Here I am, back at work in Philly. Our trip was definitely too short and I miss New England already (Go Eagles though
)!
We spent 36 hours in Vermont, nearly half of them under a washout on Saturday. Next we drove on top of top of Mount Grelyock, then Mohawk trail up to bridge of Flowers, and then 112 down to Northampton.
Despite the rain, in VT we found an overall much better situation than last year. The only region that is really struggling to get color is the SE quadrant. Leaf-drop was variable, depending on the areas.
On the other side of the Green Mts, in the SW, we found bright oranges pretty much everywhere on rout 7 and 7A from Bennington to Manchester, and then on route 30 on the Green Mts from Manchester up to Bromley.
Then the color abruptly ended as soon as we got on the East/South-East side of the Green Mts. Unsurprisingly, the temperature was almost 10 F higher in Townshend compared to Manchester and Bennington.
Jamaica, Townshend, Newfane looked mostly dull, green or brown. Some spotty orange here and there. It seems like this side was much more affected by the unseasonable heat of last week.
I am afraid that this regions won't get any foliage (like last year): leaves will just fall at some point.
We still enjoyed taking some pics at the Scott Bridge near Townshend. The hill in front of the bridge had some orange colors, unfortunately not bright but I think it was still nice.
From there, in the afternoon we drove to Rutland: once we got there, I saw a very promising hill that was colorful: I took a backroad that was pointing in that direction (Notch Road). This road was spectacular, trees were all reds and oranges up to the top. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!
In the evening we had a great, delicious dinner at the Publyk House in Bennington. Thanks CTYanky for the suggestion!
The next morning was the major highlight of the trip: the night had been frosty, and thanks to this weather the hills around Bennington that the previous day were still mostly green turned to a very bright orange altogether.
The morning light did the rest. I have read many times of how the foliage can be sudden and quick, and I finally witnessed it with my eyes. It was like if someone turned on a click.
In front of our hotel there was a small pond, and at 7 am the mist was rising and combined with the colors of the surrounding hills it was spectacular.
We then drove to downtown Bennington for Breakfast: all the trees in town were so colorful and bright!
Too bad we had too leave already to head to MA and then Philly.
Interestingly enough, while Bennington was "on fire", just a few miles south the area around Williamstown MA was totally green. It seemed summer there. And in fact the view from Mount Greylock was definitely early, even if still very impressive.
On the Mohawk there was very nice color between North Adams and Florida: again the leaf-drop was very variable depending on the areas.
Then we got to Shelburne Falls, where we took pics of the amazing Bridge of Flowers (Thanks again CTYanky!).
From there, route 112 to Northampton was again really beautiful: the colors, the landscape, we really enjoyed it!
Thanks everyone in this forum for the great advice! This is a fantastic resource!
Here are a few pictures.
BONDVILLE, GREEN MTS
VIEW FROM SCOTT BRIDGE, NEAR TOWNSHEND
NOTCH ROAD, RUTLAND
TOWNSHEND DAM
and it will slow up the process even more.
I have more to share except I need to look at my Jimapco! CT