Scenes of Vermont Forums

Hi - We booked a last minute trip to Vermont when we heard the colors were a bit late. Alas, I think the bad weather last week (and some leaf cutters) foiled out trip. We are in Jamaica and we drove thru Manchester and Dorset - all the hills have a LOT of leaf drop and the color is dull (pretty but brown and gold). We are thinking of canceling our rental here if we can but need your help on where to go. We followed this site and every fall tracker and I'm at a bit of a loss. I was so excited to land in Burlington - the colors were gorgeous - but it kept getting more and more faded out as we drown south on 100. This is our big trip for the year and I would appreciate any help!!! We have two little girls and we love to get out and hike. If we stay here I'm afraid it will just be all leafless tress in another day. Thank you so much!!

Bennington and surrounding areas were awesome this morning.
But if I were you I would go north: Rutland, Middlebury, and route 30 in general.
Is the best part of VT right now:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3952

I was in Jamaica/Townshend yesterday and I agree, very disappointing. So I headed north to Rutland and was much better.
And further NW towards the Lake should be even better.

Thank you, Triz. I appreciate the advice. I think that's what we'll try to do. Our vacation home her in Jamaica is incredible but the lack of leaves are making me a tad sad. We did head up to Merck Farms today and it was a great little trip with the girls. I'm going to see if I can find us a vacation home in the areas you suggested. Would Lake Dunmore be considered part of that area? I'm gun shy on it because when we were driving on the other side of those hills yesterday, it was leaf drop city. Thank you again!

I didn’t get up to the lake so not sure!

Lake Dunmore is usually a pretty good bet this time of year. I did not get down there this time around, so as long as that area didn’t suffer catapillar damage, you should be in luck! Hope you have a wonderful trip!

I am sympathetic with those who are not finding the color they expect, although my experience at leaf hunting here is that October 15 is late in the leaf season more often than you might think, something to keep in mind in planning for the future.

Notwithstanding this, there is still good color, you just have to hunt a bit. For example, although the Woodstock area has a lot of sticks, I was at the Jenne Farm on 106 at dawn yesterday, as were about 30 or 40 other photographers, and the color was very good, past peak, but very good. I spent most of the last two days in the Middlebury to Hinesburg area, where there was very little leaf drop, and bright color on many roads. I also found pockets of good color in the last two days in the Warren and Waitsfield areas.

My suspicion is that lower elevations to the west of the Greens will have good color for at least three or four days. Get off the highways, stay in lower elevations. To my eye, some of the roads in these areas are just coming into peak. So don't abandon ship just yet. These words from someone who has traveled these roads in autumn for nearly twenty years--and one who those who are not new to the forum know is not generally given to excessively enthusiastic reports!

vandewme13 wrote:Thank you, Triz. I appreciate the advice. I think that's what we'll try to do. Our vacation home her in Jamaica is incredible but the lack of leaves are making me a tad sad. We did head up to Merck Farms today and it was a great little trip with the girls. I'm going to see if I can find us a vacation home in the areas you suggested. Would Lake Dunmore be considered part of that area? I'm gun shy on it because when we were driving on the other side of those hills yesterday, it was leaf drop city. Thank you again!

vandewme13, we did 53 to Lake Dunmore and rte 30 south from Middlebury on Saturday and it was fantastic. As good as anything else we saw on our trip last week including peak foliage on the kanc early last week, excellent foliage in Stowe and Waitsfield etc. See my other post with my report.

Thank you, everyone! I'm watching the mist rise over the pond where we are staying in Jamaica and I'm reminded that, even with little color, this area is magical. We will enjoy the overcast day in Manchester and head out tomorrow to the areas you suggest. I was here in 2015 - the year it was really warm through October - and we left on the 13th (my birthday). It was peaking in the NEK right when we were leaving! When I heard it was warm again, and after checking the trackers and reports, I hoped we would be here right on time. Oh well, you can never predict Mother Nature. I'll share a report for others who may be headed that way in case it helps. Cheers to the fall and to great advice!