vermont travel

I plan to visit Vermont in the fall for photo opportunities. Any places you can recommend to me. Thanks in advance. Gus.

Its hard to go wrong in Vermont. Following US Rt. 5 from South to North with numerous side roads and bridges to New Hampshire and back and crossing Vermont to Lake Champlain and back to East Burke and Newport will give you plenty of photo ops. Have a great trip.

By the standards of the western US, the distances are very short, but the catch is that on the peak days the traffic can be considerable. Depending on the date, the best color may be anywhere from northern NH and Vermont to as far south as Connecticut. As charles says, it's hard to go wrong, but the date is more important than the specific place.

The date that you visit determines a lot of what you see.

 

The site below forecasts peak periods - note that it IS a forecast, so no certainty, but at least it gives you ad idea. You can then overlay your date

 

Have fun!

 

Peak Fall Foliage Map

The need to pick a date is not your friend, but the relatively small distances come to the rescue.

 

Growing up in Vermont in the 1950s, the rule of thumb was to plan for Columbus Day as the peak. With warmer days here in the next century, aiming a bit earlier is more appropriate. However, the summer temps and rainfall influence the onset of the fall color, adding an uncertainty to a plan that cannot be escaped.

 

The good news is that if you aim at the end of September and beginning of October, there will be high quality fall color SOMEWHERE in Vermont, and it's only about 150 miles from north to south. So plan to be mobile, and you'll find the color you're after.

 

Locations: I'm prejudiced in favor of the Manchester area (where I grew up), but everywhere will be good. Route 100 is excellent. Google for locations of covered bridges - they look great surrounded by maples in the fall. You'll find quite a few around Bennington, and my favorite is in West Arlington in front of Norman Rockwell's home. The village of Woodstock is picturesque as you can ask for.

 

Outside Manchester, the town of Dorset looks good in fall colors. Between Manchester and Dorset, there's a long-abandoned marble quarry (oldest in the US, I think) that photographs well. Just be careful not to fall in - it's really, really deep, and the water will be amazingly cold. It was our swimmin' hole when I was a kid.

 

Don't hesitate to take gravel roads - there's much to find.

 

Crowds - if you can, avoid weekends, especially around the popular towns like Woodstock, Manchester, etc.

 

I envy you your trip. Maybe I need to make some plans of my own.....

The need to pick a date is not your friend, but the relatively small distances come to the rescue.

 

Growing up in Vermont in the 1950s, the rule of thumb was to plan for Columbus Day as the peak. With warmer days here in the next century, aiming a bit earlier is more appropriate. However, the summer temps and rainfall influence the onset of the fall color, adding an uncertainty to a plan that cannot be escaped.

 

...

 

Responding to this in late November your advice was perfect considering your having grown up in Southern VT. I've lived in Arlington since 1997 and this year there wasn't much in the way of brilliant color. The summer was a wet one and it persisted into the fall. We never had a frost. These two factors probably played a significant role in what for some was a disappointing leaf-peeping season, but subdued as it was, it was still beautiful in a pastorally pastel sort of way.