Madawaska Pond - Part 1

It was going to be a hot day and my hay field was going to be worked in the afternoon, so I left early for Madawaska Pond. It had been closed to the public for four years and only recently reopened. I was anxious to see it again. I drove south for 25 miles and then another six miles on dirt lanes through the forest to get to the parking area:

There was no one else anywhere, so I let the dogs run and they headed off down the trail. Of course moments later I was hollering at them to keep them closer to me:

Warblers and Thrushes and White-Throated Sparrows sang beautifully off in the trees:

The dogs sniffed everything while I busied myself slapping deer flies which landed on my head - hundreds of them died because they thought my bald head would be a perfect landing strip and diner:

I had been here only once before and that was four years ago. Even so, I opted to follow a side trail when I discovered one, just to see new scenery:

The dogs ran down this side trail with great enthusiasm and I, not knowing where it led, began ordering them once again to stay near me:

It led to a clearing with a gorgeous view of Madawaska Pond:

And everywhere there were Lowbush Blueberries, acres and acres of them. Alas, they weren't yet ripe:

We walked down toward the pond but turned back when I discovered that flat green expanse was under about a foot of water with mud beneath it:

So we headed back uphill, looking for another path back to the main trail:

I stopped to photograph the Sheep Laurel in bloom:

And we easily got back on the main trail. With the towering pines, the wildflowers the bird songs and the lovely aromas of evergreens and moss, I remembered why I had loved this place so much four years ago. But we were just getting started. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Part 1, Hiking Mount Arab

Having taken a driving tour of the tiny hamlet of Conifer, New York, I returned the couple of miles to Mount Arab Road and headed toward the trail head:

It continued raining off and on (mostly on), but I knew the light rain would keep us cool and help prevent the onslaught of ravenously vicious deer flies. Besides, I figured Seamus would be safe from another bout of heat stroke in such cool, damp, cloudy weather. The branches overhead helped shield us from getting too overly wet - for a while, at least:

The trail was rather smooth and took us steadily uphill. The ground was so dry that the rain was soaking in quickly:

But of course we all eventually became wet, starting with long-haired little Clover who soon began looking a bit like a drowned, spotted rat. Never mind, we were all having a marvelous time:

We continued up and up and up. The trail was short, only one mile to the top, and the grade wasn't precariously steep. It was, however, unrelenting:

I heard Wood Thrushes singing in the rain and thought how they seem to love rainy days. They like to sing at dawn and dusk, so maybe the reduced sunlight of a rainy day inspires them to vocalize: Whenever there was a bit more sun, I heard White-Throated Sparrows singing:

Most of the trail was dry enough under the circumstances, but there were a few wet spots:

Little Clover, AKA the mountain goat, climbed up onto a glacial erratic to check out her surroundings:

And we continued upwards through the rain, surrounded by bird songs:

All of the dogs were being very good. They had fun and did all their doggy investigating, but without running far enough ahead that I had to reprimand them:

I kept grabbing trees for support or just because I love trees - and several times put my hand directly on these rather slimy slugs. They all seemed to be climbing trees because of the rain. Or perhaps this is just a tree climbing species. But we were almost to the summit. I'll post about that tomorrow: