My itinerary, please advise..

[war72]

My first post, what a great forum!!
I am arriving Boston On Oct 3 (Tuesday) at 1 PM, will be staying at Stowe. Plan on spending the next day there, and have to be in Woodstock by nightfall on October 4. Then will be going to Maine the next day. So I have about 2 days in effect, not a very long time but..
My primary interest is photography, kind of an advanced amateur.
My questions are :
1. What is the best route to go from Boston to Stowe, specially a good place to view the sunset? Should I just try and drive straight to Stowe or stop by the Peacham, Orange area if its on the way?
2. My plan for the next day is to go to Smugglers notch and spend at least the morning there. Of course, take some pics of Stowe village itself. Anything else I shouldnt miss?
3. Go down Hwy 100 south to Woodstock in the evening, stopping on the way. Any must sees on the way? Specially any covered bridges in the area?
Thanks in advance..

[tremint]

First of all I dont think there are any points where you can get a sunset. Especially we are in the east coast so that would be a difficult think.
In Stowe, the typical shots are of the church in the center. There are two angles. One is from the road. And the other is throw the trees. You will have to climb a hill closer to the church and then view it.
Then there is a water fall (Moss Glen Falls) near stowe. You have to climb up to get a shot. Get a book written by David Middleton for the locations.


http://www.painetworks.com/photos/ia/ia0302.JPG

[tremint]

Check this link for inspiration

http://www.terragalleria.com/america/north-east/vermont/vermont.all.html

[courtmel]

tremint-

Thanks for that great link to truly beautiful foliage pics that might just hold me over until we get up to Stowe Oct 11-15. I hope it is not too late for that area. From these beautiful photos I think I would love to check out East Topsham and East Corinth. Are they far from Stowe?

[Andy]

Here is my 2 cents, Anil: It looks to be about 160 miles from Boston to Waits River on Waits River Road. There are "classic" shots there (If you go the the terrascaping link in this thread, you will see the photographer's shots of Waits River, E. Corinth, E. Topsham, etc.). The Waits River shot is an afternoon shot. If weather is good and you don't stop too many other times along the way , you should be able to get there in time and its probably the easiest to find. I spent some time there last year (my shot is on the contributors section -- unfortunately, color wasn't very good). Once you are on the Waits River Road (State Road 25) -- I believe you can get on it directly from I-91, though I actually did it from the north, you will literally drive right through the Village. At the church, a road goes to your left. Turn down that road, drive across the bridge and turn around and you will see the scene. East Orange is in the same area and is also an afternoon light shot. Unfortunately, the road to shoot is from has become largely obscured by new growth trees. We did find one gap. If you want better directions, I can probably help. But it will take 15 minutes or more -- even if you know where it is, to get to it from Waits River, so you may run out of light to work both. There is also supposed to be a shot of E. Topsham that is an afternoon shot. I went there and could not find an unobscure view. These shots are all on the site link above. I don't know if you can see it there, but East Orange has kind of a multi-colored steeple. IMHO, Waits River is a much better shot.

You won't see in the photos (mine or the link), there are some nasty man-made obstacles to the shot (a stop sign, an orange gas vent or something--also the roof of the building on the far right in the "village" shot is no longer silver as in the link. Nor is it the green in my photo--I took some liberty in photoshop to tone it down. Still -- worth the shot).

Peacham is a little more "out of the way" and at least another 25 miles. But it, too, is an afternoon shot. One thing about Vermont -- because of the way the mountain ranges run, you often have to "go there to get here." If you were in Waits River, you can take the road from E. Corith up -- but it is very much country back road. I doubt you would have time to do both the same day, but maybe. Our experience was we seemed to have a long time before the sun at Peacham was so low that we were out of light. If you go for Peacham instead, you would probably continue on up to somewhere near Barnett on the Interstate (I would never suggest the interstate if you want to see things -- but if you are trying to get to that location, its probably faster). Then turn West. I am not sure the road names and PWT or Bm or Tim can probably give you much better directions. I understand there are some scenes on the way from Barnett to Peacham that just might waylay you anyway . I gave iconnian directions once you get into the Village of Peacham on the "Groton Peacham Oh Yeah!" thread.

