Head in the Clouds Amherst: Pure Autumn

Friday, October 2, 2026

Pure Autumn

Franklin County, looking west
Photo by Brittany Wolcott

This featured photo for October in our 2026 Head in the Clouds Amherst wall calendar comes from Brittany Wolcott, who captured this spectacular autumn landscape looking northwest across the hills of Franklin County.

Does it get more iconic than this? Brittany has been a frequent and welcome contributor over the years, gracing us with astonishing images, often from trails and heights that only a dedicated hiker can reach. Here she gifts us pure autumn in Western Massachusetts – hills ablaze in every color of fall beneath a sky brushed with clouds.

With this year's foliage already showing promise, it seems an especially fitting image for October. And we loved this photograph so much that we gave it double billing – not only as our October selection, but also as the cover of our 2026 calendar!

For our final 2026 calendar, the jury selected favorite images from more than a decade of past calendars rather than issuing an open call. Brittany's photograph originally appeared in our 2023 calendar, and we couldn't imagine a better image to celebrate autumn in the Valley. 🍁☁️

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On Puffer's Pond

Saturday, February 4, 2023, 3:35 pm: The past two days have seen record-breaking cold in the area, with the temperature dipping to -14F overnight, Friday into Saturday. To make matters worse, the wind was unyielding, whipping through the trees and driving wind chill readings down to -40F. In a season that had been unusually mild up until that point, it was something of a shock. Local residents were suddenly forced to think about warming up their cars, preventing pipes from freezing, and dressing in multiple layers to walk their dogs. By Saturday, while many were happy to hunker down and wait for temperatures to stop breaking low records, this was the moment that ice fishers and skaters had been waiting for all winter. With temps hovering around 12F (albeit above zero) by Saturday afternoon, Puffer's Pond was the place to be for about 30 people, many of whom were spread out over the ice, either ice fishing or playing hockey. While this is a fairly typical sight at Puffer's in the coldest winter months, our current lack of snow made it unique. No one had to contend with snowpack - the skaters didn't even have to clear a "field" for their game. And with all the hiking paths snow and ice-free, photographers had no trouble capturing water flowing through, under, and around layers of ice on the water. And, still, at 12F, without hand and foot warmers, I did not linger long. The temps will be rising quickly in the coming week, climbing well above freezing, even to 50F in the days to come. So, I'm guessing the skaters and ice fishers also won't be here much longer.

(Read past entries here.)

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Friday, October 2, 2026

Pure Autumn

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