Sunday September 28 2014

Three Ponds

Bob and I met up in Compton and headed down to Island Pond via Norton. Took a break in Island Pond before heading up to Job's Pond.

Job's was the only pond in the vicinity between Island Pond and Lake Willoughby that I hadn't visited before. I consider it to be perhaps the most beautiful of all, nestled below impressive hills and dramatic cliffs. For us, on this day, the whole scene was simply vibrating with the intensity of peak foliage.

After blowing our minds on the extraordinary colors along three ponds (Job's, Bald Hill, and Long ponds), we rode down the hill to Lake Willoughby where we jumped on the smooth scenic asphalt over to Crystal Lake and Barton.

More smooth surface between Barton and Orleans on the twisty up and down Maple Hill Road.

From Orleans to Brownington we improvised on the standard Tar Box/Frog Pond roads taking instead Churchill off of 58. That turned into Hinneman Settler Road and we stopped in Brownington to go up in the observation tower before continuing on to Derby and the border.

Absolute Top Dead Peak

There's that one moment of one day each fall when the foliage reaches a moment of absolute peak perfection.

This year, 2014, that moment (in Brownington at least) occurred exactly during the time that Bob and I were looking out from the observation tower.

See if you don't agree after looking at the photos of this trip.