Autumn Color On New York State Route 420

I saw some beautiful autumn color on my way to church one Sunday but couldn't stop to take pictures. The next day, however, I repeated the drive north on Rt 420 from the town of Stockholm through the town of Norfolk, to the town of Massena. This time I had the leisure to stop and a camera by my side:

It wasn't all uniformly colorful and some places which were gorgeous were obscured by telephone and electric wires. But I found plenty of lovely color along the way:

This wondrous color was on the banks of the St. Regis River as I crossed over it on a bridge:

I feared the sun would spoil this photo, but instead it helped to make it look as wonderful as did the scene in real time:

I passed this colorful herd of cattle and horses:

The row of pines in the foreground helped accentuate the hardwoods:

The brilliant morning sun helped light up the colored leaves as if they glowed from the inside:

A lone red tree with a hay field behind it:

More autumn color:

Some gentler, more muted colors:

Another row of autumn color behind a row of conifers. I'm sure glad I took the time to make this drive so that I could share the beauty with you:

Denton Road After A Snowstorm

It was snowing heavily, but I decided that since I was driving Denton Road anyway, I'd take some winter scenery pictures. There isn't much human activity to see on Denton Road, but this old shed must have once been an entryway for a mobile home, long since removed:

Denton Road is gravel and narrow. It took me through forests of varying types:

Everything was lovely with it's light coating of snow. This was lightweight, fluffy snow and wasn't sticking much:

White Pines behind Black Cherry trees:

Red Pines (I think). It's hard to tell from the picture and I can't remember:

A mixture of hardwood and coniferous trees:

The Beech trees still held their coppery leaves:

More pines:

The road was lined with mounds of snow which the plows had left. There'd be lots more snow and higher piles within just a few days:

I took one last picture before I put my camera away and continued driving home. Winter may not be comfortable, but it sure provides some beautiful scenery:

A Return To The Hays Brook Trail - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking the Hays Brook trail (see also Part 1, yesterday's post) and having a grand time:

 

We'd had extremely high winds several days ago and the snow was littered with twigs, cones and needles which were especially apparent every time we left the trail to explore beneath the trees:

 

Right on the trail I found bits of lichens, adhering to twigs which had been blown down:

You might expect that gigantic Seamus would lead the way when we explored off the trail, but he is a follower and usually reluctant to leave the trail. So I just give him a call and he comes bounding through the snow to join us:

 

Lowbush Blueberries were nothing but twigs this time of year, and sticking up above the snow:

We tried following what appeared to be a deer path, but my footing became difficult and I opted to turn back to the easier trail:

Clover and Daphne, always the adventurers, were more than happy to bounce through the trees and explore:

But we were on our way back to the car and had to keep making progress:

Seamus was his usual happy, goofy self:

It's taken some time to get these dogs, who once were accustomed to running to their hearts' content, to stay close to me, but they seemed to be pretty good at it on this day:

Until, that is, they realized that our parked car was just up ahead. Then they broke into a run:

It was a short hike, but just right on that snowy day. We were all happy and ready to go home:

A Return To The Hays Brook Trail - Part 1

I took the dogs to the town of St. Regis Falls to hike a trail about which I'd heard interesting reports. Alas, I couldn't find the trail head and decided instead to continue south to the old, familiar Hays Brook Trail. I parked there and let the happy dogs out:

They ran and frolicked, slowed only by my insistence that they stay within about 20 feet of me:

And the scenery was, as always, lovely:

The snow was mostly melted but a bit tricky to walk on with my damaged ankles. I decided I'd only go in a short distance and then walk back to the car. However, we walked to the end of the trail before turning around. That's still not a great distance, but it gave the dogs more time for fun and silliness:

Dogs get so ecstatic in the forest that it's a demonstration to crabby old people like me of what pure joy really looks like:

Fergus stopped to smell something awful. Oh, I see what it was. Just look at Seamus, behind Fergus on the trail:

We continued on through the mixed conifers, where the beech trees stood out with their retained, golden leaves. This small tree's top was caught in the snow and I tripped on it as I passed by:

We ventured off the trail every now and then just to see what we could see:

Fergus has learned that I want him close at hand, so he stops and looks back every so often to be sure I've not fallen too far behind or changed direction. Some people want their dogs to walk behind them, but I want mine in front of me so I can keep an eye on them and take photos. I just don't want them to go too far ahead:

We got to the end of the trail and wandered around in the forest. I've always believed the trail must continue on to somewhere, but we sure couldn't find any more trail on that day:

So we turned around and began making our way back to the car:

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! The dogs were full of joy. But we still had more trail to cover, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Over The River And Through The Woods - Part 1

We were recovering from a Nor'easter and I needed cough syrup, so I decided to drive to the village of Brasher Falls where there was a small grocery store. The snow was clinging to the trees along the way and everything was so lovely that I decided to take photos of the rural scenery. There were woodlands between the farms:

And lots of horses:

This farm house and barn sure added color to the white landscape:

It was all so beautiful that I decided to take a detour, making a broad loop to get to Brasher Falls:

Most of the woodlands were former farm fields allowed to grow up to forest, but I knew that the Brasher State Forest was just ahead and I'd likely find some bigger trees there:

I passed by old barns:

And beech trees which still clung to their leaves:

There were modern homes too. This one looked like a scene from a Christmas card:

An old shed, now all alone in the woods:

Lots of conifers of various kinds:

A big red barn with brush grown up around it:

And a big old maple tree alongside the road. I was about halfway to Brasher Falls and there was more to see along the way. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: