Clear Pond - Part 2

The dogs and I were walking along the edge of the Adirondacks' Clear Pond, in the White Hill Wild Forest (see also Part 1, posted yesterday), and I was surprised by all the wildflowers I was seeing. At first I didn't see any Blue Flag, but Clover and Daphne found one:

Blue Flag is our native wild Iris, and it is a beauty:

Clover looked at the pond wistfully but didn't go in:

And then Daphne joined her to explore around the rocks. You can see here what a gorgeous wild pond this is:

Little Jack, who most commonly runs in continuous big circles by himself, couldn't resist joining Clover and Daphne for a bit of water fun:

And then they split up to continue exploring:

 Back in the forest again, I was surprised to find this long stemmed violet. I usually don't try to identify violet species, but I looked in my field guide when I got home and decided this was definitely Marsh Blue Violet:

The trail took us through beautiful forest scenery:

And then deeper into the dark interior, the dogs leading the way:

But our main intent was to stay near the water, so we returned to the pond every chance we got:

 I was enamored of these jewel-like patches of Partridgeberry and mosses:

Daphne and Fergus again ran down to the water for a drink and some play. We were almost back to where we'd begun, and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Clear Pond - Part 1

I woke up one morning in a rotten mood and pouted for several hours until it dawned on me that I hadn't had the dogs out to the forest in quite awhile. I knew it would be a cure for my foul mood and the dogs would be ecstatic. So I put them in the car and drove 17 miles to the Adirondacks' lovely White Hill Wild Forest. I let the dogs out of the car and Jack, Fergus and Daphne led the way down the trail:

We'd just gotten started when I came across a clump of Pink Columbine. Wild Columbine is red, so I figured these must be leftover from when a Boy Scout camp was located here:

I'd noticed Lilacs still blooming along the road to this destination, so I already knew the area had an even later spring than where I lived, only 17 miles away. Still, I was shocked to see Canada Mayflower in bloom. But when I got home, I checked my field guide and decided that these were Three-Leaved False Solomon's-Seal, a related but later blooming species:

And there were lots of Bunchberry plants, a sort of miniature Dogwood, in bloom:

We arrived at the shore of Clear Pond in short order and Seamus waded in without hesitation. Daphne rushed to join him there:

Daphne and Jack tested the water:

And Daphne decided she liked it:

Clear Pond is a wild but accessible Adirondack gem. We had the entire White Hill Wild Forest to ourselves and, according to the register book, only one other person had been there in the last several days:

This Pink Ladyslipper surprised me because it was long past its normal bloom time. It was already faded and shriveled, though, so it was almost spent:

Brilliantly orange and yellow flowers were immediately identifiable as Orange Hawkweed, and the white flowers behind it were more Bunchberry (and one Oxeye Daisy):

We returned to the trail through the forest but took the next side trail to the water's edge, where Daphne again showed what a water dog she is. There was yet much more to see here, though, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: