We finally managed to get caught up enough on errands and to-do lists to take a little ramble in the woods on Sunday. The forecast was predicting severe thunderstorms, but we decided to just pack a plastic bag for the camera and risk getting soaked ourselves. Our thumbing our noses at the forecast worked, as nary a drop fell on our heads. But oy! It would have been welcome. It was so humid the air was viscous, and within minutes we were mighty sticky.
We opted to drive over to Clark Reservation to see if it was even open. Clark Reservation is a wonderful spot for a walk in the woods, but is sadly on New York State's list of park closures. We got lucky, though. Although there was no Ranger to be seen, and no one collecting money, the gates were open. Even the rest rooms were open, although not terribly clean.
Clark Reservation is chock full of interesting glaciology, and makes for a challenging walk because of its craggy rocks. The hounds are out of practice and out of shape, and several times took faceplants into the crevices before they found their rock climbing legs.
Because Lucy has a
stumpy leg and can be a bit clumsy, we tried out a new harness on her that is specifically designed for rock climbing:
It gives us a good handle for hoisting when she needs the boost, and has nice secure, padded straps to make it more comfortable for her. It's actually designed so you can rock climb with a dog - as in, sling her over your shoulder and climb on up with ropes. I'm not that brave or that strong, but it was great for our hike Sunday and will be perfect for Adirondack high peaks.
Have I mentioned that I love Ruffwear gear for dogs?
The rocks were enchanting, what with all their crevices and cracks and all the hearty life that grows out of those cracks.
We spotted a tiny toad contemplating leaping across the great divide:
I'm not entirely sure what causes the cool pattern of cracks in this photo, but it's amazing.
The hounds did wonderfully well and enjoyed being in the woods. They haven't been outside nearly enough all winter, and whuffled and sniffed their way along with evident joy.
One of the (many) hazards of having ridiculously short legs is that one's nose and tongue are closer to the ground than they ought to be. For some reason, Simon always collects lots of dirt on his tongue, which just makes me want to scrape my own tongue. Pleh. It doesn't seem to bother him in the least, but then, he has no qualms about eating bugs, wood, rotting animals, kitty litter, or poop. A little dirt is remarkably clean by comparison.
In Sunday's heat and humidity the hounds went through a lot of water. I guess they had to get the dirt off their tongues somehow. Have I mentioned that my ridiculous dogs have to share
everything?
Spouse and hounds, lookin' happy:
We wandered the upper trails for quite a while, then decided to go down all the stairs and walk around the lake as well. Unfortunately, in the low light levels my camera and I failed to work well together, and most of my pictures turned out pretty crummy, particularly on the lower trail. I tried a variable ISO setting on the camera that I will not be using again. It pays to take the time to work out the proper settings. The camera is not always smarter than I am, apparently, which is both good and bad.
The water level in the lake was extremely high, as you can see below. Judging by how stressed some of the trees looked, I would guess it's been high for a while. There is a lovely wetland at one end of the lake that seems remarkably prehistoric. I kept expecting giant dragon flies the size of the dogs to come zooming through. Sadly, my pictures of it stink.
I have lots of pictures of flowers and creatures that I will hopefully have time to post tomorrow.
It's a fascinating place, and I just hope it wasn't my last walk ever in Clark Reservation. Honestly, sometimes New York State government makes me crazy.
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