St. Johnsbury and north

[Fallleafechidna]

Kelly Stand is in the Bennington area but much higher up so it peaks earlier. I plan to drive it this weekend.

Bear in mind that while Kelly Stand is a beautiful drive, it's not generally a star color location. Trees in that area tend to turn more yellow than any other color, in my experience. But we'll see.

As From_the_NEK said, there's still a lot more color in places where it would normally be gone by now.

I've seen excellent color right around Bennington almost up to Halloween, and this may be one of those years.

I drove up to the start of Kelly Stand from USFS 71 and it was predominantly mixed coloring with red and yellow and orange. I agree with you that its mostly yellow on Kelly stand due to the large number of Beech Tree's. Last year at this point USFS 71 was 75% bare.

Thanks all.

Did even the lower part of Kelly you did look peak already? Could it make it to this weekend or even next Monday/Tues or so? Would that be even too early for most of the area this year? Last year I got everywhere a bit late, the 2-3 days from peak proved false everywhere as I think people were tricked by uneven turn so as long as they saw some green they said not yet peak, but all that happened is all the red fell off and the other stuff mostly never turned much so the 2-3 days from near peak turned out all past peak for much of NEK and even some of Bennington area (where most seemed dried up or past peak, but Kelly Stand road was the one great one there when i was there last year, plus the drive itself is cool, especially some parts where they actually didn't log recently, for once, in VT, and you actually see some somewhat older trees). I saw some good color last year on a very few little spots around the SW NEK (some of my main pond spots up there were definitely past peak), Kelley Stand, and most of all, the Groton State Forest area. The rest, everywhere, was much just 2 days past peak or that plus dried or just dried. I think we were already heading home on the 5th last year.

[ixl]

Bottom of Kelly Stand Road is in Arlington, around 1000' IIRC. Nowhere at low elevation anywhere around here is anywhere near peak. Plenty of time.

[Andy]

Wow. Nice stuff there, Tim. I was in Lyndonville last weekend. Guess I missed it by a week

[From_the_NEK]

Yesterday morning St Johnsbury, really flat light and hazy:

Birches and the Backdrop by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

Birches and the Backdrop2 by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

Foliage Road by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

Flashy Foliage by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

Rough Around the Edges by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

[From_the_NEK]

Yesterday evening Lyndon/Wheelock:

I went with the "golden" theme last night.

Golden Tunnel by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

Golden Hour by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

Golden Hour View by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

Golden Hour Road by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

[Fallleafechidna]

looks nice! seems like even up there it was only just around almost peaking today in many places, maybe tomorrow the peak of the peak (after that it usually lasts but another 1-3 days before it's done though, still should be great at least for saturday, sunday too with luck).

yeah this year is much later than last year for sure
yeah you were right that it seemed like peak was still a day or two or three from your last post

seems like NEK was far enough north to avoid the nasty worst of the drought

[mgdolly86]

Tim_NEK - We are planning to take NEK route from St. Johnsbury.. we were planning to drive St Johhsbury (Rt 114 and US5) - Lyndone (US5) -Newport (I91) - Jays State Forest (Rt 242) - Montgomery (Rt 242) - Waterbury..

What i saw from your pictures posted is we should take route 5 from Lyndon to visit Sutton? I checked the pictures on https://www.flickr.com/photos/77159597@N07/ and ''Sutton Autumn View'' which look awesome.. are the Cow shots also in Sutton? Could you please suggest were are these shots taken from/directions and details etc? I cant seem to find thees details online ..

Have you visited Lake Willoughby or Island Pond? Which is better for this year foliage?

[From_the_NEK]

First off, I'm glad you liked my pictures and I'm glad you are so enthusiastic about foliage.
It sounds like you are planning to cover a lot of ground. I too find myself wishing I can be everywhere at once to see the foliage. However, I have to remind myself to slow down and enjoy what is around me instead of trying to do it all and getting frustrated.

It sounds like you want to start in St Johnsbury and end up near Jay Peak. Do you plan on returning someplace at the end of the day?

Here is a recommended route that mixes in part of the "NEK Central" Great Driving Route found here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2008


This route will take you over Pudding Hill in Lyndon to Sutton. Along the way there are several farms with cows and mountain views. Then across a hilltop with wide open views before dropping into the valley of West Burke. From there you cross Route 5 and take Route 5A to Lake Willoughby. From there you go to May Pond, and then Barton. Then you cross under Interstate and head to Irasburg and then Lowell. Then Route 100 for a bit before taking a scenic back road to Route 242 which will lead you to Jay Peak.

https://goo.gl/maps/USst5RxhuWq