After finishing a paddle on the Oswegatchie, I spotted these small Crayfish over the shore by the boat launch. 

Tailed Frog at Stone Valley

Sunset is one of my favorite times of day -- especially the quiet sunsets when the air is utterly still, and it seems that time has paused at the edge of night. I went down to the Grasse River and the colors of the sky were doubled perfectly in the water. The twilight was ringing with birdsong -- I could hear two veeries, a hermit thrush, a catbird, what might have been a red-winged blackbird, and others I didn't recognize.

I smelled woodsmoke while swimming at the sand banks on the Grass River. At first I assumed there was a bonfire at one of the houses, but the scent was odd, and very bitter. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye: beside the remains of a fire, there was smoke coming out of the ground. The fire must not have been put out fully, because it had burrowed under the ground, burning through fallen pine needles and fine rootlets. When I found it, it had spread in branching patterns over about a square foot of ground, and it was expanding towards the rest of the forest.

Greeted by sunning frogs and a gushing waterfall, the day was a perfect one to carry out water monitoring procedures along the Grasse River. The team waded into clear water about a foot deep to determine water quality using a number of chemical and physical testing methods. After an hour of sorting through dozens of macroinvertebrates including caddisflies, riffle beetles, and mayflies to analyze species ratios of varying tolerances, the water quality of Hart's Falls is looking good!

We were greeted by a shower of bright reds and golds at Lampson Falls today on a Nature Up North hike with St. Lawrence families for Family Weekend. The group also spotted a few downy woodpeckers above the falls. Despite overcast weather, it was a beautiful afternoon!

Sunny, not so hot, just right...!

Floating down Ausable chasm is a Adirondack classic :-) See the little blue boat?

Beautifully calm afternoon to paddle around, learning about water plants on the Little River!

This was my second time hiking at Wellesley and my third time in the park. It was just as fun as this time around. The trail is very dog friendly (my dog will be 8 in a few weeks and this was his first hike but he did so well). I really enjoyed walking around the water. Just as a tip, make sure you check for ticks after leaving. My dog is on a tick preventative and both of us had deep woods tick repellent on and I still found eight ticks between the two of us!