Mount Willard and Webster Cliff Reflection in Willey Pond in Crawford Notch (Route 302) on October 1st, 2023. A little HDR optimizing helped add back some blue into the sky and NO AI was used.
Crawford Notch is one of the great roads to travel during a New England Autumn. I write about these things in my blog on all things New England Fall Foliage. (Google Jeff Foliage and you will find it)
Crawford Notch (Route 302) is one of those roads you can take every year; you will find something new every year.
I had been driving the Notch for 20 years and 2023 was the first time I felt the need to stop at the Wiley Pond.
Whether driving north or south you won't see this view until you get out of the car and look back towards Webster Cliff.
This was the late afternoon at almost 4 PM. If I had hit it much later, the sun would have been well below the western hills.
Once you get out of the car you could check out the souvenir shop but I suggest you explore the pond and boardwalk first and take your first batch of pictures. There are picnic areas around the pond and you could have lunch and just enjoy the view.
Then you could go and check out the shop (I hear the fudge is wonderful) and then wander back out to explore the pond again, one more time to see what the new position of the sun has done to the landscape.
Too many miles means little exploring
Right now if you did this the way I suggested, you would have spent around an hour on this one spot and maybe you are starting to panic that you are missing the fall colors somewhere else... The problem is you are, I admit it, I feel the same thing when visiting these places.
People write to me all year (or they leave questions on my blog) about how to get the biggest bang for their $$ and not miss ANYTHING... Well, it can't be done!
If you want to drive from sunup to sundown you will cover a lot of territory but you will miss really exploring magical places like this spot.
I drove by this over and over and I never stopped without really considering that IF they built a souvenir shop here there was a reason for people to stop. Yes, I like to tell people to ignore the heavily trafficked locations and find less well-known spots but the popular places are that way for a reason...
Enjoy your foliage travels
Jeff Foliage
