Voluntown - By the standards of New England peaks like Mansfield, Monadnock or Greylock, Mount Misery is a mere knob on the landscape hardly deserving of the "Mount" courtesy title.

Still, in the seaward-sloping terrain of southeastern Connecticut, this oddly named 441-foot hill stands out, offering its bony shoulder to many a hiker in search of a destination with a pleasing vista.

Though found in a small rural town with gloomy addresses at every corner - roads named Hell Hollow, Breakneck Hill and Coal Pit Hill, waterways named Hazard Pond and Dark Hollow Brook - Misery, it seems, is actually a place people go for uplift, perhaps even joy on a bright fall day when the white pines scent the trail and beech, maple and oak leaves jewel the path with reds and yellows.

"This is a place where a lot of casual hikers come, for the scenic point," said David Lees of Norwich, a retired computer programmer who maintains the blue-blazed Pachaug Trail that leads to the top of Misery. "It's the most popular trail in the Pachaug."

This weekend, as the annual foliage show eases toward its peak locally later this month and with sunny days predicted through Columbus Day, dozens of hikers will probably find their way to the rocky outcrop that crowns Misery.

From there, the views are mostly of the pines that dominate much of the 24,000-acre Pachaug State Forest, the state's largest, with dabs of russets and golds mixed in. The uphill tramp to the overlook, roughly a mile from the trailhead on Cutoff Road, takes just about a half hour of easy-to-moderate hiking.

"Yes, it's a nice spot," Lees said, standing at the hill's crest Friday afternoon.

At least twice a year, Lees hikes to Mount Misery carrying a quart of blue paint and some branch trimmers. A volunteer trail maintainer for the Connecticut Forest & Park Association for the past three years, he freshens the blazes that mark the path and cuts back anything in the way.

"I just think it's a worthwhile thing to do, to make this available for people to use," he said.

In the far northern corners of this small state, fall foliage is at its peak this weekend, but the rest of the state is slower to turn. Leaves in the middle part of the state are about halfway toward their peak, and trees along the shoreline are still mostly green, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection's online foliage report.

Christopher Martin, director of forestry for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said that after the dry summer there had been some concern that this would turn into a very poor foliage year, with dull colors and trees dropping their leaves early. But the rain over the last couple of weeks has helped rejuvinate the trees toward producing the more brilliant leaf hues.

"The trees haven't shut down," Martin said. "It's the sugars in the leaves that drives the colors, warm days and nights in the 40s and upper 30s."

Other hikes in the region:

Some other overlooks in southeastern Connecticut:

• Nickerson Hill, off the blue-blazed trail in Nehantic State Forest, Lyme

• Vista off the orange trail in Devil's Hopyard State Park, East Haddam

• Tony's Nose, off the yellow trail in Rocky Neck State Park, East Lyme

• Trails along the Connecticut River, Gillette Castle State Park, East Haddam

• Lantern Hill, off the Narragansett Trail, North Stonington

www.theday.com/hiking

www.ct.gov/dep - click "outdoor recreation," then "state parks and forests"

http://www.ct.gov/dep (click on "Fall Foliage")