10/2 Report

[MrBumps]

Just a report from my morning travels today. I started at Peacam around sunrise.

Peacham was OK. The larger maples in town had dropped most their leaves, but the hillsides looked nice. There was one tree I photographed last year around the 6th that was full and vibrant then. Today there was not one leaf on that tree!

Groton was OK too. There was some leaf loss there, but remaining color was good.

I hit route 25 off of 302 and went through West Topsham, and Waits River. Significant loss of leaves, and what color that's left is dull. The closer I got to the CT River, the better the leaves were, but the color was very early. IF the leaves hold out, it could be very good along Route 5 next weekend.

Since the light got too harsh for photography, I decided to scope out Woodstock. Some nice color in South Woodstock, Reading, etc. I don't think it's quite peak, but it's photogenic. The Jenne farm looked nice. The big maples around the barn were orange. One is still half green, and one of the orange ones has lost about 25% of it's leaves, but still very photogenic. Cloudland Road had some nice color, especially in the surrounding hillsides. Not peak, but pretty close, and good leaf coverage. Pomfret area looked nice also. I think I am going to hit the Pomfret area tomorrow for sunrise.

Route 110 from South Royalton up through Tunbridge and Chelsea is a total loss. At least 80% leaf loss, and almost no color. The winds and rain hit there hard.

[BostonRott]

Very valuable report for those of us not coming til next week, thank you so much!!!

[Rockwall Tim]

This is such an informative report. It'll save me time and gas next weekend. Thanks so much!

[lirwin13]

I made a loop up through the NEK (as far north as Lake Willoughby and Barton), back down through Peacham, and then over to the Groton State Forest today. The color in the NEK was good in some spots, and showed a lot of leaf loss in others. The cloudy weather dulled the effect of the leaves that were turned. The brisk temperatures certainly made it feel like fall. Stopped in Brownington near Lake Willoughby and visited the Prospect Hill observatory, which is well worth a visit for anyone in the area. Views up to Lake Memphremagog with some nice farms nearby. The Peacham area was nice, and the sun showed up for a while as I was walking around the town. Definitely better color (in my opinion) than areas further north. Groton State Forest had excellent color along the roads, but cloudy conditions and the late afternoon light made it hard for photos. The colors were so nice in that area, I plan to head back to Danville/Peacham/Cabot in the morning and hopefully check out Owl's Head before heading home through Franconia Notch. My overall impression this year is that the colors are much more "spotty" than in previous years, with pockets of good color to be found here and there. I think someone else posted that there don't seem to be as many reds this year, and I found that to be true as well. Seems like a lot of yellow. But how can you beat fall in Vermont? Regardless of the weather, the colors are still there, and there are lots of great areas to explore!

[Rockwall Tim]

Thanks for the informative report! Y'all are special people.

[hjb]

heading over to vermont this week for my annual photography expedition, been doing the adirondacks in upstate NY a couple times this past week, and I agree, lots of yellows here, very sparse reds. I've been doing the northern Adks for quite a few years, and this year, similar to what you're saying about Vermont, lots of nice color in spots, but lots of sub-par areas are making the overall impression less then breathtaking. We also had heavy rains, and while the streams and waterfalls are very photogenic, I'm finding the long range vistas less not very impressive. I'm noticing that many of the upper slopes of our mountains are turning predominately evergreen, thus less and less color as the years go by. Also, private citizens seem to be planting more evergreens on their own properties, making the roadside foliage more and less green, green, and more green. I wonder if the local Chambers of Commerce shouldn't be out encouraging the planting of "foliage trees" (lol) to help the future leaf peeping industry.

[lirwin13]

Sounds like the Adirondacks are about the same as northern VT from what you're saying. It's still beautiful, just not as colorful or photogenic as I've seen in years past. I forgot to mention the water in my earlier post... thanks to the recent rains, many of the streams and smaller rivers that would usually be photo-worthy are running too full to make for the types of photos that do them justice.