Both areas will leave you a ways from Stowe when you are done. Hope this helps.

[tremint]

It would be great if you could send in the directions to East Orange and E. Topsham

[pwt54]

East Corinth is on route 25. Take the Village road from route 25 in East Corinth to get to East Topsham. Waits River and West Topsham are also on route 25. If you are in Peacham continue the Peacham Road south to route 302 in Groton Village. Turn right and got about 1/2 of a mile and look for the Powder Springs Road on the left next to the church with the clock. This road ends as the Village Road in East Corinth. There are some good sunsets on Lake Champlain near Burlington. The sun will set behind the Adirondacks in New York. There are a couple of places near Stowe that have possibilities for sunsets. The Stowe Hollow Road between Stowe and Waterbury center is the closest. In Stowe village, take School Street across from the church. Drive about 1/4 of a mile and look for the Stowe Hollow Road on the right. The first few miles of this road is tree lined on both sides. The you come out on top of a hill with a big wide open area ahead. This is Stowe Hollow. At the bottom of the hill turn right. In about 1/2 of a mile you will see a covered bridge on the right.(bonus!) Drive throught the bridge and park on the left. Check out the bridge and then hop back in the car and drive back through the bridge and go straight. From now on west will be on your right. There are a couple of places with long views to the west on this road. When this road ends in Waterbury Center Village, turn right to get back to route 100. The other road is the Elmore Mountain Road. Take route 100 north out of Stowe. In about 2 miles you will come to a long straight stretch of road with a farm on the left. At the end of this straight stretch route 100 curves left. At the top of this curve is The Randolph Road. Turn right onto the Randolph Road. In about a half a mile the Randolph Road curves left with the Elmore Mountain Road on the right. Turn right on this road. West will be on your left. When this road ends on route 12, turn left to get back to route 100 in Morrisville. (My 2 typing fingers are cramping up.)

[Andy]

Vermont State Road 25 (aka Waits River Road) runs between 302 and 5. I think its also accessible from I91 near 5. It goes generally northwest/southeast.

East Orange is on East Orange Road which starts at 25 and goes West. It actually comes off 25 in two places in a little triangle. Its easy to miss--very small sign that says E. Orange. Its only a mile or two to the Village of East Orange. If you are trying to photograph, when you get into the village, turn left on the street directly across from the church and in a small way up road, there is a dirt road on the left that goes up a steep hill. Take the dirt road up to the top where it levels off and keep going until you reach a curve to the right and a wide spot in the road. You will need to turn around at the wide spot. You can pull off and park there. The view to the village is from that road. It is mostly overgrown with new growth trees. We were a little dissappointed, but we did find a view down through. You will need a fairly long lens to get an intimate shot of the church (we used between 120 and 200mm on digital cameras with a 1.5 factor).

E. Topsham is on the Topsham-Corinth Road (also called E. Corinth Road and Village Road on my DeLorme Street Atlas software. Its just a little way south of Waits River which is on 25 south of the E. Orange Road above. The Topsham-Corinth road goes due north from 25 and is at a hard angle if you are coming from the north. There is a small store/gas station at the intersection. If you go north on this road, you will go through E. Corinth. E. Topsham is about 2 miles north of E. Corinth. You’ll go through “Topsham Four Corners” first. The “afternoon shot” is through the village past the church on the road to the right. We couldn’t find a good shot through the trees. The “morning shot” which I didn’t check out is on the other side. I didn’t look at that. I will probably check that out this year. In the village of E. Topsham, the road changes name to the north to Power Springs Road (as Pwt points out). This goes from E. Topsham to Groton on route 302, which is how you would get there from the north (Peacham/Barnett area).

[Andy]

Oops. That should be Powder Springs Road (not Power)

[pwt54]

That's alright, it's still next to the church with a clock in the steeple.