This trail follows the river through a largely Hemlock forest. It is level and scenic, perhaps 30 feet from the river, high enough not to flood:
We turned left, up the steep hill which would return us to our car, when I saw an eyeball in the trail - yes, an eyeball! It was shocking and gruesome, its size and pupil shape indicating it was from a deer. I didn't want to touch it with my finger, so I used a twig and discovered it was made of glass:
I picked it up and brought it home, then checked online and learned that it was a taxidermist's eye for a deer head. I figured that it must have been from a deer decoy being carried into or out of the forest last autumn during hunting season. For me, it was a highlight of our little adventure and it now sits permanently on my kitchen counter:
The Hemlocks began to be replaced by Northern Red Oaks:
And as we climbed higher, the soil became very sandy and the trees became mostly Red Pines:
This was an entirely different landscape than we'd encountered previously, though a fairly common type in the Adirondacks:
Green mosses and blue Reindeer Lichens carpeted the ground:
And the coolness we'd experienced down by the river turned to hot summer, with the loud buzzing of insects (still no biting insects though):
The pines began to change to hardwoods and the sandy ground began to be more like forest soil when we reached the top:
I must have have inadvertently taken a different turn than usual, for we emerged into a clearing exactly at our parked car. That was highly convenient, but I wouldn't have wanted to have accidentally gone past it. I'll be alert to that possibility the next time:
