Martin Dunham Reservoir Hike - Part 3

A glorious sunny day in October it was, and I was hiking the perimeter of Dunham Reservoir in Grafton, New York. The first part of the trail took us along the edge of the lake. We clearly had the entire forest to ourselves, so I relaxed and let the dogs run freely through the woods. They frequently collected at scent hot spots where some animal apparently had recently been:

And often we walked over to the shoreline. Little Clover is a brave explorer and I snapped this picture of her gazing off across the lake. She looked so well put together in this photo that I emailed it to her breeder to illustrate how well she is doing:

And the other dogs soon joined Clover to explore. Hey, wait a minute. Where's Daphne? She apparently was still running, a favorite pastime of Papillon puppies:

The scenery was spectacular but also calming and restorative. The woodsy aroma of fallen leaves was behind me, the lake in front of me:

I didn't know it at the time, but the trail would take us to the top of that small mountain when we reached the other side of the lake:

Seamus, for the most part, walked placidly at my side. He's just the right height for me to scratch his ears as we walk:

Daphne, Clover and Fergus, on the other hand, are most commonly running full speed up and down the trail and taking big loops through the woods. This picture captures Daphne and Fergus running full speed:

I was glad that I'd forced myself to take this hike. It was quickly becoming one of my all time favorites:
From the woods to the lake:


Happy dogs, happy me in a gloriously colored forest:

Martin Dunham Reservoir Hike - Part 2

I was hiking around the perimeter of the Dunham Reservoir, a part of Grafton Lakes State Park, with four of my dogs. It was a glorious October day with colorful leaves, chilly air and the earthy aromas of fallen leaves. The trail ran alongside the lake shore for several miles:

Most lake photos required pointing my camera sun-ward, so quality pictures were difficult. But the colors were magnificent:

The hiking trail meandered through the deep northern forest, touching the lake shore every now and then. The dogs were, of course, thrilled to the very core of their being with every foot of it. It's no wonder that dogs make such wonderful company. For them, every day is a wonderful, fun and happy experience. They are always enthusiastic and always happy to do anything:

Fergus has had a real problem understanding the concept of walking ahead but sticking close by me. He was always happy to heel if I told him to, but when I released him he ran too far ahead. Then I'd begin "hollerating" and wind up making him heel once again. But I made some real progress on this hike getting him to understand the concept. That made the hiking a happier experience for us both:

The lake was generally visible on our left even when we were in the deep forest. But every so often, the trail took us right up to it:

Need I say that Daphne and Clover, the two puppies, were running full speed back and forth, up and down the trail, in big circles? I figured that they may were covering 20 to 50 times more ground than I. Oh, to have such boundless energy!:

On and on we walked with my thoughts coming clearer and calmer with each mile. I hope I'm never to old to hike. How else would I keep my sanity?:

63 seconds of dogs at the lakeside:



There were many colorful leaves both on the trees and on the ground. The aroma of fallen leaves brought me back to when I lived in this area many years ago:

A happy experience: