We'd arrived at our rental cottage in the Waterville Valley on October 17, and by the time October 21 rolled around, we were at the weekend. Other cottages that were vacant around us until then began to fill with people , mostly from the Boston area, responding to the unusually warm and sunny weather conditions to get a long, last look at the splendour of the fall colours in this mountainous region of New Hampshire.

We imagined most of the popular nearby trails would be flooded with nature-lovers, so we planned to avoid them for the week-end. Once, years ago, we'd taken a trail just up the road from the cottage, about a five-minute drive, in fact. It was a nice enough trail but one that failed to completely impress us and we'd never returned. We do recall coming across a juvenile black bear when we were making our way back, having almost completed our hike.

Our previous two little dogs didn't seem too aware of its presence, until the bear began to make a panicked drive to avoid coming directly abreast of us, and started climbing a tree. And then the racket increased with our two barking and alarming the young bear even more. I hadn't, at that time, had the presence of mind to try to photograph the bear, but we thought it best that we vacate the scene as quickly as possible, since we'd upset it enough as it was.

We would, we decided, take that trail again. There is no parking area reserved for the trail, but we did see one other vehicle, though we failed to see anyone else once we were on the trail. We recalled the difficulty at the trailhead negotiating huge boulders and rocks tumbled about everywhere, but that was nothing compared to what had been done there since we'd last seen it. Obviously, there is a standing problem with flooding in the area in spring runoff, so where the trailhead should be there was a large, long cavity filled with those same boulders, and a narrow passage on either side of it to enable the adventurous to reach the unimpeded trail.

But the surrounding forest and its autumn colours presented a breathtaking landscape. Particularly interesting was the presence of large maples, almost in groves among the pines and the hemlocks and the oaks. The initial trail is wide, almost like a cart-track, then there is an offshoot that is narrow, with the trees growing so closely overhead that it's almost like negotiating a tunnel, with an air of mystery about it. Gradually it joins a wider trail -- actually a continuation of the original trail -- swings over to the left and rises continuously.

We remained on the trail, steadily ascending until we felt we'd been sufficiently exercised as it were, and had taken our visual fill of the deciduous trees' autumn glory. Rather than continuing on after an hour we determined to return at a leisure pace, just enjoying the serenity and the beauty of the landscape, along with a weather system that honoured our presence with a surfeit of comfort.