail

I got directions off the internet for the Riverside Trail in Parishville. I followed the directions and, when I arrived at the trail head, immediately realized it was the same "trail" (I use the term loosely) which I attempted last year, thinking it was the Sylvan Falls Trail. It wasn't. In fact, it wasn't even a trail, just an old logging road which ended in the middle of the forest. But ever the optimist, I figured maybe the county had improved and renamed it. They had, after all, tacked a road map up on the kiosk:

So off we went on the old logging road. The footing was tricky because of all the branches on the ground:

I was hoping that I'd see where the trail supposedly branched off to the right, taking us down to the river. But we walked quite a way, and I saw nothing. Furthermore, there were no trail markers - no, not a single one:

I saw what may have been a trail, but was probably a deer path, off through the wild blackberries. So off we went, hoping it would take us to the river:

Pretty soon we were kind of lost. Walking through the brambles was very hard on my bare legs, so I tried pushing through the ferns instead. Alas, they were so thick that I couldn't see branches and logs on the ground. In the end, walking anywhere was difficult:

When it became obvious that we were not on a trail and weren't going to stumble onto one, I tried to retrace our steps back to the old logging road:

We did indeed find the logging road and began walking back to the car:

The day was still young and I was already forming plans for another hike somewhere else:

The scenery was pretty but the footing was tricky and there was no destination on this so called trail. I was, I admit, irritated:

But soon the dogs saw our car ahead of us and their joy was boundless:

But this hike was a bust - again. You'd think I'd learn. But stay tuned for tomorrow's post, because this does have a happy ending: