The moon rising over Hitchins Pond
The sun rising on Low's Lake
Early morning grey Low's Lake
This Indian Cucumber Root was almost three inches long and the plant was around three feet tall. After subsisting on dried food for a few days these roots are amazing. Sweet, crispy, cool and cucumberey.
A closer view of an Indian Cucumber Root flower
Eaten in large amounts this root can serve as a diuretic. The berries and leaves were once used to treat convulsions in babies. Also, the chewed up roots, placed on a hook, should make the fish bite.
A beautiful Loon sitting on her nest at Big Deer Pond
Orange Hawkweed
Clintonia, or Bluebead Lillies. These lilies are past prime for eating the leaves as salad greens however they still maintain a pleasant cucumber-like aroma.
Tamarack Trees have a wide variety of uses. The roots can be used to make twined or woven bags and also as rope for stitching materials together. Young Tamarack shoots can be boiled and eaten as food and the Phloem can be made into flour. Medicinally Tamarack is good for bruises, swelling and inflammation. Leaves and bark can be burned and the fumes inhaled to treat headaches. Tamarack also produces a pitch which can be used to patch leaking vessels and can be chewed as gum or candy.
I won't pretend to be an expert fisherwoman but I will say that portaging 3.5 miles through beaver meadows in the rain was completely worth the trip down the Brook Trout laden river. There is nothing like fresh, pink Trout fried in butter after a long paddle.
Fishing at High Falls
I can happily sit and stare for a very long time at the concussion of waters in a wild stream
Fishing the pool at the top of High Falls
The Black Waters reflecting the sky, brush and shadows
High Rock. The last leg.
Laurels are very pretty to look at lining the marshy banks of the river
These plants are extremely poisonous. Some cases of Laurel Poisoning have been blamed on eating honey made from these flowers. They do have value when combined with fat and used as a poultice for headaches. The only other uses I have seen consistently referenced for Sheep or Bog Laurel are for treating Syphilis and Mange (scabies). Cases of accidental poisoning when using Laurels for treatments are frequently found. Yikes.
Oswegatchie at dusk
None of the berries, including these Serviceberries, were ripe for eating in mid-June
Tiny Wintergreen berries beginning to grow
Another week or so until these lowbush Blueberries are ready
The seeds of this Yellow Pond Lily or Bullhead Lily can be parched and eaten or ground into flour. The root stock can be boiled and eaten.
