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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Verseau
Timing is everything when it comes to fall colors.
Every year is completely different and timing can vary dramatically depending on where you are (in mountains, in a valley, near the ocean, what kind of forest cover, etc.). So it's difficult to map the perfect time to see the foliage, but this is one of the slightly better maps I've seen:
Note that in New England, you can drive from one of the earliest-peaking areas (the Great North Woods of NH) to one of the latest-peaking areas (Boston) in about 2 hours. So it's a good idea to be flexible in your itinerary, because you can always travel just a little bit north or a little bit south to catch better colors.
You can find up-to-date foliage reports here every 3 days or so. Browsing through the archived reports will give you an idea of the kind of variation you can expect in the timing of peak color. For example, compare 2005 - when the foliage came rather late in the Northeast - to 2006 - when the foliage came very early. The past three years have been closer to "normal," but you never really know what's going to happen.
As long as your timing allows you to reach Vermont and New Hampshire by October 10th or thereabouts, I would NOT skip them for the world. They have unquestionably some of the best autumn scenery. Pretty much every road in Vermont is a scenic byway but a Google search will reveal some of the more popular ones - Route 100 comes to mind for mountain scenery, although the dairy farming areas are just as beautiful. There are so many charming small towns... Woodstock and Grafton are my two favorites.
The White Mountains in NH are stunning. The Kancamagus Highway and Bear Notch Road are very popular for leaf-peeping. Franconia Notch State Park, Cathedral Ledge - Echo Lake State Park, and the Mt. Washington Auto Road (if the sky is clear) are all definitely worth the time at peak foliage. Further south, consider the Lakes Region - Sandwich, Castle in the Clouds, Wolfeboro. There are a number of great drives in the southwestern (Monadnock) region of the state; Route 123 is a personal favorite. Portsmouth is a fantastic city in NH but it seems like you should probably save the New England coast for another trip.
If you focus on western Massachusetts for leaf-peeping, check out beautiful Deerfield, the Mohawk Trail (Route 2), the Mt. Greylock scenic byway, Hancock Shaker Village, and Route 41. It's tough to fit a fantastic city like Boston into a trip that relies so heavily on quick timing, but since it's on your must-see list you might want to check out Lexington and Concord on the way out.
In Connecticut, Route 7 in the northwestern part of the state is quite nice. As with anywhere in New England, it's even nicer to get lost on the real backroads. Routes 169 / 14 / 49 in the eastern part of the state are also very beautiful in the fall. If you decide to bypass western MA then it would probably make more sense to go from Boston to Route 169.
It seems like you are organizing this trip last minute, so I'm not sure what you're expecting to do for lodging. Some people book their accommodations for leaf-peeping trips a year in advance, so it's not always easy to find a place to stay, even in what are otherwise pretty off-the-beaten-path areas. I wish you luck!
This is still valid info, follow the colormap (for your daily updates) , be flexible. I Have done the fall colors for ~ 30 yrs, and have needed to go as far as Quebec City / New Brunswick (which is GREAT btw) down to Virginia depending on the rains / freeze / wind / snow, ... Northern NH and VT are quite stunning and all is very close (relative to where I come from... WY, MT, SD, NE, CO).
Take the Notches in NH, very interesting geology on the many great hikes. I also like to hike Sabboday Falls on Kancamagus Kancamagus Scenic Byway
If you had four days starting in Boston (and ending in Boston), what route would you take and what would you see that would be interesting for young children? Thanks!
Sorry, I realized you already mentioned your travel dates earlier.
For those dates, I would definitely focus on the White Mountains of NH and maybe a bit of northern VT. These areas should be at peak foliage. There will be almost no color along the coast.
There are two main hubs for exploring the White Mountains: Lincoln/North Woodstock on the western side, and Conway/North Conway on the eastern side. I would try to find lodging wherever you can. Lincoln is a shorter drive from Boston and to Vermont. Conway is the bigger town, which means more shops and restaurants but also more traffic. You might have trouble finding a place to stay this late, but it's worth a shot. Just use the most direct route to get there; straight shot on I-93 to Lincoln or I-95 to 16 North for Conway.
Here are a few places that might interest you and your kids:
Visiting these places will also take you along the best leaf-peeping drives: Kancamagus Highway, Crawford Notch, Franconia Notch, Bear Notch Rd. Also consider the Mt. Washington Auto Rd. if the summit is clear. In North Conway, I like to visit Echo Lake and Cathedral Ledge. There are a lot of places to stop along any of these roads, particularly the Kancamagus (see Sabbaday Falls).
As you can see, you could easily spend all four days in the White Mountains; but it seems like you want to get more of a feel for New England. If you want to spend time in northern Vermont, Stowe is usually considered the best base for exploring the region (if you can still find lodging). I don't know the area as well so I can't recommend things to do for kids, but I'm sure a quick Google search will help you out. You might want to leave the White Mountains late on the 6th to drive to VT for that night.
If you can't find lodging in Stowe, consider somewhere around Woodstock or Killington. You could also reverse the itinerary and do Vermont before New Hampshire; at this point I think it all depends on where you can find accommodation and when!
Thank you everyone - esp the OP !!!
I am happily researching a trip to Boston, VT, Montreal, Ottowa, Toronto and Niagara so was very happy to stumble upon this.... we are booking VERY last minute.... well to be honest we rarely do anything more than 3 weeks in advance anyway...
I just booked the hotel in Niagara and am staying with friends in Toronto and Ottawa.... the rest I have to try to book up tomorrow... Am planning Boston over Columbus weekend and then through VT towards Montreal. There are 2 of us driving so if we don't get accom anywhere we can carry on driving so its not the end of the world but cost isn't too much of an issue so I am sure we will be fine. Just trying to get the maximum out of the trip as I have a list of other places in the US to visit before we start going back anywhere
So thank you all for the tips...
jayne, I hope you had a good trip. Unfortunately, the colors have turned out to be extremely poor this year. The excess rain from Hurricane Irene and the above average temperatures conspired to make the foliage very, very dull (and also pushed back the peak time by quite a bit). It's a shame that the season is not up to par, especially for those who may be visiting for the first and only time, but I hope you were able to find some nice colors nonetheless. You'll have to come back another year!
Yes here it is the 9th of October and we are having only about 25% of the usual color. It isn't the greatest year although it's 80 here in Central Maine today so that is a bonus.
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