Port Kent Hopkinton Turnpike To Route 30

I was driving along the Port Kent Hopkinton Turnpike on my way to hike, but I kept stopping to enjoy the scenery. I pulled off onto the shoulder of the road for another view of the St. Regis River but when I got out of the car, thought that surely the adjacent forest was so spectacular as to merit its own photo. It was filled with spruces, firs and cedars. The aroma of Balsam filled the misty air:

And right across that narrow road was the St. Regis River flowing through the wilderness:

The St. Regis River has multiple branches and seems to flow everywhere up around my farm. In some places it has been dammed and looks more like a lake. In other places it's a very large river. In places like this, it is a small wilderness river of extreme beauty:

I walked just a bit along the shoreline to admire the river's beauty. I snapped this photo on my way back to the car thinking it was such a lovely scene. Notice my little red car sitting down in the lower left corner of the picture, looking so puny next to that rocky ledge:

I turned left toward Malone when we hit Route 30. This is a major Adirondack thoroughfare, but you can see that it also is scenic and without much traffic:

And all along the highway were mountains clothed in autumn color with lazy morning clouds clinging to their tops:

The dogs were getting anxious about my constant stopping to take photos. They wanted to hike!:

There were occasional beautiful waters on both sides of the highway, though I couldn't tell whether they were ponds or streams in many places and they didn't seem to show on my map. Oh well, I could just enjoy their beauty:

And the autumn colors seemed to be intensifying as we headed northward:

I pulled off the road at this body of water because it looked like there might be a trail head here even though I saw no signs:

There had apparently been a road which the water had washed away. Then beavers built a dam there. It was scenic all right, but I was supposed to be searching for the trail head to The Ledges and hadn't even reached the road it was on yet. I had to get going, but I'll post more about that tomorrow:

An Autumn Morning On The Port Kent Hopkinton Turnpike

I awoke at the farm apartment on Monday morning determined to do some hiking. I'd chosen a couple of short but scenic (according to what I'd read) hikes just off Route 30 south of Malone and only about a half hour from the farm. My favorite system of back roads, the Port Kent Hopkinton Turnpike, would lead me almost directly to the first one. So I set off with the four younger dogs. But when the Port Kent Road offered up such amazing autumn scenery, I had to stop and snap a couple of pictures:

The trees were rapidly changing color all along the road and I figured I was in store for some brilliant mountain displays:

A wetland lapped right up against the road in several places and, since there were absolutely no other cars on the road, I just stopped wherever I chose and did a bit of exploring:

This wetland was for sale. It was beautiful and wild, but I don't suppose anyone could build there. As much as I love wilderness, I can't imagine paying taxes on land which I couldn't use. But perhaps there was dry land somewhere else which was part of this parcel. Or maybe I just can't imagine having that much money:

But it was indeed spectacular:

But the dogs were restless. They wanted to go hiking. So I got back into my car and proceeded on my way toward Route 30:

Whoa! When the road ran right up next to the wild and beautiful St. Regis River, I simply had to stop once again:

You can see here that the road is right next to the river:

There was a large sort of waterfall tumbling over rocks the full width of the river. I left the dogs in the car and hiked down to get a closer look. I was very careful not to slip as there was no one to help should I fall and it was wet and slippery:

I threaded my way downstream for a view of the full width of the waterfall. The volume of water was incredible. I supposed that this was a favorite canoe river and shuddered to think of what would happen if a canoe was caught unawares, tumbling over those rocks. The churning water was leaving floating piles of foam downstream as big as my car. But speaking of cars, mine was parked back up on the road with four anxious dogs in it who wanted to go hiking. So I began to carefully climb back up toward the road:

And they sure were glad to see me. It was time to resume our journey toward the trail head. I'll post more tomorrow: