As a music photographer, I travel between work contracts with the bands that hire me. Wherever a tour is picking up or dropping off, I try to find nearby national parks and public lands to explore. Last autumn I found myself with a week off before picking up a tour with Ray LaMontagne in New England, so my best friend and I spent the week in Acadia National Park. We were graced with unbelievably warm, sunny weather for the first week of October and were also lucky enough to be visiting right as the leaves were changing.

Pictured here is Jesup Path—a short serene walk behind the Sieur de Monts Nature Center in Acadia. Walking the arrow-straight boardwalk over a wetland, through tall, delicate birches and hemlocks, we shared the path with lots of other park visitors. Everyone seemed to approach the path with a solemnity similar to visiting a church—it must be thanks to the cathedralesque canopy overhead. Jesup Path was one of dozens of walks I took during my weeklong visit to Maine.

Brian Stowell is a Portland, Oregon–based adventure and band photographer. He has spent the past decade traveling the world with a camera in hand. Follow him on Instagram @brianstowell.