Madawaska Pond

My sister, Lynn, and her husband, Tim, were visiting from Ohio and we'd just hiked in to see the Santa Clara waterfall (see the previous two posts). Our next stop was Madawaska Pond, which required a five mile drive on rough, one lane "roads" through the forest. We arrived at the parking site and started walking:

The trail to Madawaska Pond is through a stand of large White Pines and is both beautiful and peaceful:

The dogs had already used up some of their excess energy, so they were much better behaved by this time. Seamus' back legs were beginning to fail him, and I eventually had to put him on a leash to keep him from falling or wandering off to unsafe places and getting lost:

The trail to Madawaska Pond was not only lovely to look at, but also wonderful to smell because the White Pine aroma rose when the sun hit the trees and fallen needles:

We took a side trip to a hill overlooking the marshy edge of Madawaska Pond. The red leaves you see on the hill were Lowbush Blueberries:

Lynn and Tim stood and took in the expansive views, backed by the White Pine forest:

But then we hit the trail again, which took us along the edge of the pond:

These miniature red-capped lichens were called British Soldiers. They are never large, but these were the smallest I've ever seen:

We found several water access sites. This one was marked as a canoe launch:

Recent rains had produced a crop of unusual mushrooms all along the trail:

And I got another a photo of Tim and Lynn:

I've never seen a mushroom like this, but its general lumpiness and orange color seemed appropriate for Halloween:

We walked to the end of the pond, then turned around and began the trek back to our car. We were all tired by this time, and happy to reach the car and sit down. We headed home for a nap and dinner:

Our Favorite St. Regis River Waterfall - Part 2

My sister, her husband and all five dogs had hiked in to the waterfall in Santa Clara, New York (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). We'd seen the base of the falls, so we began climbing the rocky trail which took us upstream:

The trail was lovely and wild, and my sister enjoyed the Adirondack scenery:

I stopped for this scene with Partridgeberry, mushroom and Sphagnum moss. The red and green had a kind of Christmas look to it:

The little dogs ventured out onto some rocks which were too scary for Seamus and me, both of us old and lame. I put Seamus on a leash for safety and the two of us took the safest routes we could find:

The trail took us upstream, where we could see the St. Regis River rushing through a narrow gorge:

But the trail ended, so we returned to the base of the falls:

We took a side trip on another trail along the St. Regis River and stopped to see these two gigantic rocks. Alas, the photo doesn't convey their huge size, but they were mammoth:

The trail had veered away from the river but soon brought us back again:

And once again, the autumn views were lovely and serene:

But soon we were headed back out to our car:

Lynn and Tim posed for a fun photo in the forest, and then we got in the car and drove to another nearby hike. I'll post about that tomorrow: