The Finger Lakes region has a way of hiding its best moments just off the main road—you simply have to be willing to wander a bit to find them.
Autumn was settling in when we visited here in early October of 2022. The trees were beginning their quiet annual negotiation: each leaf slowly sealing itself off at the stem, an invisible abscission layer cutting it free from the branch that fed it all Summer. The result is the show we wait for all year—chlorophyll fading to reveal the golds, ambers, and rust-reds that were hiding underneath all along. It’s less an ending than an unveiling, and it’s reason enough to slow the car down and just look.
That’s exactly what brought us down Howland Island Road, a quiet stretch northwest of Port Byron just off Route 38. The pavement narrows, the canopy thickens, and the road simply…ends—at the Seneca River, where a now-pedestrian-only bridge crosses to nowhere in particular. No traffic, no crowds, just beautiful scenery and interesting photography opportunities.
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