Exploring The Oxbow Of The St. Regis River

Our hiking was done for Easter Sunday and I pulled away from the Duck Pond Trail Head to begin the journey down the narrow lane toward Blue Mountain Road:

But I saw a turn-off toward the left that seemed headed for the Oxbow we'd seen on the way in. Well, you just know that I had to turn down there and take a look. What I found was wild, serene, beautiful:

The road ended in a grassy meadow, so I parked and all the pooches piled out of the car and headed downhill toward the Oxbow (a channel on the St. Regis River flood plain which had been severed from the main current when the river washed out a new shortcut):

We stopped when we'd reached boggy, squishy footing and looked back toward the parked car:

We all explored the grassy meadow as we headed toward the trees:

I noticed that Trout Lilies was just emerging, with leaves only about an inch long at that time. They were in full bloom down by Albany:

In the woods, I saw this amazing tree growing atop a boulder with its roots running down the side of the rock to find the soil below:

I took another look at the idyllic scene and snapped a photo:

And then another picture from a slightly different angle:

And that was the end of our Easter morning hiking. We all clambered back up into the car and I began the journey back to the farm where Wally and Winky were waiting for us:

Finding Duck Pond - Part 3

The dogs and I were walking atop the esker which framed one side of Duck Pond and enjoying the beauty on Easter Sunday morning:

The slope descending to the water's edge was quite steep and I would ordinarily have trotted right down there for a closer look. But my legs were still feeling weak and I decided to just enjoy the view from above:

I sat down and relaxed, watching the dogs explore. That's when I snapped this photo of Clover, intrepid adventurer and noble explorer of the north woods:

The two Papillons began going down to the pond but then stopped when they realized I was staying right were I was:

In fact, I was so happy there that I lay down and looked up through the still bare tree branches to the marbled sky:

Seamus and Fergus sat together watching me, thinking Poodle thoughts:

But it was soon time to go and we all began walking up to the ridge line on the esker to make our way back to the car. Azure Mountain was clearly visible from there:

I could see down into the St. Regis River flood plain and, at one point, could even see a bit of my bright red car parked at the trail head:

We made our way back down to the trail and through another area of dead trees. Again I wondered what had killed them:

I saw some of these signs telling me that I was on New York State land, not private land. I always welcome these signs as I know I am not trespassing. Sometimes it's not clear whose land I'm on. Some private land is OK to hike and some is not:

We made it back to the car in good shape. So far that morning we'd hiked the St. Regis River Canoe Carry, the Trail toward Madawaska Pond and the trail to Duck Pond without seeing another human or vehicle. This was blessedly wild country:

Finding Duck Pond - Part 2

There was no easy route down the hill to Duck Pond so the dogs and I explored around the edges of the trail:

And then, thinking the trail might lead around the pond to an access point, we continued on until it became apparent that we were moving farther from Duck Pond into the forest. I turned back toward the pond:

And, since there seemed to be no trail down to the pond, we found our own route. Clover, ever the little adventurer, led the way:

When we arrived at the water's edge all the dogs had themselves a cool drink and Seamus got his feet wet:

The pond itself was wild and lovely, with the esker on its west side clearly discernible:

This was a peaceful and serene location with no other humans for many miles in any direction. This was wild country and I liked it very much:

The forest floor was home to many Princess Pines, AKA Ground Pines, a species of Club Moss:

And then we began hiking back toward the car. That's Azure Mountain directly ahead of us. It's easy to identify because it's the only peak in the area which is, of course, why they built a fire tower on its summit. You can see in all directions from up there:

But instead of hoofing it back to the car I decided to climb up onto the western esker and see Duck Pond from above:

This provided a magnificent view of Duck Pond on one side and the St. Regis River flood plain on the other:

The dogs were having a grand time and Fergus posed for a picture. We were exploring a place of great beauty. I'll post more about it tomorrow: