State of color

[admin]

Have just driven I-91 from the Quebec border to White River Junction. Color was at peak all the way south rto St.Johnsbury, but after that it was about half color and dark brown then more green nearing WRJ. From this brief viewpoint ir would seem that color won’t be strong in the Woodstock Quechee area for another week. Overall color has been delayed about five days compared to last year

[MinnieB]

I can say I've seen a lot of the green brown green/yellow to brown going on in Woodstock and Quechee. I hit up a couple of co-workers last night that live around Chester to see how things look out their way and they said it's the same. Not much color yet, but leaves are just turning brown and dropping off. It's been weird here in Lebanon, NH, too. Trees that normally are the last to turn have turned first. Seeing trees turning half way then starting to brown. It's too bad because there are some bright yellow trees, Beech, I think, that would otherwise look great. I was going to head out towards Middlebury Gap/Manchester area today. It's not supposed to be raining there. But on the fence at the moment.

[triz]

It sounds a lot like 2017 unfortunately

[loafer89]

From what I can see from the webcams Mad River Glen has some decent foliage color, maybe 50% changed. The Bolton Valley cams looked good also.

Further south, Stratton Mountain itself had some good color, Killington looked very green.

[MinnieB]

I ventured out today, I took Rt. 89 N. to exit 3. A lot of brown and green along 89. Took 107S to 100N then 125W to Ripton and made a stop at the Robert Frost Interpretive trail. I'd always wanted to go there, so thought I'd take a shot. Well, not much color at all until Rt 125. There was spotty color on 100. The best of the day was Breadloaf Mtn. It was fairly colorful, especially the reds. It seems the red-leaved trees are doing better than yellows and oranges this year. They have been bright. One mountain I saw was mostly brown except a patch of red at the top. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to a good spot to pull over to get a shot of Breadloaf. I had read the Robert Frost trail had views of that mountain and another one, but could only see a bit of Breadloaf and none of the other one. Maybe I didn't hit the right trail. It was mostly green along the trail. And the green-brown issue we've been seeing. I'll post some pics from here later.

From there I went down Rt. 7, planning to go by Mt. Tabor and on to Manchester Center. But as I drove down Rt. 7 it just got greener, it seemed. There was some spotty color but nothing to write home about. I decided to cut it short and head home and then I remembered Singleton's Market in Ludlow. They have THE best deli sandwiches. They smoke their own meats. They have wonderful bacon. Get the #14, Perky Turkey, you will not be disappointed. And if you ever hit it lucky when they make their mac and cheese you definitely want to get some of that. It is the best I've ever had. Especially if they make the kitchen sink one with a bunch of their different smoked meats in it. So, off I went onto Rt. 103 and to my surprise I found some decent color along that road. Mt. Holly to Okemo was not bad. Maybe 60 - 70%. Hawk's Mountain had nice color, too, along Rt. 131. Mt. Ascutney was still pretty green, but there was some decent color coming along down below along the road. I went up 91 N then 89S to go back to Lebanon and 91 didn't have much color as was mentioned in the original post.

[ctyanky]

Minnie, thanks for the report! Sounds like a full day. I've always had luck at the mountainside behind Breadloaf and it does have a lot of reds! Also, I've been on the Robert Frost Trail 3 x's now and it is so peaceful, love the poems around every bend. If you ever go there with a bit of stress, strolling the trails and reading his poetry and seeing all the bees flying around those gardens will rid you of any worries for sure. Across from it, and down a piece, is the Robert Frost Road. A narrow dirt road paralleled by stone walls that leads you to his cabin and a nice field of flowers and apple trees where he sat writing some of his poems. I was wondering if you stopped there? I think someone took the sign down last time I was there but if you go slowly, you can't miss it. There is some sort of visitor's center or caretaker's house at the dead end but they have a sign there for visitor parking.

Thanks for the deli recommendation. We are planning a second hike to the fire tower at Okemo so this may be a nice place to pick up some lunch for the drive home. It sounds great! Just what we like after a long hike.

