St. Regis River Flow Trail - Part 3

The dogs and I were walking the narrow strip of land along the St. Regis River at Santa Clara, NY (see also Parts 1 and 2, posted previously):

 I recognized these Roughleaf Dogwood berries right away. This bush grows everywhere around the farm and its flowers are spectacular for a couple of weeks each year. The berries were plenty handsome also:

I'd planned to cut back up to the trail for our return trip but never saw an easy access - so we simply began retracing the route we'd taken along the river's edge. That was fine with the dogs, who loved wading out among the Bullhead Lilies:

It was a hot day and Daphne knew how to keep cool:

 Another Cardinal Flower:

We finally got back to the trail and began our return to the parking lot:

 But of course I had to stop for these Lowbush Blueberries and eat some:

Like much of the Adirondacks, the soil here is very sandy, sometimes almost all sand:

Many of the roads here are lined with millions of Black-eyed Susans, but on this trail there were only a few:

We were almost back to our car and I continued to let the dogs run and play as we had the entire place to ourselves. This was a short, easy hike, just right for a hot summer day:

St. Regis River Flow Trail - Part 2

The dogs and I were on the trail beside the St. Regis River Flow (see also Part 1, posted yesterday), and Daphne was the first to go go into the water:

Then Seamus, looking a bit like a black dinosaur, went in for a cooling drink:

 We usually walk down to the river and then back to the trail to continue upstream, but this time the water level was low and we were able to continue along a narrow band next to the water. I saw lots of what I believe was Pale St. Johnswort, Hypericum ellipticum:

  There were large patches Pale St. Johnswort, much like the Common St. Johnswort but a kind of miniature:

The sunlight danced on the water as Clover and Daphne waded among the reeds. I could imagine a baby Moses floating by in a basket:

The low water level had stranded some Bullhead-Lilies, and Jack blithely walked right over the top of them. I doubt being stranded hurt them, figuring they must surely have evolved to survive such dry spells:

Seamus didn't worry about the stranded Bullhead Lilies. He went right out into the water to greet them:

 As we walked along the shore, I encountered the first two Cardinal Flowers:

 Cardinal Flowers are our native Lobelia, a spectacularly colored wildflower:

We kept walking along the narrow strip beside the river, though the dogs often preferred to walk in the water. So far I hadn't seen any need to return to the usual trail. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

St. Regis River Flow Trail - Part 1

I take the dogs to the St. Regis River Flow trail at least once each year (and hopefully more often), beginning at the boat launch. The trail is largely meadow and riverbanks, with lots of wildflowers. And it's the best place I know to find Cardinal flowers. We parked near the two piers and boat launch:

No one else was there, so I let the dogs off the leash and they wasted no time getting wet and muddy:

But I soon called them away from the parking area and we headed for the trail:

This must have once been all forest, but it's largely meadow now, and a great place to find wildflowers and for happy dogs to run:

We arrived at the trail, which is more or less kept mowed, and turned upstream parallel to the river:

One of the most common blooming flowers was Meadowsweet, Spiraea latifolia, a member of the Rose family. It is a small bush and absolutely beautiful:

 And there was lots of Common St. Johnswort and Spotted Knapweed:

The trail became a sort of dirt road, just right for my lame legs and the dogs to run amok with joy:

There are a certain number of access trails to the river which I always take. When we got to the first one, the dogs knew just where to go and ran excitedly toward the water:

Indeed, the water was lovely. You can see the two piers in the background. That's where we were parked. But we'd just gotten started. I'll post part 2 tomorrow:

St. Regis Flow With The Dogs - Part 3

This is the final post on our hike along the St. Regis River in Santa Clara, New York (see also the previous two posts). The dogs were ecstatic about the cool, clean water. They splashed and played:

Seamus watched me as I climbed up on a rock:

When he felt assured I wasn't leaving yet, he went into the water and sat down in it. The day was hot, so it must have felt awfully good to him:

Little Clover waded out into a patch of Bullhead Lilies, though I think the scattering frogs were the real attraction:

But I took the opportunity to get a closeup of one of the Bullhead-Lily's somewhat lotus-like flowers:

We left the water and returned to the trail, where I did a bit of exploring. There was a loop and a side trail which I've taken before but don't like as much as this one. So we began retracing our steps, returning the way we came in:

Clover and Jack led the way:

We stopped at a clump of pines, where I contemplated going in for another adventure. In the end, we just continued on our way back toward the car:

But there is a lot of fun and adventure for dogs (and for me) on the main trail, and we continued to enjoy our walk:

By this time, all the dogs had slowed down considerably:

We cut back through the field toward our car, said hello to a couple unloading their canoe for their own adventure, then drove home. This is a short, simple hike but one of my favorites:

St. Regis Flow With The Dogs - Part 2

I was hiking along the St. Regis River with the dogs in Santa Clara, New York (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and the dogs were having a grand time splashing in the river:

Seamus has the longest legs and likes the water the most, but even he doesn't go into the deep water. They are all happy to just play, get wet and cool off:

Daphne splashed out to some Bullhead-Lilies:

Fergus looked abandoned when Jack ran off to try some new swimming spot:

And sometimes the dogs were calm, just exploring and drinking the clean, cool water:

We got back on the trail again and I found lots of Wild Blackberries. Alas, none of them were ripe yet:

And there were entire fields of Spreading Dogbane, a poisonous but pretty plant:

We came to another water access, and this one had a nice view of a mountain in the distance:

This photo was an accident but when I got home and saw it, I loved it. Jack and Daphne were pushing their way through the ferns and Oxeye Daisies. The yellow flowers in the foreground were St. Johnswort:

We made another detour down to the water's edge:

This is the place where we always see abundant Cardinal Flowers - but not this time. I couldn't remember what their leaves looked like, so I couldn't check for plants without flowers. We were probably too early and I'll have to go back later. Nevertheless, the dogs sure had fun. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: