‘It’s Disneyland’: Fall foliage destinations overrun by leaf-peepers

After the leaf-peepers left, Siobhan Smith went out to pick up their trash.

She and a friend found plastic water bottles, used diapers, forgotten hats and sweaters, all signs of the families, amateur hikers and social media showoffs that came to snap selfies at Artist’s Bluff, the New Hampshire trail that has been called “the Instagram capital of the world” for its stunning lake and mountain views.

“It was gross. Luckily, we had gloves on,” said Smith, 22, who lives less than 15 minutes from the trail in Franconia Notch State Park. Despite the peak fall foliage outside, she wouldn’t venture out to Artist’s Bluff during Columbus Day weekend.

“As a local, you know not to go out during that weekend,” she said.

During this short but intense time of year, residents in destinations deluged with seasonal visitors are struggling to preserve their quality of life and ensure their public safety. In Vermont, tourists are clogging rural roads, trampling lawns, picnicking on front yards and knocking on doors to ask whether they can use residents’ bathrooms. In New Hampshire, locals have complained that some tourists were ill-prepared for the trails and putting themselves and fellow hikers in danger; authorities reported roughly a dozen rescues over the Oct. 12-14 long weekend, including one that was delayed by traffic, according to local media reports.

New England rakes in the big bucks during fall - $8 billion a year, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Last season, the New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development recorded 3.6 million visitors, more than winter or spring. Vermont’s Agency of Commerce and Community Development estimates that 19 percent of the state’s 13 million annual visitors come for a burst of color that lasts six weeks, a fraction of ski season.

Nevertheless, the throngs of people, many inspired by travel influencers, have turned one of the region’s most cherished seasons into one of its most dreaded.

“There are a lot of people who don’t respect the property owners here and they just think that it’s Disneyland,” Vermont-based photographer Loren Fisher said. “They literally walk into people’s houses, up on their porches, change clothes on their porches. The Instagram crowd just totally overran the place.”

Locals have been forced to adjust. Fisher, who co-owns a photo gallery in Woodstock, calls October the “silly season.” He no longer brings his photography workshops to such overwhelmed sites as Jenne Farm in Reading and Sleepy Hollow Farm in Pomfret. He keeps his newest spots a secret.

“I have other farms and locations that I take people to,” he said. “Nobody’s there, and they’ll never find me.”

Traffic restrictions and security patrols

At first, Pomfret tried a gentle approach.

In 2022, the town turned a 1.2-mile section of Cloudland Road into a one-way street. It paid for patrols to enforce the new traffic pattern, which it hoped would alleviate gridlock. Residents posted signs, some of which were stolen.

It helped a little, said Selectboard Chair Benjamin Brickner, “but it didn’t really solve the problem.”

The following year, the residents contacted bed-and-breakfasts and social media influencers and asked them to please remove images of the maple tree-lined road and Sleepy Hollow Farm, a collection of picture-book barns cradled in a pasture once owned by Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry. Some complied, but not everyone.

The board decided that, for public safety reasons, it would close that same strip of road to nonlocal traffic. It worked, so the board brought back the restrictions this year for three weeks starting Sept. 25. The road reopened to the wider public soon after peak color had faded.

Meanwhile, several neighbors collaborated on a GoFundMe campaign “to bring peace, safety, and civility back to the families who live here.” Over two years, the fundraiser has garnered nearly $22,500. The neighbors used the donations to pay for law enforcement and a security company - because “a lot more patrol time was utilized,” Brickner said - plus more placards, according to the GoFundMe page.

The strategy was a success. One of the GoFundMe supporters said it felt like preinvasion times, when neighbors could freely stroll around their tranquil environs. But Brickner said the board does not want the closure to become a permanent fall fixture.

“We remain cautiously optimistic that as the very concentrated interest dies down organically over the next few years,” he said, “we can go back to normal.”

Bottleneck migrates south

Of course, the crowds didn’t go away. Many just migrated a few miles south, to Woodstock.

The town, a tourist destination since the 1800s, has a more robust infrastructure than Pomfret and Reading. It has parking that can accommodate buses, plus dining establishments, lodging and public toilets.

For reinforcement during the busy fall weekends, Beth Finlayson, executive director of the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce, said the town installed portable bathrooms and welcomed food trucks that would pick up the slack when “the cafes were overrun.”

“We are better situated,” she said, “but we still have small roads.”

Fisher, the photographer, said residents often alter their schedules to avoid the chaos over peak times such as the recent holiday, officially known as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Vermont. They stay away from the compact downtown and rearrange their errands, shopping on, say, a Thursday instead of Saturday.

“Getting into town might take an hour, because there’s a lot of pedestrians,” he said. “All the cars stop for the pedestrians, and it just snarls up.”

Granted, the inconvenience lasts only a few weeks, significantly shorter than the summer crush in Greece’s Santorini or Italy’s Amalfi Coast.

Vermonters do not want tourists to stay away, a sentiment gripping Barcelona. But they are asking visitors to simply spread out. More than 75 percent of the state is forested, according to Vermont Land Trust, and the predominant species - maple, birch, beech - habitually dress up in fall finery.

“As someone who loves fall foliage in Vermont and New England, part of the joy is the exploration,” said Lisa Chase, an extension professor at the University of Vermont, “finding a new spot and going to remote places that aren’t already discovered.”

Overcrowding on the hunt for selfies

New Hampshire expects to welcome 3.7 million visitors this fall, according to the state’s Division of Travel and Tourism Development. To observers, it seemed as if many of them were clustered at Artist’s Bluff as colors reached their full glory.

Sonya Kennett Woodhams, a native of the Granite State, visited for the first time on Oct. 5 with her boyfriend. She was alarmed at visitors’ poor hiking etiquette, including tossing trash along the trail and steering off the path to avoid crowds. Hikers bunched at the peak of the trail made standing at the summit dangerous. Visitors are supposed to pack up any trash and throw it into garbage cans.

A few hikers warned Woodhams, 52, about completing the trail because of crowding on its narrow path, estimating that she would have to spend an extra 20 minutes waiting for people to pass to finish the 1.5-mile loop.

“There were little babies and kids with backpacks where the families were going off the trail, and I literally had a panic attack,” Woodhams said. “When we got to the top … one little slip would have caused a domino effect.”

New Hampshire State Parks said last week that nearly 60,000 paid visitors had been to some areas of Franconia Notch State Park, where the popular trail is located. The trailhead parking area’s 1,500 spaces were full most of Oct. 12 and 13.

While many state parks offer reservations, the parking areas for the Artist’s Bluff and other parts of Franconia Notch are not part of the system and don’t charge a fee.

“Generally, this is not an issue outside of a few high visitation days in the fall season,” the state parks’ statement said.

On social media and through marketing campaigns, the state and the park have been encouraging people to explore “lesser known state parks and trails” and to plan ahead, the statement said, noting that most of the crowding was isolated to a few locations.

Still, New Hampshire’s Division of Parks and Recreation said it will review its management strategies - including expanded parking, shuttle services and communications before people arrive - to “accommodate everyone who wants to visit.”

Following critical coverage of the crowds, Gov. Chris Sununu (R) hailed tourism as the “life blood” of New Hampshire but added that people should pick up their trash and avoid being “jerks on the road.”

“We love the crowds; we love tourism,” he told a local radio station. “Look, it’s crowded, it’s the biggest week of the year. What do you expect? Are there parking problems? Of course there are.”

In a statement, the governor’s office said teams work hard all year to encourage “as much travel and tourism … as possible” and want to promote “hidden gems, especially in this social-media era that can tend to drive folks all to one area.”

Sununu said that while Columbus Day weekend tends to be busy, the state loves the crowds.

“We love the tourists, we do it safely, and it’s great for local businesses. We want people to be respectful and come prepared,” the statement said. “With thousands of miles of trails, there’s always another adventure just around the bend if folks are looking to escape the crowds!”

Hurricane damage pushes people to Shenandoah

Long queues to enter Shenandoah National Park and the sluggish drive along Skyline Drive are hallmarks of Virginia fall. This season, the crowds could be even larger because of damage from Hurricane Helene on the Blue Ridge Parkway and parts of western North Carolina, including Asheville.

Jessica Cocciolone, executive director of the Shenandoah National Park Trust, said she has received reports from inside the park of “wall-to-wall cars” and packed hiking trails, including less-tread routes.

In 2022, the park adopted a reservation system to control the crowds on Old Rag Mountain from March through November. Cocciolone, who is based in Charlottesville, said people are snapping up the 800 daily slots. Park lodges and campsites are also filling up.

“I don’t like going up there on the weekends,” she said. “It’s beautiful, but it’s not enjoyable.”

To keep the public safe and well-informed, the park has staffed up with employees and volunteers, including campground monitors and trail runners from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. On broadcasts posted on the park’s social media accounts and website, staff members share foliage updates as well as outdoor-etiquette tips.

“They try to get as much information out to people as possible, like here’s what to expect and how to handle yourself,” Cocciolone said, “like, don’t park on the side of the road. Be a good hiker. Be prepared for the crowds.”

Unlike New England, which has mostly cast off its fall colors, Virginia is just amping up its autumnal palette. Helen Morton, director of sales and marketing at Delaware North at Shenandoah National Park, said the communities around the park are prepared, which can help avert friction. Visitors must also play their part and know what they are getting into. Their fall foliage outing could include waits of up to 40 minutes to enter the park’s northern portals (to shave off some time, purchase admission online in advance), drives slower than the posted speed limit of 35 mph and jostling for space on the overlooks and trails.

Her advice for the next few weeks: “Enjoy it, and don’t get stressed out by it.”