The big story the second half of summer and the first two weeks of fall was the drought. Fields were brown and dry and the beginning of foliage season showed much brown, some trees already devoid of leaves, and some not yet turning.
We received over an inch of rain on September 25, but that has pretty much been it.
No birds in this post. If you missed my post on the Birds of Late Summer, you can check out the previous post.
Atmospherics
Although rain was scarce, we had nice clouds, mornings with fog, and a few spectacular sunrises and sunsets.
Here are some from Norwich, VT, as was the first photo above.
Mascoma Lakeside Park in Enfield is a great place for fog and sunrises, especially when the foreground is filled with sailboats.
Sunapee provided atmospheric scenes of early fog and late sunsets.
These Godbeams (crepuscular rays) are actually parallel lines. Don’t believe me? They all come from the sun that is very far away. Think perspective and railroad tracks.
There was a faint but dramatic sundog in the clouds over Sunapee two different evenings in September.
And, of course, there is Etna. Here are two photos heading down King Road from our home to the village.
Reptiles
While hiking with Jann on two different days, we saw a two small garter snakes a mile or so apart. In both cases we encouraged it to leave the road.
Driving slowly through Bedell Bridge State Park, Marc yelled “STOP”. He perhaps saved the life of a painted turtle. We took a few photos and then moved it off the road.
Mammals
Not much wildlife these weeks. A mother deer and fawn in Sunapee while I was looking for birds.
And Oreo Cookie (Belted Galloway) cows in Norwich before sunrise.
Insects
While looking for birds, I photographed a few insects.
Plants
Royal ferns along a very low river in Newport.
A dreamy scene along the rail trail in Lebanon.
Japanese Knotweed, an invasive species.
Cottongrass at Cricenti’s Bog in New London.
Indian cucumber at the Henry Laramie Wildlife Management Area in Enfield.
Devil’s Darning Needle, Clematis virginiana, a favorite fall wildflower at Boston Lot in Lebanon.
Rose in Concord Community Garden.
Reindeer lichen in Wilmot along the Bog Mountain Trail.
Two more photos along the Bog Mountain Trail.
Hiking with Julian
Our grandson from Wisconsin paid us a short visit. We did three nice hikes, one of them on the long side.
Cole Pond Trail
We hiked to Cole Pond in Enfield’s Henry Laramie Wildlife Management Area. Just over a mile one way, it is a fairly easy hike to a beautiful spot. Surprisingly we found many trees had fallen over the trail. This apparently happened mid-summer. The first photo below is a 10-shot panorama.
I have hiked to Cole Pond in all four seasons.
We took the trail along the shore to a great swimming spot. Along the way we walked through some amazing rock formations. The first photo below is a 20-photo montage.
Three Ponds Hike
We hiked past three ponds in Grantham. It started out as a short hike to Little Mount Washington, but Julian wanted to keep going. So it was a very long downhill; I feared all the uphill that would come later. Actually the hike was only about seven-miles long.
Out first stop was Chase Pond. Julian used the telephoto lens on the camera I gave him to spot a pair of otters. I just had a short lens on this hike.
We stopped at Little Mount Washington for a view of Kearsarge and Black mountains in the far distance.
The foliage from the lookout was nice.
Then it was a long downhill to Leavitt Pond.
We looped back through the Sherwood Forest.
And then more downhill to Miller Pond.
The last leg provided another view of the Sherwood Forest.
Bog Mountain
We hiked SRK Greenway Trail 7 up Bog Mountain in Wilmot. Here is a view of the mountain and the somewhat-dry bog.
There were some nice spots along the trail up.
Here is Julian with his “new” camera with Mount Sunapee in the background.
We stopped at a viewpoint on the way down to photograph Kearsarge and Black.
Gardner Memorial Wayside Park
Returning from Bog Mountain we stopped at the Gardner Memorial Wayside Park on the Springfield/Wilmot line. It is part of the Gile State Forest. We visited the remains of an 1800s mill along the mostly-dry Kimpton Brook.
Foliage
These weeks included the beginnings of our foliage season. Because of the drought, it promised to not be as spectacular as in past years. But, like always, finding the right spots can be rewarding.
The most reliable spot for early foliage is the Enfield Wildlife Management Area. This wetland hosts swamp maples which turn bright red early. These photos were taken September 14th.
The wetlands in Springfield along Route 4A can also be very colorful.
Before our hike up Bog Mountain we stopped along Stearns Road.
Since we live in Etna, it is a close and convenient spot to look for fall foliage.
Here is Mill Pond on Moose Mountain.
And the Hanover Conservancy Headwaters Forest off Wolfeboro Road.
From Norwich we have these four photos.
The view from Pine Park in Hanover showed some color October 4th.
Mountains
I always enjoy photographing our region’s mountains and identifying the peaks in the photo. Our mountains do not compare to Nepal or the Dolomites, but they have trees that add to their charm.
I photographed Mount Sunapee from Clarks Lookout in New London mainly because of the strange pattern on the lake. I sent this photo to the Lake Sunapee Protective Association asking if they knew the cause but received no reply.
Here are three other views of Mount Sunapee.
Mount Kearsarge is a favorite mountain, and this is a favorite viewpoint across the Lane River in Sutton.
Our three “local” mountains are Ascutney, Killington, and Moose. Here are views of the Vermont mountains from Etna, NH and the New Hampshire mountain from Norwich, VT.
Black Mountain in Haverhill and Benton is a favorite hike that I have done from time to time over many decades.
During a recent trip up north, I had an opportunity to photograph New Hampshire’s Mount Lafayette and Lincoln from several viewpoints in Vermont. These are from Peacham.
A good friend, Alice, has wonderful views from her Ryegate home. Here is one of them.
Just down the road from Alice’s home is another view of Lafayette and Lincoln.
Alice has a specular view of Moosilauke and some of the neighboring mountains.
Down the road is this view.
Trip up North
In late September, Marc and I spent a day visiting Peacham, Groton, and a few other spots along the way. Here is a slide show of 20 of the photos I took during this trip.
Wandering Around the Upper Valley
Here are photos from Springfield, Lebanon, Sunapee, Hanover, and Enfield, NH and from Norwich and Thetford, VT.
If you missed the last blog post on the “Birds of the Second Half of Summer 2025″ you can see it if you CLICK HERE.