Saturday, October 4, 2008

Leaf Peeping-Maine Fall Foliage

One of the wonderful things about living in New England is the dramatic season changes. Everyone hub bubs in the spring, getting garden and lawns ready, to being slow and steady in the summer, laying in the warm sun.

Fall time is an especially pretty, vibrant, crisp time of the year. We always experience busloads of leaf peepers traveling to special areas where hardwood is plentiful. They picture snap the scenic views, eat the last of the summertime hot dogs, and leave remembering the gasps of breath they took with them.

Two days ago I took a road trip to photograph our lakes and ponds. Within a twenty mile radius I drove through four towns and visited 8 bodies of water. My only regret is the weather, since Hurricane Kyle last weekend we have had constant rain, it burned off later Thursday afternoon but by then, I was committed to another place to be.

Here is the best of my trip, all photos are untouched and in the originality of which they were taken, several are overcast and do not display the true colors that are present when viewing in person but I wanted to retain the "everyday" color and I felt it would be unfair the lighten them.

Locations are included.




I may or may not have mentioned my town is nestled in a valley of our foothills, this photo is approximately 2 miles from my home.
A shot of the gas pipeline, I'm heading home.
Keoka Lake.....
Bear Mountain Pond.....
Whoops! I caught these guys out for a stroll, they seem to be in not too much of a hurry! Two more months guy! Find your heidie hole now.....


Twin bridges......have to remember the red berries in the bushes...lol
Within walking distance of my home.....

Crooked River, because of Kyle, everything was at high water level.....
Lake Pennaseewassee, not quite sure how to spell that! Ohhhh, Norway Lake.....
These are my favorite, sugar maple, I believe....
Comparing contrasts.......
Another angle of Norway Lake.....



Hobbs Pond.......
One camera view over (from top photo) of Hobbs Pond.....,local legend has it, once the color starts, from one end to another, and once the trees loose their leaves, from one end to another.....it will snow. The year someone told me this....it did!
Long Lake....with the clouds breaking....
Not sure of the name of this lake, the photo doesn't really show how dotted the foliage was in the distance mountains......
Shawnee Peak chalet......
Another view of the mountain......Moose Pond in the foreground.....
Returning home after my commitment, approximately 600 yards down the street from home, I caught the sun setting.....
My favorite spot in my yard....a sugar maple, a stately oak behind it, and the lighter yellow behind the oak.....my paper birch.
A view to the top......
Funny how the same tree can have so many different hues of color.....

For more fall color postings see Dave's "The Garden Blogger Fall Color Project"!

In the Garden......

25 comments:

  1. Hi Dawn,
    Thank you for posting these pictures. The landscape is SO beautiful and for me, from a country where leaves do not change colour, this is a real TREAT! Will be back soon, just to admire the gorgeous colours of Fall!

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  2. Nice photo's!

    I love the fall season, so many colours, cool temperatures and it is nice to gear down the gardening.

    Your turkey picture reminds me of a road trip I was on a few summers ago and got totally lost. We ended up on a road that turned into a cattle trail in the woods at which time we came across a group of wild turkeys. Very interesting birds.

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  3. Good morning all! I am up early for my yard sale. Wish us luck getting rid of stuff.

    Very pretty color up there in Maine! So great I can see it from your camera. The lakes, ponds and river are cool too! I like Kyle river rushing by. I imagine the sound was great.

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  4. I love Maine, but have never been there other than in the summer. Thank you for the peek into fall.

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  5. Beautiful, Dawn! Our real color is a month or so off, though the dogwoods and viburnum are getting redder and redder--I welcome the cooler weather, as long as it waits a bit to get truly cold. Really lovely pics.

    Tina, best of luck with your yard sale!

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  6. very nice tour of your beautiful trees and waterways. this time of year is so magical with all the wonderful changes. thank you for taking us on a drive.

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  7. Thanks Cosmo, So far no stoppers:( But all is labeled and set up, so I can only wait. It's not like I can flag them all down but I thought that by now I'd have some stoppers. I have furniture, clothes, knick knacks, hardware, painting stuff. I so hope I don't have to move it all again!

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  8. Thanks for sharing your beautiful fall foliage with us Dawn. It will be a little while before our trees change. I've never been to Maine so thanks for the sneak peak.

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  9. Dawn, thank you so much for a look at your part of the country. I can only imagine the total look of all the colors. I've never been to Maine but have been in upper N.Y. & Vermont. Guess that will be the closest I'll come. Buy I do really miss the colors. Your pics are great.
    Good luck with your sale Tina.

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  10. Hi guys,
    thank-you kanak hagjer, I only wished the weather would co-operate, fall color is beautiful and it rained off and on all week. Sunny today though.
    Dan, these birds are everywhere, I've seen so many this year. I think the last guy in the photo is the "broad" male. He seemed to wait till all got in the bushes.
    Good luck with your yard sale Tina, I'm in desperate need, one to visit and one to have!
    Les, zone 8, Maine is a pretty state, we have the mountains to the ocean, interest all 4 seasons.
    Cosmos, brr, some winters have been 20 with a wind chill of 0. I'm with you, hold the cold til awhile later.
    Thank-you marmee, my town is between peak and not peak, funny how that is, same division for snow amounts too.
    Tina, did you advertise?
    Thank-you racquel, it's fair season right now, peeping is wonderful and came at the right time.
    Hi lola, NY is nice, some impressive mtns there too. Purle leaf hue when I went thru years ago. Cataliac mtns, I think?

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  11. Good morning everyone and what a beautiful scene to wake up to Dawn! You have so much color and to us way down here in Georgia way too soon! We will not see color for a while yet...

