Fall foliage from first light to last: Varying vibrancy along the river

A photographer took a one-day journey in search of fall foliage, from first light to last. Varying vibrancy was found along the river, starting outside Camden as the sun rises over the Cooper River, then north in New Jersey along the Delaware River and crossing into Pennsylvania to end up at the Delaware Water Gap as the day’s light faded.

The trees along banks are still mostly green as Mike Love of Sicklerville takes his single scull out on the Cooper River just off Route 130 in Pennsauken at sunrise Oct. 18, 2022. He started rowing larger, team boats in crew during college in the 80s, and has been rowing a single for the past 15 years. He likes rowing in the fall. “The air is a bit clearer and the humidity is down,” he says, adding he enjoys the wildlife. “We see eagles … geese. There is even a beaver in this river.”

Later that same day, truck cabs with colors of fall are parked at the Love’s Travel Stop in Bordentown, Burlington County. Roger Jones, a long hall truck driver from Kingsland, Ga., says he enjoys driving “up this way in the fall. We just don’t get the change of seasons the way you all do.” He had just parked his 18-wheeler (not one of those in the photo) at the truck stop, one of a couple near where U.S. Route 206, New Jersey Route 29, and the New Jersey Turnpike and I-295 all come together.

Susan Cerbone, of Newtown, Bucks County, photographs the changing foliage by the Nelson House, a historical landmark by the Delaware and Raritan (D&R) Canal along Route 29 in Hopewell, N.J., across the bridge from Washington Crossing in Bucks County. Cerbone said she was surprised that the leaf colors not as far along as she thought they would be. “When people ask me, that are not from the area, they come here, I always say first week in November.”