The Magical Golden Light Of Autumn - Part 1

Our gorgeous autumn colors were mostly spent, and everything was drab and dreary. Then we had four days of warm weather, followed by a day of rain. The forests seemed to miraculously turn golden, as if lighted from within. I figured this exceptional beauty would be short lived, so I jumped in the car for a quick photographic driving tour. I began on Converse Road, at this family farm:

The woods along both sides of the road were gold and yellow and red:

I turned down the hill into the small, town park and found this lovely sight, a tributary making its way to the grand St. Regis River:

The Fort Jackson Town Park was beautiful, with several small lanes such as this one, leading off into mysterious places:

I drove slowly through the park, enjoying the autumn color:

This picnic table and firebox for cooking looked inviting:

I returned to Converse Road and continued my driving tour, stopping at this almost hidden hay field, surrounded by woodlands in full autumn dress:

This corner of a hidden field was especially colorful:

A small corn field, also almost hidden and surrounded by trees:

The colors seemed to intensify as I drove, and this stone wall made for nice picture:

Another small hay field, surrounded by autumn color and with tractor tire tracks across its surface. I was almost to the State Forest and fully intended to turn in there for more golden leaves. But I'll post about that tomorrow:

Jamestown Falls

We finished the Moody Falls trail (previous two posts) and drove only one mile up the road to the access road to the Jamestown Falls trail. I pulled into the forest and kept on driving until I arrived at the Raquette River - no hiking required! I let the dogs out and they ran excitedly to the water's edge:

A small tributary was flowing into the Raquette River at that point and I turned to investigate both the stream and the Winterberry Holly bush on its shore:

Indeed, the Winterberry was a beauty, our native species of holly:

Clover and Daphne, on the other hand, were more interested in getting muddy:

We walked over to the sandy shore of the Raquette River and the pooches had a cool drink and chilled feet:

Once again, I saw no waterfalls. Well, there was a small waterfall about a half mile upstream and I used my zoom lens to get a photo of it. I later read that this was indeed Jamestown Falls but there is no trail to it because it's on private land. So we admired it from a distance:

Then we began exploring the shoreline downstream, enjoying the autumn sights and smells:

The Raquette River is a scenic wonder. It's been dammed in places, but the rest of it remains wild and beautiful:

We continued downstream, exploring:

Until Seamus sank down into the mud/quicksand up to his belly. I began to fret, wondering how I'd get him out of there because I'd sink even deeper than he had, but he was able to extricate himself:

We turned back upstream and headed for our parked car. The dogs, as you can see, were just as excited and happy to be going this direction. It didn't matter to them:

We all scrambled back up into the car and I was just pulling out when I saw this beaver dam on the little tributary. I stopped the car and got out to photograph it before continuing on to our next hike (tomorrow's post):