    The boat in the lake made me sad as our boat has not been on the lake in so so so long. Now 15 feet below normal with no rain. We had less then an inch for Sept. arggg… Ike did not leave one drop on our land and you had all that wonderful wet stuff! I am a bit envious ya know...

    I had to look twice at that one pic of the hill with open trails. I assume that to be a ski hill.

    Ah, the sugar maples are so beautiful in the fall. And those gobblers better be finding that Heidi Hoe indeed! lol...

    One of my lines on the "Bucket List" is to make it to the north-eastern US sometime during the fall to take in the breathtaking colors I have seen so many times in pictures. I would love to see it with my own eyes. I will stop by so Jean can make me Lobsters.. tee hee..

    Off to the Laurel Hardy Festival in Harlem, GA...

    Everyone have a good day!

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  12. What a beautiful tour Ms. Tina! Must be nice livin so close to some good fishin waters.

    I just got a new polarizing filter for my camera and will do some comparison with and without it attached. Should be a fun experiment.

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  13. Very nice! Sugar maples are one of my favorite fall color trees, although pretty much any maple is great! The colors look fantastic, I just hope we end up with a good display here in TN, I'm a little worried since it hasn't rained in forever.

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  14. Dawn, I did NOT advertise other than putting out signs by my house. We live on an extremely busy state highway. I thought that would be enough. 2 stoppers so far but no sale. Sigh. But it just takes one person. We'll see. I may have made a mistake by not putting it in the paper but we are so far out I thought no one would drive out here anyhow.

    TC, That will be interesting.

    Dave, Rain is forecast this week-so keep up the hoping.

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  15. Like many people, I've always yearned to see New England in the fall. Don't know about the winter though! Thanks for the pics.
    Brenda

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  16. Hi, Dawn! I don't think I've read one of your posts before; nice to meet you. Such beautiful photos! I've always wanted to visit New England during the fall color show--one of those "leaf peepers," LOL. Thanks for taking me on this virtual tour with you. I'll have to check out Dave's blog.

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  17. Fantastic color, your fall is so much more dramatic then here in TN. We haven't the Sugar Maples or the conifers for a cool green contrast. Does it smell delicious? That is my biggest memory of fall up north, color and that just different fragrance in the air. Thank you for the lovely tour and memories. gail

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  18. Dawn ~ Those photos are great! I really love the shots with the water.

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  19. After a very busy and long day yesterday of going to grandson's football game and then the family all coming for supper I did not get on here at all. Came in this morning and wrote a book and lost it so gave up and left. Will now try again.

    Great post Dawn on our wonderfully beautiful state!!! Very nice pics.
    The turkeys are all over the past couple of years and most are pretty tame and will go right up to people. I think you are thinking of the Catskill mountains. We went thru them when we went on our trip to Arkansas when you were in high school. The sun was rising and it was a very nice spring morning (I love spring anyway as things are so new and crisp) and everyone was sleeping but Leann and I. We tried to wake you guys up but noone would have any part of that. Leann, even at her young age of 10 or 12 and I both felt very sad that we were the only ones enjoying the sights as it was so gorgeous.

    Skeeter, yup those are well groomed ski trails and it will not be long and they will be full of the skiers and snowboarders doing their thing on the man made snow.
    You can come anytime for fresh lobster but July, August and September are the best months as that is when they shed and they make for the best lobster. I live where I could have lobster (fresh), year round but will not eat hard shelled ones.

    Tina, no matter how far out you live, there are many hard core yard sale people that faithfully read where all the yard sales are from the paper and will drive all weekend. Hope you sold lotsa stuff.

    Gail with so much virgin land in Maine and not much smog the air is pretty much deliciously fragrant year round. Our many lakes and the longest ocean coastline in the United States adds to the great fragrance.

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  20. Hi guys,
    Yep, busy last 2 days....we went to supper last night and this morning we went to the fair, but Zack stayed home, tired from the football game.
    The fair was nice, not too cold but do my feet hurt!
    Anyway, Skeeter, I sure do wish you'd get rain, mainly because I'd like less of it! The long lake photo was nice, and it has a low parking area with granite boulders barricading it, the water was 1/2 way up the rock and into the edge of the parking! I missed it until I was almost driving into the flood waters. Long lake is a nice one, it's very long, can't see to the other side, it curves sooo many times in its length.
    Hi tc, The gadget for your camera sounds neat, I find it too funny how some of my photos are beautiful and some are, What!?
    Hi dave, maples are always, so pretty although some have and are loosing their leaves already! Hope you get more rain.
    Tina, mom beat me to it, we have yard sale junkies that check the papers weekly and hit them waaay early. They get the best stuff!
    Hi the brenda blog, New england is a nice place to see esp in the fall, summer's not bad.
    Hi Rose, nice to meet you too!
    Gail, the smell in the crisp air is wonderful, I think that's my memory of fall every year. I forgot the ski mtn had conifers in the center of the trails, I should post a wintertime photo, the mtn is lit at night and the skiers look like ants!
    Thank-you Cindy.
    Mom, I must of been awake because that's the trip I recalled the sun on the mtns. They looked purple to me, you know....above the fruited land....America. That's why it impressed me.
    Night all.

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  21. The photos are beautiful - I wish I was on that boat in the lake! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  22. Wonderful photos. We just got back last week from our first New England trip and enjoyed every minute of it.

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  23. Hi Troutbirder and Bettyinga,
    Thanks for visiting Maine!
    Beautiful pics of your vacation, Troutbirder! Esp. the Maine lighthouse...hmmmm...

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  24. Beautiful fall colors, Dawn. Maine is a lot like Nova Scotia, and never more so than in the fall. :)

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  25. Hi Nancybond, I saw your post on your fall colors, you are right Maine and Nova Scotia, ALOT alike.

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