If you go back to Manchester at all let me know how the foliage is progressing as we are heading there in a couple of weeks to do the hike up Prospect Rock or Lye Brook Falls. Maybe the color will be good then, after Columbus Day Weekend.

Again, thanks for popping in here with your informative posts! CT

[MinnieB]

CT,
The forum as been so helpful to me, I'm happy to pitch in. I didn't go to Robert Frost's cabin. I know there was something else related to him and I did pass it on my way to the trail, but I didn't go there, because I didn't know what it was. I'll have to try it again sometime. Have you ever done the upper trails at the Robert Frost Interpretive trails? I didn't go up there today as it was about to rain again any second. I just wonder if you get any better mountain views from there. Here are the only pics I took today. The last one will show the green/yellow to brown issue I and others have mentioned. It's not just the trees either. It seems to be hitting shrubs and plants as well. I'm going to try to insert URLs to my photos, not sure if this is going to work though.

[MinnieB]

It didn't work. How do I insert pics?

[MinnieB]

I think I figured it out.

[ctyanky]

Minnie, can you tell me where you found out that there were upper trails for Robert Frost's Interpretive Trail? I can't find any information on upper trails. I'd like to explore them! Are you referring to the upland spurs of the trail? Someone mentioned on alltrails that they are called Waterfall Trails? I didn't do the upland spurs but will try them next fall.

[MinnieB]

CT, Look at the black-dotted lines on this map:

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail ... static-map

This might be the water tower trails. Not sure. I saw a small bridge that went some where, close by the road less traveled poem that was posted. It looked like it went up into the woods. When I looked at the map at the kiosk it showed 3 trails shooting off the main trails, but I never saw any markers for them. Maybe those are the spurs you mentioned.

In the link I gave, there was a post or two about the "upper trails" in the comments.

[ctyanky]

Thank you minnie. There appears to be a web of trails in the upper loops that go on endlessly as well. I'll have to look at these more closely as some are blue trails and some are black trails. I never realized they were there and now I do, thanks to you! I'm sure I will be on them at some point. I have so many hiking trails on my list now!!! Hope you can share some of your favorites in southern VT because I do most of them on day trips right up until it snows. November hiking is the best. CT

[pkb2508]

Following Ed's observations, I took 114 through Averill, Canaan and went up 3 North through Pittsburg and to the border. Color was very good throughout. Then yesterday I took the other side of 3 down to Colebrook and Dixville Notch. Colebrook was nice, but Dixville Notch was simply dazzling, especially near The Balsams.

I am spending a couple of near Peacham before leaving for Boston late Thu. Late this morning I checked out Martins and Marshfield ponds, and I think the possibilities are very good for a foggy sunrise with a little warmer temperature tomorrow. Rest of the day I intend to explore Peacham and the ponds in Groton.

Ed: how did you find Victory Forest area? Victory and Darling State Park are on my list for this trip.

[MinnieB]

CT, I don't know any hikes in Southern VT as I am in the Upper Valley area, so I don't get down there too often.

[Green45]

Hi,
I'm new to the forum and just returned home from a trip to Vermont visiting my daughter, son-in-law and grandson. We were in the Waitsfield/Mt Ellen area from Sept 20 to Oct 5 and then in Huntington until Oct 9. The color around Mt Ellen on Oct 5 was pretty good and in Huntington it was about 50%. The colors in Huntington were not as good as last year. Last year there were a lot of reds, yellows, and oranges, and this year there was a lot of rust color. The yellows didn't get very yellow and browned and fell quickly. I also noticed a lot of rust color around Mt Ellen. Maybe it was the light as we didn't have many sunny days when we were in that area.

The drive on route 17 from Mt Ellen through App Gap to Gore Rd was great for color. It should be peak or past peak now. We also drove on some back roads around Lincoln, and that area was about 50% then and probably near peak now.