Postcards from Around the World

Leaf Peeping in New England (5)

[Leaf peeping is an informal term in the United States and Canada for the activity in which people travel to view and photograph the fall foliage in areas where leaves change colours in autumn, particularly in northern New England]

When I was teaching it meant holidays could only be taken during the school holidays when it was more expensive and busy. And I couldn’t tag on to the OH’s conferences either. Which is why during one October half term we decided to do a fly drive holiday to the eastern side of the USA and do a spot of leaf peeping.

On our final day in the White Mountains the weather was decidedly against us, so we headed north on another circular loop taking us through Jefferson to visit Stark, a very small and quiet place, where we would find another of the wonderful covered bridges that I was becoming quite obsessed with.

Stark covered bridge
Fall / Autumn colours

It’s not just Stark itself that makes the trip worth it, it’s all of the towns, scenic stops, bridges and bodies of water you come across on the drive through the New Hampshire mountains.

Lake Umbagog in the rain

After Stark we continued to Berlin and Errol over to the Umbagog Lake, hoping to find some colourful reflections.

You’ll come across many logging trucks in this region

After a brief stop we continued along the ME-26 into Maine and the Grafton Notch State Park, stopping off at Mother Walker Falls to stretch our legs.

Despite the weather it was an enjoyable day out. The roads around this area are well maintained and the views stunning. One last stop was in a rainy Jackson for, yes, you guessed it, another covered bridge.

Jackson NH covered bridge

Our last evening we drove down the road to a diner where I had nachos. I swear the plate I got could have fed a family of four, despite my best intentions the pile never seemed to go down! We had a fabulous stay in the White Mountains, but now it was time to head back to Boston and on to Cape Cod for the final part of this trip.

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Heyjude

I have lived in the UK for most of my life, but when young I definitely had wanderlust and even ended up living in South Africa for several years which was a wonderful experience. I now look forward to a long and leisurely retirement doing what I like most - gardening, photography, walking and travelling.

38 thoughts on “Postcards from Around the World”

  3. Easy to see why you’d become obsessed with those bridges, Jude. I wonder why they’re covered. I’ll have to Google that. Love the reflective shot. Happy Sunday!

    1. To keep the snow and rain off them to prevent rot as they were built in the late 1800’s I read somewhere once Jo

    2. There are apparently 58 covered bridges in New England, including one in the town of Cornish! I only saw a handful. BB is right about protecting them from snow and ice, but there is, also a theory that horses were more comfortable crossing an enclosed span of a river. Stark is one of the most photographed, I wonder if that is because it is painted white. Most are red.

    1. Ah, but we don’t have these views. At least not here. The Lake District would be rather beautiful I think, as long as it wasn’t raining.

    1. Well we don’t get these colours here anyway, often trees just drop their leaves after turning brown.

      1. Sure. But I don’t want to think about autumn yet (it’s still hot here, yesterday was in the mid 30, and yet it’s a kind of weather that suggests that autumn is just around the corner.)

  7. A memorable trip indeed, with lovely photos. Talking of covered bridges, have you seen the film, ‘The Bridges of Madison County’? If not, I can recommend it.

    Best wishes, Pete. x

    1. It was a good trip, though after the first three days the weather turned, so we lost the blue skies. To be expected I suppose at the end of October.

  10. Ah, somewhere I have been! Grafton Notch, though in the summer. Possibly some of the other places because I remember it was a wet day and we did a circular drive with short stops. Looking forward to posts on Cape Cod – I loved it there.

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