It's fall about foliage

waterfalls and foliage in the White Mountains

By Thomas Moore

October 18^th, 2019

I'm sorry, it's already gone.

A fleeting week of New Hampshire peak colour washed out and blown away as the subtropical and polar atmospheric jets conspired to conjure up a nor'easter with sustained hurricane-force winds and driving rain. The barometer dropped 35 hectopascals in about 24 hours so, if you want to be a bit dramatic, you can use that #bombcyclone hashtag. (thanks, Sanders and Gyakum)

The best autumn color I can remember

Always ephemeral, the 2019 foliage was glorious and it felt a privilege to be amongst such a leafy conflagration at the right moment. It was the best autumn color I can remember. While that's not saying too much given the decades since I was a New England local, the real locals are saying it too.

Say goodbye to chlorophyll

Once you navigate the literally millions of fall visitors that sometimes clog the highways and backroad bottlenecks across the White Mountains, autumnal treasures await flush with carotenes and xanthophyll pigments. The golden show includes quieter gems hidden amongst the billion dollar tourist procession, spots like the short walk along Avalanche Brook to the base of Ripley Falls.

Mt Chocorua from across Chocorua Lake

I’m goin’ to Jackson

Visitors have been flocking to picturesque villages in the White Mountains for ages and places like Jackson, NH have had a thriving tourism industry since at least the late 1840's. Along Wildcat Brook, which splits the town of about 800 local inhabitants, lies Jackson Falls descending over several angular granite ledges, paralleled by Carter Notch Road.

Leaf peeping along “The Kanc”

Further south, the heart of the White Mountain National Forest is bisected by New Hampshire Route 112, known as the Kancamagus Highway or just "The Kanc". Winding it's way next to gorges carved by the Swift River, the Kanc provides access to waterfalls and pools under the foliage.

These 51 kilometres of route 112 also lead to exactly the kind of covered bridges that the Granite State is so famous for. Just north of the Kancamagus Highway on Dugway Road stands the Albany Bridge. Spanning the Swift River, this Paddleford truss bridge with added arches was built in 1858 at an original cost of $1,300.

You can drive yourself across the 30 metre span as long as your horse and buggy sits less than 11 feet tall and six ton in weight. More wondrous fall foliage should be found on the other side this time next year.