The Big Picture

Classic, and it does not appear to be near golden hour either.
As far as the processing, I do pretty much the same except only process once. ( I do not know what you mean by processing twice).
If I expose even a midday scene properly with just some blinkies, I recover in Camera raw, and process in PS6 using normal masking, nothing very technical.
Everything in your photo appears exposed properly and a nice traditional comp.
The sharpness looks better in this compressed web photo also, not sure if you changed anything.
It is not that big a thing anyway for web posting, I am sure most people's normal files look fine anyway.

So Dan, to process the raw × 2: process the image as you normally do, save as tiff and ACR closes. Then go back and open that RAW file again, if the prior adjustment setting don't load, select previous conversion in drop down menu. Then make adjustments for highlights, shadows, what ever you don't think was adequately represented in prior raw conversion. Save this version under a new name. You can then layer them to keep the best of each conversion. If you can render highlights, shadows fine in one conversion, no need to do any of this. I often find this easier than trying to blend 2 exposures that are 1 or 1.5 stops different in exposure. Just one way of going about it.

Beautiful color and classic blue sky with clouds fall scene. Processing looks spot on and image looks real sweet. As they, picture postcard!

Harry,

What a gorgeous location and conditions. You've captured a wonderful autumn landscape image.  The colors, including the picture perfect blue sky and clouds are beautiful.  Compositionally, the view down river gently pulls you in to the scene surrounded by beauty on both sides.  Even on the right, there is enough detail in the shadows to add to the scene.

The previous image was of course a more intimate one, but both of these are just simply fantastic fall scenes. Love 'em.

Since I've mentioned sharpening a few times and you've mentioned you're still trying to nail it down, I thought I would add my .02.  First though, I've received comments about crunchiness too, so I may not be an expert here.  But I also use TK's Web sharpening tool (the v4 panel I believe.)  You mentioned trying various opacity settings down to 75 from 100.  Well, I actually have had mine set at 50 for as long as I've been using the panel.  My horizontal images I usually set for a 1200px length.  I've found that I still have to tweak the layers after the tool runs because I think most times the image is still over sharpened. Of course every image is going to be different.  But for almost every image, I also reduce the opacity of the Sharpen #2 layer.  I don't know what is happening technically, but this layer seems to increase the finer details - too much some times, so I back this layer off some.  Of course you have to open the TK Web Sharpen group to get to that Sharpen #2 layer. Attached is a screenshot, which I'm sure I don't need to include - although there may be some that don't have Tony's action panel.
Anyway, research continues as they say....

Lon

Thanks Lon - I will give that a go.  I was using TK's Basic Module that contained the Web Sharpening Action, but I think it is very similar to the ones you are referring to.  I did get his V5 modules, haven't had time to dive into those.  A little intimidating compared to my normal workflow, but maybe those web sharpening actions are a bit different.  I will try reducing the 2nd sharpening down to 50% and see how it goes.  Thanks for the screenshot.  I'm not sure why these issues seem to have popped up as of late vs. images 5 years ago.

Nicely done, Harry. The light here is very challenging, and your processing paid off handily. The color is gorgous, and the composition works very well.
--P

Interesting process for the post flow.  Thanks for sharing. 

My main comment is the blue in the sky seems a bit pale.  Did you use a polarizer?  Not sure if you know this adjustment but try the HSL in Lightroom, then Hue, then the little icon right under hue.  Then put the cursor on the blue sky and pull up and down and see how the blue changes.  You might be surprised.  Let us know if you try the adjustment.  I would be very interested.

Otherwise beautiful image and well composed.

Hi Dave - I didn't use a polarizer.  I didn't want any heavy dark - light shift in the blue sky using a wide angle lens.  Would have reduced the reflection color too.  I don't have Lightroom, so i don't see that adjustment option, though I can easily adjust the hue of the cyans and blues that make up the sky.  I guess I am a little cautious not to over darken the  blues, as the light source is coming from the upper right.

Harry, Great job.  Super colors with just the right amount of saturation.  Composition is flawless from my point of view. Keep up the good work!