Back roads offer glimpse of fall’s splendor> Leaf peepers can travel throughout New England to savor essence of autumnal outburst

New England’s autumnal outburst is perhaps the region’s most reliable tourist attraction, and each year more and more sightseers crowd the region’s roadways to glory in the season’s splendor.

There’s no reason to join the growing hordes that make leaf-peeping seem more and more like a contact sport. There are plenty of opportunities to get off the beaten track or to see the leaves from some new perspective — from the gondola of a hot air balloon, for example.

Herewith is a seasonal Baedeker to some of autumn’s more unusual adventures, and to some old favorites as well.

To really get off the leaf-peeping track, head to Maine, all the way to the blueberry barrens around the Machias area, near Campobello Island. That’s where vast fields of lowbush blueberries blaze with a brilliant burgundy that’s a perfect complement to the ruddy leaves on the maples. The sight of all that red is so unusual that unknowing passers-by sometimes pull over to ask what they’re looking at, one resident reports. Late September and early October are the best times to visit. For more information, call the Machias Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, (207) 255-4402.

Another offbeat fall sight, and one that’s even redder than the blueberry bushes, is in parts of Cape Cod and around Plymouth, Mass. This is cranberry country, and fall is harvest season. To harvest the millions of ruby red berries, farmers flood the small bogs where the cranberries are grown, and the ripe fruit floats to the surface. Wading workers then gather the berries and corral them into big, shiny circles.

A harvest festival is planned for the weekend of Oct. 8 to 10 at the Edaville Cranberry Bogs in South Carver, Mass. Guided tours will visit bogs being harvested, and helicopter rides will be available. For more information, call (508) 747-2350.

For more information about cranberry country, write to the Plymouth County Development Council, P.O. Box 1620, 345 Washington St., Pembroke, Mass. 02359, or call (800) 231-1620.

Farther afield, great fall color highlights trips through the Hudson River Gorge near Indian Lake, N.Y. (for information, call the North Creek Chamber of Commerce at 518-251-2612), and on the rapids transit of the Penobscot or Kennebec rivers in Maine (for information, call the Bingham Chamber of Commerce at 207-672-4100).

You can get a more sedate river view of changing leaves and a lesson in the natural history of the mid-Connecticut River Valley during a 90-minute cruise aboard the Quinnetuket II Riverboat. The ship cruises out of Northfield, Mass., and makes a 12-mile loop to Turners Falls and Barton Cove and back. While cruising along what was, during the last ice age, the bottom of a 140-mile-long lake, you might spy one of the pair of nesting bald eagles residing in the area. The on-board naturalist will tell you the river in these parts lies along a fault, a collision zone where the African continent and the North American continent did a slow bump and grind millions of years ago. The result is that the rocks on one side of the river are millions of years older than those on the other. Departures are scheduled Wednesdays through Sundays until Oct. 30. Times vary. The voyage costs $7 for adults, $6 for seniors 55 and older, $3 for children 14 and under. Infants ride free. For more information, call (413) 659-3714.

Track the progress of fall’s color by climbing aboard one of the many old-fashioned trains that rattle along New England railways for special sightseeing odysseys. North Conway, N.H., is one of the epicenters for the region’s scenic railways, with two in the immediate area: the Conway Scenic Railroad, (800) 232-5251; and the Mount Washington Cog Railway, (800) 922-8825.

Vermont’s Lamoille Valley Railroad still hauls freight, but tourists can ride its cars on sightseeing excursions. The fall foliage season runs through Oct. 15. There are three departures every day but Sunday. Two-hour journeys pull out of the Morrisville station at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. A one-hour trip leaves at 1 p.m. For more information, call (802) 888-4255.

In Massachusetts, the Cape Cod Railroad offers scenic excursions from Hyannis to the Cape Cod Canal and back. Departures are scheduled for Wednesday to Sunday at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m., but a railroad spokeswoman recommends calling to confirm those times before leaving home. A dinner train pulls out of the station Sundays at 4 p.m.; reservations are required. For more information, call (508) 771-3788.