Hiking In Brasher State Forest

The dogs and I were hiking in the Brasher State Forest on a beautiful, sunny morning:

I'd hoped to see wildflowers but there were very few. This spent Pink Ladyslipper was the most exciting find of the day:

But the forest was lovely and cool on that otherwise hot day:

The dogs ran and played, with me hollering now and then to keep them close by me. Without reminders, they'd just run to their hearts' content:

What I called trails were clearly wood roads or logging roads once upon a time. We tried several of them, just to see where they would take us:

It was an altogether pleasant experience. I'd brought bug spray because I expected biting flies and mosquitoes, but I never had to use it:

Jack found a section of some animal's spine, probably that of a deer:

There lots of other bones in the area, including this canine skull. Whether it was a dog or coyote I could not tell, though I used to know the difference when I was in college:

But the bones were old and all the interesting smells were gone, so the dogs soon lost interest and we continued on our way:

There were so few flowers that I had to stop and photograph this yellow one. I looked it up when I got home and decided that it was Smoothish Hawkweed, Heieracium pilosella, in the Composite family, a relative of daisies and dandelions:

And there were wild strawberries in bloom:

Our hikes are short these days and we were soon back at the car:

Exploring An Adirondack Wood Road

The dogs and I were driving back home through the Adirondacks after a two night stay at the farm. We'd been making more "rest stops" than ever before and having lots of adventures. Still on the Port Kent Hopkinton Turnpike, we saw much lovely scenery:

I passed by this unidentified waterway/wetland on the left side of the road, admiring its beauty. And just past it I saw a small dirt lane, likely a wood road, entering the forest and of course turned onto it:

We drove along the wood road for a long way, paralleling the waterway and passing through a pine forest:

I eventually stopped to let us all out to investigate this new terrain. Daphne and Clover, the two young Papillons, ran right down to the water's edge but , thankfully, did not go in:

There were Trillium's in bloom all around:

I tried to keep the dogs from trampling the Trillium flowers. Notice the plant just in front of Seamus' big feet:

I followed Clover down to the water's edge to take a look for myself:

And I was rewarded with this pristine wilderness view:

And finally, my two favorite photos from the trip, both of them worthy of clicking on to get an enlarged view. In this one, Seamus, Wally and Winky walk together through the piney woods near our little red car:

And dear, sweet Wally enjoying himself in the forest with a blooming Trillium behind him and a blooming Lowbush Blueberry (the little waxy bell-flowers):

Fort Jackson State Forest, Part 2

There are many state forests in the area around the farm, and Fort Jackson State Forest is the closest. So, having the afternoon free, I took the four youngest dogs for a hike to see it for myself. Daphne was having a grand time, and unafraid of exploring solo. But little Clover was really the brave one. If you look closely (or click to enlarge the photo), you'll see Clover far off to the left:

Big ol' Seamus mostly lumbered along beside me, but the three youngsters raced full speed through the trees:

There were a few flowers in bloom. This, for obvious reasons, is called Star Flower:

We mostly followed wood roads, but with occasional side trips off into the forest:

And one of those side trips yielded a spring where the dogs got to drink and cool off:

When we turned around to find our car, I veered through the logged off area. It had its own charms:

Daphne went on full alert, thinking she'd heard something. But apparently it was the toys in her own attic:

When we reached the car, the dogs were still so full of energy that they ran in circles. I guess I'll have to make it a longer or steeper hike next time. But for that day, it was time to return to the farm and make dinner:

Fort Jackson State Forest, Part 1

Since I'd run over a big rock and bent the riding mower blades into a right angle, I could do no more lawn mowing. So that freed me up to do a bit of hiking with the dogs. I'd ruled out Azure Mountain in the Adirondacks because it was black fly season, but I'd noticed on the map that one of the MANY State forests in the area was just a stone's throw from my farm. So I loaded Fergus, Seamus, Daphne and Clover into the car and drove to it. I found an old wood road and followed it deeper and deeper into the woods until it began to look like I'd get stuck if I went any farther. So I parked at what appeared to be an old logging header and let the dogs out:

The pooches were ecstatic. This is what they live for. Well, it's ONE of the things they live for:

Lots of happy running by the dogs:



The soil looked like almost pure sand and there were mostly tall pines in the section we were walking. There was also plenty of Reindeer Lichen growing all over the ground. I found some British Soldier Lichens and Star Moss growing with it:

We followed another old wood road. The land was amazingly flat. On one side of the road the land had been logged off and had begun to grow up again. On the other side were tall pines, and that was the side which Seamus preferred:

We took several forays off the wood road and into the forest. There was very little brush, so walking was quite easy:

We found other areas of the forest which were mostly deciduous trees:

This was a very beautiful area and unlike anything I'd ever hiked before. We saw no other person or vehicle and seemed to have the entire forest to ourselves. I'm happy to report that we also saw no black flies. I'll post more tomorrow: