“OCTOBER
O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
…
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief,
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know…”
Robert Frost
Beguiled we were when the White Mountains
were ablaze in color this autumn. The vibrant
hues of red, purple, orange, and gold were spectacular and held on for a long
time in New Hampshire . In fact, there is still a lot of color on our
trees at the end of October because the Buttonwood Inn is located at the
southern end of the White Mountains National
Forest
At the northern end of the White Mountains ,
above Mount Washington , leaves began turning around the
last weekend in September. We directed
many of our early “leaf peeper” guests north to view the color change. They also had the choice of going up Mount
Washington on the Cog Railway or drive or take the shuttle up on
the Auto Road offering a
fine vantage point to see more color in every direction at the summit.
On Columbus Day weekend, Bill and I were fortunate in being
able to drive up to Crawford Notch near the Appalachian Mountain Club Center
and observed the fall colors at peak.
Since we became innkeepers nine years ago, we were not able to leave the
inn and see the White Mountains in all their autumnal
glory. Having decided to buy sandwiches,
we stopped in at the White Mountain Cider Market & Deli beating the crowd who
filed in behind us.
Back on the road, Route 302, we followed cars in a stream of
traffic at a leisurely pace passing cars from the opposite direction. Usually this mountain road has very few cars
on it. It all seemed orderly with folks
pulling over at various stops to capture images of the beauty of the colorful
deciduous trees against the deep green of the conifers. We pulled off onto Mt.
Clinton Road in the area above Crawford Notch and
found the last parking spot at the base of Mount
Eisenhower
Sitting high above the road, we relished our
delicious sandwiches while delighting in the views of the fiery White
Mountains surrounding us.
We were in awe of the expansive array of color in the quiet of the
mountains filling our hearts with nature’s beauty. We continued onward to capture the view of
the Omni Mount Washington under the back drop of the Presidentials in their
full regalia of orange and deep coniferous green. I felt this was God’s reward for us to experience
having worked so hard and long for our guests this past October.
There were so many leaf peepers this peak Foliage weekend from
New Hampshire , Maine ,
Vermont , and other parts of the United
States .
This by far is the most popular month to reserve your vacation in
advance viewing the magical colored forests of the White Mountains . If you spend three or more nights, we can
suggest other tours on the Kancamaugus Highway
(a national scenic highway) over to Franconia Notch to Sugarhill then north to
Route 2 which skirts past the northern part of the Presidentials. There are many short walks through the forest
to waterfalls and covered bridges along the way to experience nature. We can also recommend scenic mountain hikes
to the summit with views of the valley and surrounding mountains. You can reserve at the Buttonwood
Inn on-line or call us at 1-800-258-2625 for the next Fall Colors – 2017
vacation.
