Winter At White Hill Wild Forest - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking the access road in the White Hill Wild Forest in Parishville, New York (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). A frozen beaver marsh was on our left:

I had to keep my right glove off so I could operate the camera, and my hand was getting cold. I began contemplating turning back:

Jack smelled something interesting and went to investigate:

And the Fergus and Daphne sniffed along the side of the road:

Ever the adventurous one, Clover marched right on into the forest to play Timber Wolf:

Daphne began to enter the forest, then turned and ran back to me:

But mostly we just walked, enjoying our outing:

And the dogs did some running:

But it was cold, so I called the dogs and turned back toward our parked car:

Fergus and Jack had to take one last sniff, but Daphne and Clover were ready to go back to the warm car:

And the scenery was lovely the entire way:

The dogs ran ahead, then I'd call and they'd run back to me. We were by now approaching the trail head. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Winter At White Hill Wild Forest - Part 1

I've been feeling so worn down by winter that I've had trouble getting myself moving, but one morning I managed to get the dogs in the car and drive to the White Hill Wild Forest in Parishville, New York. The parking area had about 6" of snow on it, but I was able to get in and park, facing downhill toward the road for an easy exit. I let the dogs out and we began walking:

Of course they were wild with excitement but, all in all, behaved well. Seamus and Fergus had an appointment for a haircut in just three days, so they benefited from extra thick fur coats. It was cold that day:

The snowy forest was lovely, though nothing could ever compete with the wintry beauty of our last hike here:

It appeared to me that the road had been plowed, though not recently enough for a regular passenger car to drive on. That was good for the dogs, though, and made for wonderful hiking:

They explored off the trail as much as possible, though the snow was deep and cold there. I noticed that they didn't stay off road for long or go far:

Little Jack always runs continuously, and he did so this time also:

I have to keep track of five dogs, some lagging behind, some running ahead, some exploring off the trail. I couldn't possibly keep all five of them on a leash, which is part of the reason I choose hikes where I'm unlikely to encounter anyone else. Luckily, my dogs are friendly and obedient, albeit excitable:

We were a happy procession, walking through the Adirondack forest:

Jack and Fergus did some off road sniffing:

And then we continued on our way, stopping to investigate interesting things every now and then:

I could see the opening up ahead where a beaver marsh was on the left. Jack, you may notice, was almost there already:

But we soon caught up to him and arrived at the beaver marsh. We had more exploring to do, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

High Flats State Forest - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking in High Flats State Forest (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and came to a beaver marsh which was down in a valley. We walked down to see it and the three little dogs went exploring. Seamus did not want to cross over the fallen tree trunks to get there, so he just watched:

It was a mysterious, magical place where birds and frogs called all around. Little Jack waked through the water to see what he could find:

Then we climbed back up the hill and continued on our way:

Probably a resident of the nearby beaver marsh, this female Black-Winged Damselfly paid us a visit. I knew it was a female because of the white spot on her wings. I knew it was a Damselfly because she held her wings together when at rest. Dragonflies keep their wings outstretched:

It had become clear to me some time earlier that we were on the wrong trail, but we explored it anyway and then began retracing our steps. When we arrived back at this lovely creek, we stopped for a drink:

Refreshed and happy, we returned to the trail and continued on our way:

As before, the open meadow beside the beaver marsh filled the dogs with joy. I liked it too, with all its Black-Eyed Susans, Queen Anne's Lace and Heal-All flowers:

But the dark forest was just ahead:

It was a lovely trail, and the dogs were by now too tired to run ahead like they had at the beginning. This made for a more peaceful experience:

I stopped for a closer look at this brown, wood-toned (it even had rings) mushroom:

It had rained the previous several days and everything was wet, yet the trail was mostly dry:

This yellow mushroom was just pushing up through the moist earth. I don't know what kind of bright red berry that was next to it. I looked around to see what plant might be near but didn't notice any obvious berry plants:

A Forest Troll:

Lovely brown and yellow mushrooms:

And a toasted looking golden mushroom. We were nearing our starting point but not there yet. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

High Flats State Forest - Part 1

I'd been so impressed with our recent hike in Whiskey Flats State Forest that one morning I decided to take the dogs to High Flats State Forest, not too far away. It was very wild and nothing was marked, but I found an all purpose trail and we started walking:

Unlike the pine covered Whiskey Flats, High Flats was mostly hardwood forest. It was lush and green and damp:

I was just thinking we wouldn't see any wildflowers at all when I came upon these Heal-All flowers. They appeared in nearly every spot on the trail where the sun could get through:

There was Fan Club Moss galore:

And brilliantly colored yellow mushrooms:

We broke out of the woods and into a meadow:

The dogs thought that was great fun, and Jack ran full speed, back and forth:

Abutting the meadow was a marsh, probably a former beaver pond although I never saw a dam:

I did however see the creek which was the overflow for the marsh. It ran from under the trail and out through the forest, gurgling and bubbling:

The dogs drank from the creek and then we continued on our way:

We came to some private land and turned around, taking a side trail. According to the state map, we should be heading for Close Pond. Alas, I discovered that we'd passed Close Pond on our way in and the state map bore little resemblance to reality:

Fergus and Jack trotted along:

In another open spot, I saw Bull Thistles in full bloom, making me glad I'd cut down the ones in my fields before they blossomed:

This one confused me, but I finally decided it was regular Spotted Knapweed - just very healthy, lovely specimens:

There was more Wild Ginger than I've ever seen anywhere, but since it blooms in April, I still haven't seen their odd flowers. One of these days I'll be in the right place at the right time. But we were just getting started on our adventure, and there was much more to see. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: