Scenes of Vermont Forums

Hello all. First post. Greeting from Chile.
I am currently researching what will be my third fall foliage trip, to be done in 2020. Having already seen most if not all of the must see fall foliage sights in Vermont, I am now looking for some quite specific locations. For my next trip I want to see one and one kind of scene only: tree tunnels/canopy, preferably backs roads, the thicker and redder the better, as I have already seen plenty of yellow color both in New England and in the West of the US. I have seen Smugglers Notch, Groton State Forest, VT-100, The Kanc, etc, this time I would like to explore the back roads of Vermont, and below is a photo of the kind of place I am looking for. Any suggestion of roads to explore would be most welcome. From my reasearch, there's not many with this kind of foliage, but I'm sure that there must be plenty, and that is the reason I am turning to you. Thank you.

Hello viajero all the way from Chile! Welcome! At first thought, I have found these tree canopies/tunnels during my travels in Lincoln, VT.

Here are some of the names:

Off 116: Upper Notch Road to Notch Road to the Lincoln Road to West Hill Road. Turn left or right on either York Road or Gove Hill Road. This may be what you are looking for around or after Columbus Day.

I have many more to give you but it may take time to go through my past posts. Also, we have no idea how our foliage season will unfold at this point in time, and to provide you with the "perfect canopy/tree tunnel" is a gamble. I'm sure others will chime in but I will keep looking for more of what you are interested in. I can name the roads I've been on but there is no guarantee you will find the same when you are here, or it may not be what you expected. (Just a disclaimer! )

By the way, do you have a time frame locked in yet as well as lodging? If not, I would hop on it. We are just two months from the start of autumn. Things are booking up fast on the weekends.

Good luck! CT

Hi again Chile: I found two other roads in South Starksboro (think that is the location). You may find what you are looking for here as well:

Elder Hill Road and a quote from my Lincoln adventure post two years ago: "I picked up Quaker St at South Starksboro. This was a gorgeous drive in this direction and I turned on Isham Hollow Road, one of my favorite back roads. Beautiful yellow and gold colors canopied over head....."

I've also experienced the tunnel effect on:

Common Road in Waitsfield (central VT), Darling Hill Road in Lyndonville/East Burke, Hazen's Notch Route 58 from Lowell to Montgomery, Lincoln Ripton Road, Natural Turnpike from start to finish ending at route 125, Popple Dungeon Road in Chester to Andover.

Many of the forest service roads (ie Natural Turnpike), have canopies/tree tunnels. You should google them for locations.

CT

Thank you, ctyanky!
No worries about timing for this trip... I'm not going till 2020, and will be in VT from late sept to lat oct. Please share all the info you can about roads with tunnels/canopy, regardless of peak dates, as I will be based in central VT and are not afraid to drive long distances every day whenever peak happens to arrive.

Great info, ctyanky! Thank you very much.

You're welcome! I just read your initial post again and saw that you are planning for 2020. A whole month in Vermont sounds perfectly amazing. If I come across more of what you are looking for this fall or when I am up there non foliage season, I'll give you some more roads to check out.

CT

Keeping in mind the "theme" of the trip: tunnels/canopy...

I already have a "home base" to cover regions 1 to 5 for the first half of the trip, from late september to Columbus Day.
(ref: vermont.com)

I now need to find a central, logical, home base for the second part, to cover regions 6 to 11 after Columbus Day. The town/city itself is not important, all I neeed is a home base to sleep between full day trips.

Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thank you.

Hi, my vote would be for the Rutland/Killington, Ludlow area or Woodstock/Barnard/Pomfret areas. CT

Just found a perfect, quiet, mountain place in Bridgewater, more or less between your suggested locations. Thank you!

Excellent! You know, I was looking at the map you attached and the first town I saw was Bridgewater. So I decided to circumvent that area with the suggestions I made to you. You will love it there. Nice general store with amazing owners and goods right there.

CT

PS - there is a nice tree tunnel out of Chester VT taking route 35 south out of town towards Grafton. We drove it last autumn later in the season. Just gorgeous. You will like the Chester, Weston, Ludlow area as well. Also, the Poppledungeon Road off 35 south out of Chester for added tree tunnels which I mentioned in the previous post.

CT

Great! Now all I have to do is to keep looking for those elusive tunnels.

CT, I know this is off-topic but given your expertise I'm going take the opportunity to ask if in your opinion it makes any sense to head west, or south, after VT. Or just call it a day, go home, settle back and savor the memories.

I have been to the Adirondacks, ME, MA, CT PA and all of the Appalachians before, but always in summer or early-mid september, and obviously all of it was green; lovely for sure, but green.

In other words, if I were to keep on chasing peak foliage during the first half of november, is there a region in New England that would make sense, in terms of color and cost? (no point in spending big $ to see bare trees, at least not this time).

Thanks

I'm going to step out on a limb here and tell you we are pretty much done with foliage in southern New England in the first half of November. We are mostly entering stick season. I can't speak for the Cape and the Islands (Nantucket, Vineyard) or the coast of Rhode Island. I would defer to others with expertise in those areas. Remember, wind and rain storms kill the leaves and that occurs mainly towards the end of October/early November. I can't advise further west because I have no experience past PA/upper New York states. With that being said, I would say cherish your memories and save your bucks for 2021! Unless of course, others have differing opinions on your question and I would welcome their input. Last fall, we found gorgeous color in southern VT the third week in October but that fizzled fast after the rains came.

I hope this helps. CT

It helps a lot. Thank you.

Viajero: When we were in Woodstock last weekend, the Cloudland Road would be a great canopy road for you as well as parts of Allen Hill Road for your list. But I'm sure you have already been on Cloudland!