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:

St. Regis River Access Plants - Part 3

I was hiking with the dogs at the St. Regis River Access (see also previous two posts) and discovering a wealth of wildflowers, including Red Clover and Queen Anne's Lace:

And a surprising number of Yellow Loosestrife, sometimes called Swamp Candles. They are not related to the invasive Purple Loosestrife:

Even without flowers or fruit, I recognized this as Spreading Dogbane. I still remember the first time I noticed it (it was flowering) and looked it up in my field guide. Now that I know what it is, I seem to see it everywhere. There sure was plenty along this trail:

Tiny, colorful Birdfoot Trefoil:

I usually come to this trail in the summer to see Cardinal Flowers and in the early fall to see Gentian flowers. I didn't expect any this day, but the Narrow-Leaved Gentians were right there along the trail:

Blue wildflowers are not common, but the Gentians are not only blue but a deep, dramatic blue:

I moved in for a closeup:

I saw Lowbush Blueberry bushes all along the hike but it wasn't until I got near the end that I began to find ripe berries. I ate quite a few of them:

Lowbush Blueberries are pretty plants, and I wonder if anyone grows them as ornamentals. I'll bet someone does:

Then I noticed a whole patch of minuscule plants with flowers so tiny I could barely make out what they looked like:

I got a closeup for identification and looked them up when I got home. I learned that they are called Eyebright because they used to be used for eye maladies. They are a member of the Snapdragon family. So I now know a new plant which I've never noticed before:

The last plant photo I took was of Reindeer Lichen, moss and Lowbush Blueberries. It seemed to me the quintessential Adirondack plant grouping and a fitting way to conclude this post:

Rest Stops On The Way Up To The Farm

I was able once again to get a Tuesday off of work, so on Sunday morning the dogs and I took off for a trip back up to the farm. We made it to exit 29 of the Northway where we stopped at the former Frontier Town. I did not go back to the ghost town where I'd spent so much time on previous rest stops, but instead headed straight for the sandy beaches along the Schroon River. Yes, that's the Schroon River and not the Boreas River as I've said in previous posts. I will now attempt to go back and change the old posts:

This was the perfect rest stop for the dogs and me, with sand dunes, cool clean waters, glorious sunshine and no other people anywhere:

Winky is old, crabby and almost totally deaf, so getting him down to the water's edge is a chore. But I kept coaxing him over the sandy hill and he began to enjoy himself:

Seamus, on the other hand, knows just what to do, plunging straight into the water with great exuberance:

Old Wally is mostly blind but doesn't let that stop him from having fun. This was a great romp at the beach for him:

But as always, this was just a rest stop and we had many miles yet to travel. So I called all the dogs back with me to the car and snapped their photo as they eagerly anticipated the next leg of the journey. All the dogs, that is, except Winky. He was resistant to nearly everything as is his custom. So we all waited while he poked along, sniffing plants and peeing on everything:

Winky finally waddled into view and I coaxed him up into the car so we could continue on our way:

We didn't stop again until we were on Route 458 in the northern Adirondacks, getting quite near the farm. There I pulled off onto some state land which apparently had been recently logged. There had formerly been an old cabin at this site. Now it was gone and I rather missed it:

All the dogs scurried around, checking out the sights and sounds and - hey, what is that little bell flower?

It was Spreading Dogbane, a wildflower I'd seldom seen except on Jacqueline Donnelly's wonderful blog, Saratoga Woods And Waterways, in my mind the best blog on the Web. I looked it up in my field guide when I got home and also learned that it was poisonous, a problem when it grows in pastures. I never learned why it was called Dogbane, but it sure was pretty:

The younger dogs (and old Wally) trotted down a dirt lane through the woods which I'd once explored in the car for a very long way before I gave up. But it was time to go and I called them all back to me:

I got all the dogs collected and up into the car so that we could finish our journey to the farm. We were almost there at that point, but I'll post more tomorrow:

A Wildflower Afternoon At Beebe Hill

I had a day off in the middle of the week and it was very hot. I decided that I really needed to get out somewhere into the woods and take a hike - as long as it was a short hike. I chose my old favorite, Beebe Hill, just south of Albany in Columbia County. The dogs and I began hiking up an old service road with deep forests on each side but lots of sun and wildflowers along the road. I first stopped to photograph the abundant Butter-And-Eggs, Linaria vulgaris. It's an alien wildflower, but a common and lovely one:

We passed by Bartlett Pond and began ascending the hill:

The dogs were, of course, happy and excited. They ran and played and sniffed and had a grand time:

And then I encountered a patch of creamy pink trumpet flowers, a new species for me. I took several photos so that I could identify it when I got home:

I checked my Peterson's Field Guide, turning the pages slowly until I arrived at a picture of Spreading Dogbane, Apocynum androsaemifolium. It was a beautiful flower, striped on its interior with a deep rose color:

And there were, of course, lots of more common wildflowers such as this Daisy Fleabane, Erigeron annuus:

Another common and abundant wildflower was Common St. Johnswort, Hypericum perforatum:

And what hike would be complete without the beautiful and useful Jewelweed, also known as Spotted Touch-Me-Not, Impatiens capensis. There is plenty of interesting lore about this wondrous plant. Maybe I'll do a whole post on the subject some day:

And then I encountered another wildflower new to me. It looked much like the Whorled Loosestrife which I'd only discovered this year, but not quite. I figured it must be related and have since concluded that it must have been Fringed Loosestrife, Lysimachia ciliata:

And another old friend, Sundrops, Onagraceae fruticosa. This plant is pretty much like Common Evening Primrose except that it blooms by day instead of by night. Well, I hadn't planned for this to be a wildflower hike, but it sure was turning out that way:

And another old friend, Bladder Campion, Silene cucubalus. I'll post more tomorrow: