Madawaska Pond

My sister, Lynn, and her husband, Tim, were visiting from Ohio and we'd just hiked in to see the Santa Clara waterfall (see the previous two posts). Our next stop was Madawaska Pond, which required a five mile drive on rough, one lane "roads" through the forest. We arrived at the parking site and started walking:

The trail to Madawaska Pond is through a stand of large White Pines and is both beautiful and peaceful:

The dogs had already used up some of their excess energy, so they were much better behaved by this time. Seamus' back legs were beginning to fail him, and I eventually had to put him on a leash to keep him from falling or wandering off to unsafe places and getting lost:

The trail to Madawaska Pond was not only lovely to look at, but also wonderful to smell because the White Pine aroma rose when the sun hit the trees and fallen needles:

We took a side trip to a hill overlooking the marshy edge of Madawaska Pond. The red leaves you see on the hill were Lowbush Blueberries:

Lynn and Tim stood and took in the expansive views, backed by the White Pine forest:

But then we hit the trail again, which took us along the edge of the pond:

These miniature red-capped lichens were called British Soldiers. They are never large, but these were the smallest I've ever seen:

We found several water access sites. This one was marked as a canoe launch:

Recent rains had produced a crop of unusual mushrooms all along the trail:

And I got another a photo of Tim and Lynn:

I've never seen a mushroom like this, but its general lumpiness and orange color seemed appropriate for Halloween:

We walked to the end of the pond, then turned around and began the trek back to our car. We were all tired by this time, and happy to reach the car and sit down. We headed home for a nap and dinner:

Wonderful Debar Pond - Part 2

A friend and I were walking a trail along the shore of the Adirondacks' Debar Pond (see also Part 1, posted yesterday), and arrived at a small stream. The dogs thought it was great fun but we humans decided to turn back toward the easier walking and the buildings:


We all walked back to the lodge and peeked in the windows. It must surely have been a luxurious mansion in its day:

The group of people and their dogs were all gone by the time we arrived, so we ambled over to the water's edge and enjoyed the scenery and serenity. A cluster of pink Joe-Pye-Weed stood on the shore:

And then a Red Admiral butterfly began flitting from flower head to flower head and a bee joined it, making a lovely scene:

And this shoreline was much easier for the dogs to swim in. Seamus was able to walk easily out and not have any trouble with his back legs. Daphne and Clover went in, but stayed closer to shore:

I gave them all a call they waded back in to join us:

My friend and I enjoyed the dogs' company as we surveyed the scenery:

The dogs walked over to the old boathouse and then went back into the water. Seamus disappeared and we called loudly for him until we found him:

Seamus, of course, loves the water and couldn't stay out of it. Even Jack went swimming

We began walking again, passing by the old caretaker's residence:

And out onto the lawn, which is still kept mowed, beneath the towering White Pines:

We made a happy caravan as we proceeded onto the dirt lane which would return us to our parked car:

My happy dogs continued to sniff and search everywhere along the way. We stopped for lunch at a small general store where we could eat at a picnic table with the dogs. It had been a good day:

Wonderful Debar Pond - Part 1

It had been several years since I visited Debar Pond and I decided it was time for another visit. I brought along a friend and my five dogs. We drove into the forest on a long, one lane dirt road. It was lined with what I thought were Foxglove plants in bloom. Then we parked and began walking:

That's when I discovered that the flowers I'd seen had not been Foxgloves at all, but some kind of Bellflower:

I looked them up when I got home and learned that they were Creeping Bellflower, not because their stems were low to the ground (they were all about three feet tall or more) but because their roots send out runners. Furthermore, I learned that they were a garden escapee, not a native wildflower. There were many hundreds of them, all along the road:

We walked the dirt lane toward Debar Pond and passed by this ancient White Pine. It had to have been at least eight feet diameter at its base:

Normally I have Debar Pond all to myself, but this time there was a group of about ten people with big dogs, so we put my dogs on leashes. My friend took the three little dogs and I took Seamus and Fergus:

As we approached the former home site, we passed many abandoned barns and this picturesque greenhouse/potting shed:

And a garden filled with red Bee Balm (Monarda):

We arrived at the abandoned mansion, an Adirondack Great Camp on the shore of lovely Debar Pond. If I remember my history correctly, this was once the home of an eccentric and wealthy German hops farmer. Now it is empty and owned by New York State:

Alas, the serene nature of the site was turned into a boisterous day for about ten people and four big dogs. Some of the dogs were worrisome around my small dogs, so we walked uphill, away from the pond and toward the old mansion. This white dog, named Aspen, came running with us and ignored his owner's calls:

We arrived at the mansion and turned to look out over the pond and mountains:

And then we continued on a trail into the forest, where my dogs could do some swimming without worrying about the big dogs:

Big ol' Seamus waded out too far and then his back legs kept collapsing. He didn't seem able to stand up, and I was just about to wade in after him when he managed to make it back to shore:

Yes, he then went back out where he'd been before - and little Daphne swam out to join him. But we had much more to see. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Old Keenan Road, Brasher State Forest, Part 2

I'd gotten my car mired in a deep mud hole on the logging road called Old Keenan Road on the state map (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). I'd already contacted AAA and kept walking back toward the camping and picnic area even though I knew no one was there:

We kept walking, and by this time the dogs had also begun to slow down:

There is one small private property along the road, but no one was home:

We finally arrived at the camping area, and I still had enough energy to call the dogs into the forest to explore the stream from the overflow of the CCC reservoir:

It was cool and beautiful back there, with a new beaver dam under construction:

White Pines dominate this forest and much of the walking was free from brush:

We continued on along the stream, headed for the picnic area and reservoir:

When we got to a place with easy water access, Daphne went in to cool herself off:

Then Fergus and Clover joined her:

I had walked for several miles with my painful ankles and new leg braces, all the way to the camping area because the guy at AAA said that's where I'd meet the tow truck. But when I talked on the phone to the local operator, I explained that I was old, crippled and with five muddy dogs, so he might prefer me to head back to my car. He agreed, so I started walking again, this time back to where my car was stuck:


The tow truck arrived at my mired car before I did, but not by much, and my car was out of the mud by the time I got there. I made it a point to turn around on that narrow dirt road so I wouldn't have to back through any more mud holes. That, after all, is how I got stuck in the first place. But I had been rescued and was on my way back to civilization and decent roads: