Doriane Roux takes photos of parents Carmen and Jean-Marie Roux on the Kancamagus Highway outside Lincoln, N.H., last week. The family were on their last day in the U.S. before returning to France.
Doriane Roux takes photos of parents Carmen and Jean-Marie Roux on the Kancamagus Highway outside Lincoln, N.H., last week. The family were on their last day in the U.S. before returning to France. Credit: Concord Monitor — Geoff Forester

CONCORD — The leaves are turning and camera-toting travelers are arriving as the approach of Columbus Day weekend signals the high point of the state’s second-busiest tourism season.

This month has seen foliage at its most splendid throughout central New Hampshire, especially in the White Mountains region, with color expected to peak in southern parts of the state this week.

Rest stops and overlooks along the Kancamagus Highway are getting full early, and experienced New Hampshire residents know to avoid the “Kanc” this coming weekend, when an influx of tourists will turn it into the proverbial parking lot.

The New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development has projected that more than 3 million out-of-state, overnight visitors will come to New Hampshire sometime during the fall, spending more than $1.5 billion.

The average traveler spends $88 per day in New Hampshire, according to the division, and some 68,000 jobs across the state are supported by tourism.

Thanks mostly to the seasonal departure of chlorophyll from the leaves of hardwood trees, allowing reds and oranges and yellows to show through, fall is the second-busiest tourism period of the year for the time, behind only midsummer.

Unfortunately, the end of the week and the weekend are projected to be rainy and gray. Sunday should be better, however.