Five Overexcited Dogs In The Wild Forest - Part 1

It was a beautiful day and I was in no mood to do any work, so I put the dogs in the car and drove down to Blue Mountain Road. The road began as blacktop, then narrowed to oiled stone, then narrowed again to dirt, then narrowed even farther to mostly sand. It was about 12 miles from my house to Blue Mountain Road, then about 13 miles of winding, backwoods road to the trail head. But as you can see, the scenery was spectacular:

The dogs were all excited because they knew they were going on an adventure. The three little dogs rode in the front seat, and the two bigger dogs rode in the back:

I parked and let the dogs out. They were overly excited and so happy that they were hard to control:

I'd call (yell) and get them to come to me, but then they were off and running again:

I kept seeing these signs, asking for people to report any Spruce Grouse sightings. With Ruffed Grouse so common, it might be difficult to tell them apart:

We started down the main trail but then quickly turned off onto a side trail, which I knew led to a beautiful wilderness pond:

Half the dogs ran forward, half ran back to the main trail and I had to do more yelling to get them all together with me. They didn't seem to mind, though - they're used to me yelling:

We arrived at the pond, but I couldn't get any closer than this because the greenery you see around the pond is a barely floating peat bog and each footstep sinks right into the water:

Daphne and Clover may be little foo-foo dogs, but they have the most adventurous spirits and love to run excitedly ahead to scout things out for the rest of us:

I managed to get us all together again and we walked back to the main trail:

This is spectacularly scenic boreal forest, so lovely it reminded me of a fairy tale landscape:

Back on the main trail, the dogs ran full speed ahead. They love to get out of their house dog existence and consider themselves canine wilderness adventurers. I, however, know there are bears, coyotes and other people (some with big dogs) to consider, so I work hard to keep my crew right where I can see what they are doing and control things:

They began to slow down after we'd walked a bit. But we were just getting started, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Madawaska Pond - Part 2

I was hiking along Madawaska Pond with the dogs, one of the loveliest areas in the Adirondacks (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

The forest smelled of White Pines, heating up in the morning sun. The dogs were happy and the trail was easy to walk. It promised to be a fine day:

We stopped to walk down to the edge of the pond, where I was again taken aback by the low water level. The floating masses of peat were covered in mud, causing me to think it had recently been even lower during the drought:

The dogs ran down to the water and Jack went right in, paddling out to a muddy, floating mass of peat:

  He kept trying to climb up onto the peat but couldn't manage to get up there. I didn't dare step into that mud with my leg braces, so I tried calling him back. Becoming fearful, he just kept trying to climb up on the little island of muddy peat. So I walked away from the water, hoping he'd panic at the thought of being left behind and swim back to shore. It worked:

Jack was a tired, muddy mess when he rejoined us and stunk like swamp mud for several days afterwards, but he was safe and I'd like to think he learned a lesson (but I know better):

On the trail again, we passed some golden mushrooms like this one, which sat next to a White Pine cone:

The trail stayed along the shore of Madawaska Pond but rose up, giving us many scenic views:

A four lobed mushroom of banana yellow, also next to a White Pine cone:

A peach colored mushroom:

And a red mushroom, which I think was a Bolete. The green leaves, I believe, were Canada Mayflowers:

We passed over a section of low grass, Wild Strawberries, pine seedlings and, to my surprise, what seemed like Wild Blackberries which stayed only 2" high. I later learned that they were Dewberries, and their trailing growth habit was characteristic. But we had more yet to see, and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Santa Clara St. Regis Canoe Carry - Part 4

I'd explored off the trail with the dogs and gotten lost (see previous posts), finding myself without my bearings in the Santa Clara Tract of the Adirondacks:

Walking in the mature forests was relatively easy, but thick stands of ferns and Balsams were difficult to walk through - sometimes impossible:

I traveled downhill and eventually found the river again, thinking that would save us:

There was an old kiosk denoting it as the end of the canoe carry trail. Clearly, however, this trail hadn't been used in decades and there was nowhere on the river which I recognized. Furthermore, the brush was so think along the water that I couldn't push my way through:

The solution, it seemed, was obvious. I'd follow the old trail back to the road. So off we went:

And it was easy walking for awhile. Then the trail ended. But we'd gone so far that I thought it best to keep going, keeping the sun always on my right. We walked for hours, old trails sometimes appearing in the forest and then just ending. Eventually it was obvious that we were lost again. I was 10 to 20 miles from the highway and everywhere began to look like everywhere else. It was predicted to drop into the 30s overnight and no one would notice that I hadn't made it home. There was no cell phone coverage. Eventually, I tried walking back the way we'd come, this time by keeping the sun always on my left. Clover seemed to be the only dog who understood the goal of returning to our starting point and she led the way. We stumbled onto the main trail and, with great relief, turned down it toward the trail head:

I took no pictures during our lost time. I was too focused on the task at hand. Once back on the right trail, however, I got out my camera again. The only problem? I'd turned the wrong way on the trail and wound up back at the St. Regis River. There was nothing for it but turn back and keep hobbling:

It's a lovely landscape and an easy trail. But I was limping and my braces had accumulated pine needles. Poor Seamus had slowed down also:

We passed by the pond and peat bog:

I was much relieved and happy once again, albeit exhausted:

I can't remember when I've ever been so happy to see our little red car:

We all piled in and began the drive home. It took both Seamus and me a couple of days to recover, but we were soon fine again. I won't, however, be straying so far off the trails ever again:

Santa Clara St. Regis Canoe Carry - Part 3

I was hiking with the dogs on the St. Regis River canoe carry trail (see Parts 1 and 2, posted previously). Little Jack had never seen such a wonderful place before:

The low water level in the St. Regis River made it an even better place for the dogs to play than usual:

And play, they did:

When it was time to return the way we'd come, I decided to first explore along the shoreline and gave the dogs a call:

It was a happy day:

We began walking downstream. The walking was difficult but the scenery was outstanding:

Soon we were on what looked to once have been a road:

So we continued on. We were headed in more or less the correct direction to reconnect with the main trail, so I thought that's probably where it would take us:

We followed the old road until it just ended in the forest:

We'd gone so far already that I didn't want to turn back. So I thought we'd just walk ahead a bit more and see where it lead:

Sure enough, we found a trail - not the trail we wanted, but a trail nonetheless:

But after awhile, this trail also just ended. And there we were, lost in the wilderness. I'll post Part 4 tomorrow:

Santa Clara St. Regis Canoe Carry - Part 2

The dogs and I were taking a short hike along the St. Regis canoe carry trail in the Santa Clara Easement of the Adirondacks (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

Fergus was feeling just fine and showing off his new haircut:

Seamus' newly thinned body allowed him more energy than he'd had for a long time:

The weather was perfect, the scenery beautiful, the Balsams aromatic and the dogs happy:

This was boreal forest and a joy to experience:

The dogs investigated, sniffed and peed on everything:

We were almost to the St. Regis River:

We walked out of the forest into a clearing and saw this exquisite wilderness view:

The water in the St. Regis River was lower than I'd ever seen it:

The dogs played in the grasses along the riverbank:

And we explored the surrounding landscape:

The sandy soil supported lots of Reindeer Lichen, and all of it was all a perfect place for happy dogs to play. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: