Adirondack Autumn Color - Part 1

I'd just been out with dogs at Meacham Lake (see previous two posts), and we were on our way home. We were headed north on Route 458 through the Adirondacks and the autumn colors were just beginning to show. I decided to stop along the way and take some pictures:

Low mountains along the road:

A wet area beside the road helped turn these trees red:

One lone red tree among lots of green and yellow:

Not much color here, but it was a lovely marsh:

But there was certainly some bright color here:

And Staghorn Sumac can always be counted on to deliver bright red color in the fall:

More color along Route 458:

Much variety here:

Ferns beside the road were turning bronze and mixed with cattails. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Autumn On The Rutland Trail - Part 3

The dogs and I were hiking a section of the Rutland Trail (see also previous two posts) and had gotten farther than ever before because someone had built a bridge over a formerly inundated section. Other spots were still wet, however, and I tried to keep the dogs from drinking out of the shallow pools:

Red Clover was in bloom along the trail. Certainly a common plant, it still surprised me to see flowers in bloom so late in the season:

Virgin's Bower Clematis seed heads made for a striking, autumn display:

When we returned to an access point to the main body of water, I encouraged the dogs to drink there instead of from puddles along the trail:

We were a happy group, making our way back along the trail:

The wind began to pick up as we arrived back at the bridge, and it was gusting with enough force that I wondered if a big storm was brewing. It turned out to be only wind, however, and merely added to the spirit of autumn in the air:

The dogs have seen so much water lately that they are enjoying it more than they used to:

And Beavers were clearly nearby. I wondered if the bush on the left had been Ironwood, but I never found out:

And then we came to a spot where the dogs could wade into shallow water, causing much excitement and merrymaking. I've seldom seen the dogs so happy. Perhaps it was a plot to get my car muddy, revenge for my not letting them run amok on the trail:

But when the fun was over, we kept walking:

This was an Insect Gall on a Goldenrod stem, a common sight along the edge of the trail:

Some places were so stunningly beautiful that I had to snap a photo. Notice the water and cattails in the center of the picture. These were marshes, and there was nowhere for a person to leave the trail:

Seamus and Fergus, my two "Poodly" hikers:

This Chicory flower caught me by surprise. Chicory quit blooming a long time ago. This was indeed a strange year, with warmer temperatures later into the season:

Jack often let the way, followed by Seamus, Daphne and Clover. Fergus often trots along at my side and that's what he was doing when I snapped this picture. We were almost back to the roadside where I'd parked, so I put the dogs on leashes and finished our hike. This trail is only 3 or 4 miles from home, a valuable asset:

Adventure To Debar Pond Lodge - Part 1

The last time I tried to get to the Debar Pond Lodge, I was blocked by a snowstorm and fallen trees. So I tried again eight days later. It was cloudy, but warmer and pleasant. I parked the car and started down the lane with the dogs:

We passed by the official trail to Debar Pond. It crosses a marsh on elevated boards which have become dangerously dilapidated and difficult for me and my leg braces. Besides, I wanted to see the lodge which is now the property of New York State:

The forest smelled sweetly of Balsam and the lane was entirely pleasant walking:

I could see a mountain and marsh through the trees. I supposed it to be Debar Mountain, but there are several peaks clustered there and I don't really know which of them is Debar:

This was easy hiking but in a totally wild setting, with no one else around for many miles:

And I was very glad we were there:

We crested a small rise and saw a wide expanse ahead, dotted with many outbuildings, all of them now abandoned:

The first two seemed to me to be a woodshed and a lawnmower shed:

A wonderful greenhouse. What a shame that it has so deteriorated:

I couldn't even guess what this building was for, though a neighbor later told me it had once been a chicken coop:

A barn, perhaps for livestock. Or maybe this was used for crops when the property was a hops farm:

The dogs cared not one whit for history, but only wanted to run and investigate. I let them run since I was sure no other person was there and the land was open so I could keep them in sight. This was much more impressive than I had imagined, and we hadn't even arrived at the pond or the bigger buildings. But I'll cover that in Part 2, tomorrow:

Rutland Trail, From Hallahan East

I'd finished my chores early and decided to take the dogs back to the nearby Rutland Nature Trail. We began on Hallahan Road as we usually do, but this time headed east instead of west:

Both sides of the trail are marshy and I could hear Green Frogs calling, with their voices which sound like a banjo string being plucked:

The dogs were more interested in smells and having fun:

This pink fuzz intrigued me, so I took a photo and hoped to identify it when I got home. Alas, I can find nothing online which even resembles it. I suspect it's of insect origin, but I really don't know. Does anyone out there recognize it?:

An old track bed for the Rutland Railroad, this trail is level and straight, elevated above the marshes:

And the views were stunning. Luckily, it was too cold for bugs to be out:

The dogs ran and played, sticking closer to me than usual. I barely had to yell at them at all:

This wonderful rose was, I figured, a Pasture Rose. But when I got home and looked it up, I learned that it could have been a number of species and I hadn't included in the photo the necessary details for identification. So let's just call it a wild rose:

 My knee and both ankles were painful so we didn't go far. I told the dogs we were turning around and they did so joyfully (but of course they do everything joyfully):

Pretty soon there will be a lot of delicious blackberries along this trail:

Seamus and Jack stopped to be sure I wasn't falling behind:

And then we walked the short distance back to our car:

The Marshy Part Of The Rutland Trail - Part 1

As December came to an end, our weather continued to be more like October, with no snow. I knew it couldn't last forever, so I took the dogs up the road to the Rutland Trail again - this time beginning at Hallahan Road and heading east:

The dogs were so excited that they didn't listen well at first, but I knew they'd calm down after a bit of excited running, sniffing and investigating:

This part of the Rutland Trail runs through marshes and wetlands. In most places, there is water on both sides and I wondered how they had managed to construct this former railroad bed through such marshy country so long ago, probably in the late 1800s or early 1900s:

But the scenery was topnotch:

We passed what looked like a beaver lodge except that it was adjacent to the trail - in fact, it partially covered the trail. I could see evidence of lots of beaver activity, including a raft of floating logs with tooth marks near the lodge:

We continued on our way, passing wetlands everywhere. There could be no straying from the trail because of the water on both sides:

The dogs began to slow down after they'd used up their initial burst of excitement:

Once the over-exuberance at the beginning of a walk is over, the real enjoyment begins:

We were walking through wild lands of exquisite beauty and I was enjoying it every bit as much as the dogs:

Though there was water on both sides of the trail, we had not yet reached the truly grand bodies of water. But we were almost there and I'll post about that tomorrow: