Connecticut Foliage October 2017

[loafer89]

I figured I would start a thread for posting of foliage conditions in Connecticut for 2017. I did a drive today around North Central and Northeastern Connecticut. The foliage color was fairly poor with a lot of brown color, or trees going from green to bare. I drove on Route 190 east to Route 32 North to Palmer and then I-90 - I-91 and home again. Around my town I drove to Ellington, South Windsor and Windsorville.

Limited foliage color in Enfield:



Somers:

[loafer89]

I took another drive this morning up to Northeast Connecticut looking for some decent fall foliage color. Routes traveled where 190 East to Soapstone Mountain and then south from there to I-84, East to Mashpaug Pond. From there I went East on 171 to 44 and then west to Coventry, Bolton, Ellington, Somers and home. Honestly the best fall color that I could find was closer to home in Ellington/Somers

Bolton Pond:



Ellington:



Somers:

[ctyanky]

loafer: thanks for your driving efforts/posting. We are still mostly green here in my area, hard to believe. One cold night waking up to 30's was a bit of a shock to the system.

I'm going back to Barkhamsted Reservoir this Saturday after checking out route 179 N through North Canton. I may continue to route 20 west up around the Hartland/Riverton areas again and if it looks better, will continue on 44 back to the extreme NW corner at Canaan and then down around Washington, Goshen, the Cornwalls and Litchfield. I'll let you know if I find anything worth a drive for you. I've tooled around most (if not all) of the back roads in the CT hills so if you are ever interested let me know. I'm skipping the NE corner for now as I'm buried in fairs and festivals every weekend for the next two months. Have you ever been to the Coventry Farmers Market? This weekend is coined as their biggest event of the year and it will also enable me to check the foliage in that area....

https://www.facebook.com/coventryfarmersmarket

Also, have you hiked Soapstone Mountain in Somers? I understand that is an excellent hike with great views! The fire tower though, is not in use....

This weather is scrumptious and I'm soaking in each and every moment of this fall weather! Just getting back to work after 3 weeks of a blissful vacation!!!! I've already made plans for next year in Vermont!

Again, thanks for posting your recent drives. Let me know if you proceed to find color anywhere and I'll follow your lead.

[loafer89]

I really thought there would be some good foliage color to be found in Northeastern Connecticut, but it was just as bad as Southern Vermont and Massachusetts. Honestly I would not bother going there for foliage color this year. I used to live in Coventry and my son volunteered at the Hale Homestead, so I am familiar with the farmers market. I have not been down by the famers market for fall foliage, but Route 44 and 31 where okay, nothing great. The foliage seems to get better the closer you get to the Connecticut River, not sure why. I was thinking about driving to the Mohawk area on Saturday, but the foliage has been so lackluster around here this year, I may just skip it. I drove around town and to the MA line in Somers today and the foliage is near peak in most spots, but the primary color is red.

[ctyanky]

loafer: If you get to Mohawk Mtn. (I think there is also a festival this weekend!) I have a great route for you to follow. Drive the West Cornwall Road (off of 128 and route 7) for quite a distance. It's a beautiful winding road through farms and past the National Audubon Society where there are beautiful marshes and nice pond views (Miles Pond). We got some great reflections there last season. Continue on this road to Eggleston Road (a very narrow dirt road through the forest and past a great farm on the hillside with a lot of red barns! - I took markm from SE MA from our forum here last year for a CT tour). Eggleston ends at White Hollow Road which is simply divine. You take White Hollow Road to 112 to Lime Rock! This is one of my favorite loops in that area. You can also see if there is any color at the West Cornwall Bridge before you head on this loop. I think you will really enjoy it, if not, save for next time! I'm probably heading to the covered bridge myself on Saturday, going to be a spectacular weekend! BTW the Wandering Moose Café shut down abruptly last year much to my dismay. markm was probably there for breakfast just before we headed out and then it closed for good! I really loved that place. Oh well!

Also Music Mountain Road and Cream Hill Road are amazing drives! Put on your GPS, they are not far from the above loop!

Have a great leaf peeping weekend and good luck! I'm totally excited for this weekend's driving tours!!!! CT

[loafer89]

I did the foliage loop yesterday in Northwestern Connecticut with my son. We traveled 1-91, Route 20, Route 318, Route 44, Route 8, Route 4, West Cornwall Road, Riga Road, Mt Washington Road, Route 41 and Route 187. The best foliage was to be found in Canaan, Norfolk and Winchester. Mt Washington/Riga Road was past peak. Mohawk Mountain was peak, but we arrived at noon, with bright sunlight bleaching the colors. There is much better color closer to home and Enfield, Ellington, Somers, Granby and Broad Brook are at peak with tons of vibrant colors considering the poor fall foliage this year so far:

Mohawk Mountain:


Norfolk Tower Road:


Enfield:


Enfield:


Somers:

[Karma2x]

Thanks for photo evidence that at least something is happening with foliage up in the N/NW corners of CT. Down here by the south eastern shoreline, it has been one of the most lackluster fall foliages I have seen in years. Leaves have been drying up, turning brown and getting stripped - remaining foliage is mostly green. If I have to put a number on it, I would say about 15% change and directly to what almost looks like the muted colors of past peak. Fall foliage has not been skunked this bad in CT in years, and I dont think it is just the 70+ temps we have been having in Oct. There has got to be some fungus or beetle activity being helped along by the high temps.

[loafer89]

I spent one more day locally today, taking in the fall color before the rain and wind wreck it over the next few days:

Barkhamstead:



Barkhamstead:



Mountain Road:



Enfield:



Somers:



Whites Pond:

[ctyanky]

loafer: meant to get back to your post after my action packed weekend but I am still recuperating. I returned to the NW corner and found a lot of gorgeous, emerging colors and peak colors in many towns but it was intermittent and not widespread. I took 20 over the top of the CT border and yes Granby is great, so I'm returning there Saturday. I took 20 into Colebrook this time and took Smith Hill Road (beautiful colors) into town center then took 182A to 182 (first time) into Norfolk. I thought the colors were great and still a lot of emerging colors and some green still. Instead of heading to Canaan again (where I thought the mountainsides into Canaan were still green - where did you see color?) I decided to head straight on Mountain Road into Wangum Road (past Wangum Lake just turning) to Canaan Mountain Road where I found some beautiful colors. I took Under Mountain Road to route 63 south to 43 south into the Cornwalls. Wow! The colors were just coming out in oranges, golds, reds. Just past Hautboy Hill Road is Lake Road and as a whim I took that and was blessed with a beautiful drive into Town Street where the congregational church is. You should try this road! I ended up on route 4 to Goshen and saw some great color. From there I took 63 south into Litchfield Town Center to visit Arethusa Farm Dairy to visit my cow friends and schmooze with the barn folks. Then I took 118 and 4 home through Harwinton and Burlinton with oranges and reds and golds along the way till I hit Farmington where the green seemed to reappear. Basically, I would say that my best colors were in the Cornwalls with a lot of green still in the mountainsides. The side roads were the grandest! So far, the rain and wind is not as bad as predicted and there is still so much foliage for Saturday. I am returning to the Cornwalls and will check out Mohawk Mountain and will drive into Mohawk Forest itself. I was on the road for five hours with few stops. Don't give up yet on the NW hills!

By the way, Sunday I went to the Coventry Farmers Market! Wow! Impressive to say the least! Sooooooo many top notch vendors and the entertainment was excellent! This was my first time there and I truly regret not going sooner! I got some great finds and the Farmers Cow had a wonderful tent. This place gets PACKED! I can see why now. This is probably the BEST farmers market in the state. It was a gorgeous day and so glad we got there as they rang the bell at 11:00 for sales to begin. Next weekend is their last, and it is the pumpkin theme. If I have enough energy I may go again because the colors around Coventry, Hebron and Bolton seemed to be ready to peak out. We stopped at a nursery after and discovered the Jills woodcutting event!!!! It was amazing!

