The Rutland Trail - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking along the Rutland Trail, just five miles from our front door (see Part 1, posted yesterday) on a spectacular Indian Summer day:

We hiked farther than we had before and were seeing new sights and lovely autumn scenery:

Much of the trail looked as if we were headed through a tunnel in the forest, giving the hike a kind of storybook quality:

But of course the time came to turn around and return to our car. I can't walk far anymore. On our way back, we again arrived at the old railroad bridge over Allen Brook:

The dogs again raced back and forth across the bridge. Notice that Jack, Fergus and Clover were all caught in mid-run:

For the first time, I took note of piles of old railroad ties:

There was a lane, leading off into the forest and I saw no "Posted" signs, so we turned down it and soon found ourselves on the banks of Allen Brook. Jack had run off by himself and was exploring nearby:

But Jack saw all the other dogs having fun, so he ran over to join them. As for me, I kept away from the rocky shoreline because I'm pretty awkward with my leg braces:

But that was just a brief diversion and soon we were back on the trail, heading for our parked car:

When I could see the car up ahead, I put Jack on a leash and gave him his first lesson on how to "heel." The other dogs needed a refresher also, so they healed all the way back to the car:

The Rutland Trail - Part 1

It was full on Indian Summer in the north country, much too beautiful for me to just stay home and do chores. So I put the dogs in the car and drove a mere five miles to the Rutland Nature Trail. We'd been here before but had never gone very far. Maybe today we'd do better:

Seamus and Jack, his little buddy, peed together on the trees along the way:

And all the dogs sniffed and explored. The trail, the site of a former railroad bed, was looking exceptionally lovely that day:

We met a man on an ATV and chatted awhile. Then he took off ahead of us and we continued on our slow, plodding walk:

We came to the former railroad bridge over Allen Brook and the dogs ran back and forth across it:

I stopped in the middle of the bridge to photograph Allen Brook down below:

And then we continued walking. Much of the scenery on this trail looked like a tunnel through the forest, an almost enchanted landscape and the stuff of which children's books could be written:

Most of the land on both sides of the trail was posted, but I saw some which wasn't, and took the dogs exploring a short way into the forest:

But then we got back on the trail and continued our journey:

Most of the leaves had fallen and there wasn't much color left anywhere, but the autumn air seemed to have a kind of orange glow all its own. Indeed, I felt like we were in a magical forest. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: