30 days to experience Autumn

Only 30 days to experience Autumn?

peak fall color near Errol New Hampshire with horses in the foreground

Confused? Many of you will no doubt be scratching your noggin saying that doesn’t add up… There aren’t that many days of fall color, or are there? In reality, the early color begins to arrive in mid-September (just beginning color and NOT peak), and truth be told, there can be very nice fall color well into November in southern New England.

But what about Meaningful fall colors? The kind of fall colors you hope to find?

This is my personal measurement and all of you have your own inner measurement, as when you feel you have found some really good fall color. So to really experience meaningful color, I’m using my experience to guide me. Real color “generally” can be found the last week of Sept in areas of northern western Maine, Dixville Notch New Hampshire, and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Again, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it will usually work out well for me.

The early New England fall colors

The photo above is Meaningful fall color on 28 Sept, on route 16, between Maine and Errol New Hampshire. I think most will agree with me and call this peak fall foliage. It’s bright and there were lots of reds.

But! Just a bit south on Route 16 is Pinkham Notch, and these two images are taken 10 days apart: 18 Sept and 28 Sept 2014. You can see the very early beginnings of fall color on the 18th and no one would be happy with it. On the 28th, the colors are better but it is still coming into its full color.

Early fall color in Pinkham Notch New Hampshire — 18 Sept 2014

28 Sept 2014 in Pinkham Notch — 18 Sept 2014

We were heading towards an incredible fall and then Mother Nature slapped us back to reality. In the first 10 days of October 2014, northern New Hampshire had around 5 days of rain along with 2 days of overcast and one day was partly sunny, and one day of full sun.

This resulted in slowing down the changes to a snail’s pace and worse yet, it brought down most of the bright peak fall colors. For the remaining colors to come back and get bright we would have needed many sunny moderate days and cold nights.

But then, Mother Nature slapped us one more time for good measure, and the next seven days saw temps in the 50s to the low 80s along with 3 sunny days and 3 rainy days, and 2 overcast days… Not even a slim chance in this area. 2014 was a year of a weak El Niño.

Jenne farm at dawn in October — Jenne Farm at dawn in October

Lucky for us it wasn’t like this everywhere but rain and wind events make it very difficult for the leaves to brighten up like we were seeing in the last few days of September. But, by weaving our way through Vermont and New Hampshire’s back roads, we were able to experience autumn and find very nice colors.

On 10 October, Lisa and I traveled all over Vermont, and places like the Jenne Farm, and a few other spots, produced some wonderful images.

So, the lesson here is even if things look bleak don’t give up, and just enjoy what you see. No matter how hard you want to control it, you can’t control Mother Nature.

Will a year like this ever happen again? Well, we never know, but we have to make the best of it.

So hopefully you were able to find some great shots yourself!

Next week I’ll post more about what I found on the back roads of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont! Be sure to check back and I’ll leave the light on for ya!

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

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