Anyways, we are just coming into peak here in my area and the trees are bursting into reds, oranges and golds. The color is gorgeous! The rain and wind is taking down only some of these leaves so far but with a lot of green left, this weekend should be prime in Central CT and parts of the NW hill towns.

Keeping fingers crossed that we miss some of the predicted rains/winds! Onward!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm having the time of my life on the weekends chasing the color in CT.

[loafer89]

Im not so sure that next weekend is going to be so good for foliage viewing around here. The high wind/rain has removed about 40% of the foliage in Enfield and more rain is predicted over the next two days. I'm thinking about taking my annual trip to the CT shorline, but I don't know if the foliage is worth the trip. I drove around Broad Brook this afternoon and while there is still good foliage color, the weather has made a lot of trees go bare.

[loafer89]

Peak fall foliage is done here in Enfield and the surrounding towns. We had peak color yesterday, but the combination of high winds and 3-5" of heavy rain has stripped away about 50% of the foliage. What's left looks looks drab and weather beaten. I may head south a bit this weekend, but I might be done for the foliage season if not.

[ctyanky]

We got buckets of rain here last night but thankfully, the trees held on to most of their leaves around my area as they are just turning or still green! Even the ones that peaked are still almost full and beautiful. The wind was not as terrible as predicted and that probably was a contributing factor as well. It seemed the very central part of CT running right up the middle took the worst hit? The torrents of rain were crazy! But today was so nice and calm. I am still heading out on Saturday on my road trip hoping for the best. Looks like Sunday may do the leaves in after all with more tropical rain coming up from the south during the late evening into Monday. At least most of the day is salvageable.

If you go to the shore keep me posted. I was saving that for the first weekend of November. Stonington Borough, Essex, Old Saybrook and then over to the gold coast of Fairfield County and inland to Easton, Weston, Redding, Ridgefield, New Canaan, etc. where the back roads are beautiful.

Do you think it is useless to check the Quabbin Reservoir at this point?

[loafer89]

Im going to Worcester with my dad on Friday. While that's not Quabbin, it will give me an idea of what the condition of the foliage is like along I-90. I was up to Palmer about 2 weeks ago and a lot of trees where already bare. There are a lot of Oak Trees in the Quabbin reservoir region and they are just starting to turn in N. Connecticut. If you like that color it might be worth it.

[ctyanky]

Well happy driving up there. Heading first to Granby (Lost Acres Road) and then I'm back to the Cornwalls and New Preston and possibly Lake Waramaug, maybe route 7 to Kent and Salisbury or Sharon. Tomorrow is going to be a gorgeous fall day for back road driving. I may take Bulls Bridge Road home to Litchfield. It's a great drive if you are interested in the future.

Sunday is a bust with rain all day, so unless the shoreline is beginning to pop for the first weekend in November, that may be it for autumn in Connecticut for me. I do love stick season and will continue to drive around the back roads and will end up at Quabbin at some point (family up there).

Sadly, I never made it to the NE corner this year. I have been so busy every weekend it just passed me by.

Strange though, lots of reports coming in for peak conditions in the western part of the state so if it keeps singing to me, I shall follow the color road!

Happy raking!

[loafer89]

I drove down to Gillette Castle today hoping to find some good foliage color. I must say the entire trip south and back was pretty devoid of fall color. The Connecticut River around Windsor has mostly green trees as does a good part of the Hartford area close to 1-91. Heading southwest on Route 9 I encountered trees that where 50-75% bare and the situation was the same on Route 82 and on to Gillette Castle. I'm done with fall foliage for this year and I wanted to wish all a good year end and happy holidays.

Kevin