Foliage 2026 - Jim Block Photography

It’s been a spectacular fall foliage season this year. Superb reds, bright and golden yellows and oranges persisted for weeks. I tried to get out almost every day. Some days I drove many miles and came up with very few images. Other days I was much luckier and found great scenes to photograph such as the one above from Piermont. I searched for undiscovered scenes rather than repeating images many others take from iconic spots.

Sky

I normally left home before dawn — sometimes well before the sky even started to show hints of light. I captured early fog and a few nice sunrises. This first section features not foliage but the sky, both early and late in the day.

I stopped by Grafton Pond briefly several times. The first was at sunrise with fog on the pond and Canada Geese nearby — until they flew.

Mascoma Lakeside Park is a favorite early morning spot. Normally it is foggy and not very colorful, yet peaceful and quiet.

But at times the sky lights up with amazing colors.

Twenty minutes later the lake looked like this.

And then 15 minute later still, like this.

Bragg Hill in Norwich, VT can be a nice spot to view the sun rising over Moose Mountain near our home in NH. In fact we live near the summit of the hill directly below the sun and below the Moose ridgeline.

Staying on the subject of Moose Mountain, there is a nice spot in Enfield with a view of the sky to the north. At times the sky can show nice colors above the valley fog.

From the same spot somewhat later when the sky colors changed, here is Smarts Mountain.

A very early jaunt took me north to Lyndonville, VT before dawn with fog in the valley. It was quite dark when I took this first photo. It was a 10 second exposure.

A bit later it was somewhat brighter.

Finally, three photos from my home: the moon and two sunsets

The moon October 7th. Why can you see the dark side of the moon? What is the light source?

This is “earthshine”. The dark side is lit by light reflected from the earth, just like the earth is lit by the moon, especially when it is near full.

And two sunset photos October 21st.

Mountains

While searching for beautiful foliage I also looked for spots where I could highlight mountains.

Mount Ascutney

Our local monadnock, Mount Ascutney, can be seen from a large number of local spots. Naturally my favorite spots are close to home in Etna, Lebanon, and Enfield.

Here are views of Ascutney from Etna.

Here are views of Ascutney from Lebanon.

And from Enfield.

A classic view is above the Windsor-Cornish Covered Bridge from Cornish.

And I even found this view from Canaan.

From Vermont, Here are views of Mount Ascutney from Reading, West Windsor, and Windsor.

Moose Mountain

Our local mountain in Etna is Moose. I have hiked, skied, and snowshoed its many trails over the years. And Jann and I amble in its foothills often.

Here is a very distant view from Pomfret, VT.

From just down the road from our home, a much closer view of Moose.

I showed sunrise views of Moose Mountain from Norwich and Enfield in the section on Sky. The views from Lyme are mostly of the northern extent of the Moose Mountain range.

Here is a view from Canaan.

Mount Cardigan

One of the best local mountains for a relatively easy climb is Cardigan. It features a bald summit with fantastic 360 degree views.

Here are views of Cardigan from Canaan,

from Grafton,

from Enfield with Cardigan the tallest peak, Firescrew to its left, and South Peak and Rimrock to the right,

and even from Pomfret, Vt.

Mount Kearsarge

I put many views of Mount Kearsarge on a special page, Kearsarge from Afar. Here is one recent photo across Bradley Lake in Andover.

Mount Cube

Below are four views of Mount Cube from Orford followed by one from Norwich.

Smarts Mountain

I showed a sunrise photo of Smarts Mountain earlier. Here is a photo of Smarts taken from Orford.

Rattlesnake Mountain

Rattlesnake in Rumney has some great technical climbing spots. Here are two views from the south.

Black Mountain

Black Mountain in Haverhill and Benton is seen here from the south in Haverhill.

Mount Moosilauke

A distant view of this first NH 4,000-footer along the AT from Grafton.

And a much closer view across Lake Tarleton in Piermont.

Mount Lafayette

Here is a view at dawn of the mountains on both sides of Franconia Notch from Sugar Hill. The sun has not yet hit this scene. This is a six-photo panorama.

Some of the mountains on both sides of Franconia Notch are shown with labels in this photo from Polly’s Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill.

Here is a close-up of Lafayette from the same spot.

The photo below shows, left-to-right, Mount Lafayette, Mount Lincoln, and Canon Mountain.

From a different spot in Sugar Hill, Mounts Lafayette and Lincoln.

From a favorite spot of mine in Franconia, another view of Lafayette.

