Happy greetings on this glorious mid-October day! And welcome to a few of you whom I just met in Northampton, MA at the Paradise City Arts Festival this past weekend, it was a pleasure. I missed posting this last week amidst the scramble of show life and travels, so I’m giving you a double whammy to enjoy. Very apropos, as Autumn’s blaze has been firing up through Northern Vermont the past couple weeks and is moving southward throughout the Northeast!
Funny enough, I had actually forgotten that these two images were made only a week apart from each other. In my head they were 2 different years, but no - only 5 days apart, both along the Long Trail while backpacking up Mount Mansfield near Stowe, VT. The first one somewhere in the ballpark of 500-1,000 feet higher up the mountain than the latter the following week. The foliage that year (2016) was special, as you can see! And as you will read direct writings from my journal, I was having very similar emotions on both backpacks…
“Autumn’s Divine Glory”
“- From my journal on October 6th, 2016 from where I made camp off of the Long Trail hiking up Mt. Mansfield in Vermont -
I came upon these beckoning Sugar Maples late in the day and made camp right here in hopes to catch the dawn’s first light setting them on fire. Earlier today I smelled Fall distinctly for the first time this season. Halfway up this mountain, on the Long Trail, the delicious smell of Autumn leaves in the crisp air! Mixed with the strong scent of pine and fir and the Earthy aroma of damp soil in the coolness of shade towards sunset, the smell evoked the spirit of the season! Within this forest of Maple, Birch, and Evergreen, I sit with my eyes and thoughts fixed upon the stars and the silhouetted giant trees. Leaves tumble down upon me in the breeze as I drift amongst the stars. I await the morning light to cast its glow upon these mountains, ablaze with Autumn fire like I have only ever imagined...”
-October 7th-
“I awoke this morning to a magnificent pre-dawn glow, accentuating the orange glow of the maples with its pinkish-purple hue. The first rays of light to touch these beauties were purely divine. Highlighted Birch bark and fiery Sugar Maple leaves contrast against the shadow of the Green Mountains. What a majestic scene in this golden light! The heavy smell of fir mingles with the unmistakable scent of Autumn. The leaves, the cool air, the dampness in this refreshing light. It is so peaceful as birds softly chatter and it lulls me back to a dreamy state... Autumn’s glory, so fleeting and so precious.”
www.brandonklinewnp.com/printpurchasing/autumn’s-divine-glory
“Maple Kissed by Dawn”
October 11th, 2016 -
“How glorious this crisp October morning is underneath this canopy of majestic Maples! When the sun breaks the facing mountains at dawn and casts its soft warm glow upon this forest, its light sets the fiery orange and red Sugar Maples ablaze! Like rekindling the flame that temporarily burned to embers, the Sugar Maples’ dark orange hue from their nightly slumber is awakened with brilliance!
It truly is Autumn in all it’s glory where I sit right now, sipping my coffee. I have camped amongst some magnificent old beauties this past evening and morning. Although brisk, chilling winds whipped around last night for hours before calming, the sky was as clear as could be - starlit with a waxing gibbous moon glow. And this morning, not a cloud in the sky, that deep crisp blue like only October can produce. The sun gives warmth yet a chill at the same time. And the forest a splattering of fading lime greens, shimmering yellows, glowing oranges and burning reds!
It is calm and quiet, unlike the peacefulness of the birdsongs and insects of Spring and Summer, you can almost hear the air this time of year. And oh, the smell of the leaves! Like only a forest floor blanketed with Maple and Birch leaves can smell… Yes, Autumn is in the air!”
www.brandonklinewnp.com/printpurchasing/maple-kissed-by-dawn
More Autumn adventures to come over the next few weeks! Until then, get out and enjoy the bounty of the season!
All my best,
Brandon