Suggestions for SW Vermont for Oct 16-17

[nehal]

Hi,

Any suggestions for places in Southwest Vermont which can be visited from Albany area in New York for the coming weekend? Suggestions for backroads/covered bridges are welcome. Will it be past peak in Rutland, mt Equinox or Arlington by Oct 16-17? Have the rains in the past week have caused any leaf-drop?

Anxious npv

[pwt54]

Mt Equinox itself will be past peak. The lower elevations should have good color. I was talking to some covered bridge lovers in East Randolph and they had been down in that area between Manchester and Rutland and they thought the colors were still early. Southeast Vermont looked early yesterday when I was there. Routes US 7, 7A, 30, 133, 140, 153, and 315 are good routes.

[ixl]

I will be driving all around SW Vermont on Wednesday (and possibly Tuesday as well, if the gray clouds are nice enough to clear the area overnight tonight) and will post a report about this weekend.

My guess is that it will be excellent in the whole area... color-wise anyway, if not the weather. When I went through Rutland last Friday there was nearly no color so I doubt they will be past peak, nor do I think will Arlington be. --c

[ixl]

There are a couple covered bridges in the Bennington-Shaftsbury-Arlington area. One is off Route 67A on what I believe is called Silk Road, just south of it's intersection with 67A.

Yes.... this road comes off 67A in North Bennington about half a mile past the Home Depot and just about where the entrance is to Bennington College. --c

[electra]

Hi, Will be traveling in VT Oct 16-23. Will be coming from Maine to woodstock and wondering where to head North or south after that...to see peak colors? Thanks

[pwt54]

There are 2 more covered bridges off route 67A on the Murphy Road and one more off route 131 in Arlington. You can see it from the road.

[pwt54]

OOPS, I mean route 313 in Arlington. I'm only on my second cup of coffee.

[dfpvt]

From Albany, try the route via W. Rupert-Pawlet-Dorset-Manchester. Should still be good foliage and there are quite a few vista points from backroads. It's a mix of farmland and forests with minor elevation changes.

Take the Northway to Saratoga, exit on Route 29 East, follow it to 22, left to Salem, then right on route 153 in Salem to W. Rupert. You can either go over the summit on 315 down to Dorset, or turn left on Rupert-Pawlet Rd. through a forest of sugar maples to Pawlet, then right on route 30 to Dorset-Manchester.

Route 7 from Manchester to Bennington has some of the best vistas and is close to peak now, but should last awhile. You can cross a covered bridge if you take River Road from Manchester to Arlington, but you'll miss the best vistas of the Valley of Vermont from route 7.

If you want to continue on backroads, exit Route 7 at Arlington and take route 313 west to Cambridge, NY, then on to Albany via 22, etc. Or take Kelly Stand Road from East Arlington to points east if you have more time.

[ixl]

Good info, dfpvt, and welcome to the forums!

Only thing I would change is.. Kelly Stand Road is pretty much done with now, except for the first few miles in Arlington that follow Roaring Branch. --c

[dfpvt]

BM - thanks for the feedback on Kelly Stand Rd. The middle elevations in Bennington County seem to have the best foliage right now: still a lot of green mixed in with the red, orange and yellow.
Makes sense that higher up on Kelly Stand is past peak.

Manchester is close to peak now. Sunrise Sunday was spectacular, despite the cloudy weather. I noticed the highest leaves on the maples were starting to fall this morning.

[nehal]

Thanks for all the information. I will map thesse out and make a schedule. From all the replies it seems better to skip the mountain peaks in the Green Mountain National Forest. I'm having doubts if any mountains will last for the weekend for good photographs. The weather also has been kind of rainy/windy. We were early for Stowe and we went up north to catch some color, hope we are not too late in the South now.

[nehal]

Will a tripod help if the day is really cloudy or will it overexpose the fog/haze?

[ixl]

A tripod basically always helps. It is just more of a necessity when the weather is gloomy. Of course, it's also a nuisance. That's life.

Naturally it needs to be relatively calm as well.. windy days make for blurry leaf pictures. --c

[nehal]

bm- Thanks for the info on the covered bridges. From other sites using Google I found that there is a covered bridge in Arlington called "Chiselville Bridge" which is the second highest, I think in the US. Is that the same bridge you were talking about? There is a place called Chiselville too, in Yahoo!maps. Is there a chance that this bridge must be around there?


" Another is in East Arlington (or maybe actually in Sunderland) on the road that parallels Route 7A. My map actually does not have the road name on it, but I think it's Sunderland Hill Road. "


Thanks in advance. .

[dfpvt]

Yes, there's a covered bridge there. It's hard to photograph, but it's a nice bridge. I think the road is called Sunderland Hill at that point. It changes names several times between Arlington and Manchester.