Governor Gallen Memorial Overlook is a spot at the top of Franconia Notch that I have never before visited. It features great views of Mount Lafayette from a huge bridge over tiny Lafayette Brook. Here are three shots moving progressively closer, optically.

Artist’s Bluff is another spot I have not visited and did not plan to this trip. But I was close by, so I pulled into a huge parking lot late morning. Even though the number of cars should have warned me, I started up a muddy, rocky trail. Big mistake. I had trekking poles so had no problem navigating, but I soon reached a seemingly-endless line of people who should have had no business on this trail. The trail was too narrow to keep passing people, so I gave up. It turns out there were great views of Lafayette from the parking lot where I joined four artists hard at work.

The Presidentials

From Sugar Hill, here are the Presidential peaks labeled.

From a different spot in Sugar Hill, Mount Adams is at the far right of this farm scene in early fog.

Finally, from Crawford Notch, Mount Washington plus Monroe on the left.

Mount Killington

I began this section with a Vermont mountain, and I end it the same way. Mount Killington is seen from Etna and Enfield in these two photos.

Vermont Scenes

Norwich

I showed some sunrise photos from Norwich in my Sky section. Here are a few more from Norwich.

Sharon

I stopped briefly at My Walden, a spectacular UVLT area. A cellar hole near the parking area and one of the trails.

Vershire

Vershire is an area I rarely explore. But I found many interesting scenes there during two visits in late September and early October.

This morning scene with background fog was special.

Here are two more photos from the same spot.

Corinth

I only get to Corinth every few years. I enjoyed my 2026 visit.

East Orange

When in the area I have traditionally photographed the interesting church in East Orange. But I passed up the opportunity this trip. Here are three photos I did take.

Topsham

I passed through Topsham heading north and photographed a pair of hillsides.

Groton

I paid a brief visit to Riker Pond.

I climbed Owl’s Head to take the classic photo of Kettle Pond.

Lyndonville

My photos from the beautiful Darling Hill Road are of mountains. The first two show Mounts Hor and Pisgah, the cliffs that flank the spectacular Lake Willoughby.

And much closer, Burke Mountain.

Island Pond

I stopped for gas and coffee in Island Pond, hiked into Moose Bog, and drove the length of South American Pond Road. Most of the photos I took were of birds seen later in this post. Here are three scenes.

Guildhall

An open but empty farm stand.

Victory

Victory Basin is a wonderful area to explore for birds. I just stopped briefly at Damon’s Crossing.

This is Moose River.

This distant mountain has the strange name of Umpire Mountain. Perhaps there is an interesting story.

Saint Johnsbury

I was passing through so I stopped at the Dog Chapel on Dog Mountain. It was interesting. but I made a big mistake visiting early afternoon on a Saturday during the peak of foliage season. It took about 30 minutes to get parked in the field with probably over 500 cars.

Pomfret

Cloudland Road in Pomfret was closed during the peak of the foliage season, but I managed to walk part of it before it was closed tight. Of course I was early, but it was interesting visiting an old favorite spot that unfortunately has gotten too popular with people from afar posting on social media.

Reading

I took quite a few photos in Reading but edited only one of Mount Ascutney shown earlier and this scene.

West Windsor

Here are two photos from Cemetery Road.

New Hampshire Scenes

Rather than struggling to logically order these geographically, I cop-out and just do them alphabetically.

Bartlett

Along the Bear Notch Road connecting the Kancamagus Highway with Crawford Notch.

Benton

Two views of Owl’s Head in NH from along Route 25. The water is Oliverian Pond.

Canaan

Canaan is close to home so naturally I have many photos.

Below are three photos from Jerusalem Road.

I especially like some spots along Goose Pond Road before reaching the yet-again-drained pond. These three are Gosse Pond Brook near one of the entrances to the UVLT Bear Pond Natural Area.

I have never kayaked Little Goose Pond, but I might try it sometime to sneak up on an American Bittern or Wood Ducks. Here is fog on the pond and two photos of the small boat launch.

There is a pretty spot on Canaan Street Lake that I like to visit.

When I was there I could hear shouts from boys practicing soccer in a nearby field.

Cornish

I normally photograph a friend’s barn and hike her trails to the “Top of the World”, but this time I settled for one photo.

Crawford Notch

The town is actually Hart’s Location but most people know this spot by the name of the notch. I stopped at Willey House Pond and parked near a huge tour bus. But I was able to walk to spots that avoided the crowds.