Is Your Foliage Itinerary Wearing You Out?

Each year I get questions looking for my opinion about your itineraries. But I have my own question…

Is your foliage itinerary wearing you out?

The answer below is my classic answer. Here is my short answer: park your self in a central location, travel less and enjoy more. Below is the long answer. 🙂

Mary asked me…

My husband and I are in the midst of planning a road trip to New England to soak in the beauty of autumn in New England. With the tremendous help of Yankee Magazine past issues that focus on fall foliage, and with time limits (up to 7 days actually in New England), we have narrowed our trip to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. We have outlined suggested itineraries on a map and are now at the point that we need to connect the dots so that we can come up with a schedule and make reservations for lodging. Would you look at the itineraries below and comment on the best order in which to travel them, suggested locations for overnight lodging, the best routes to move from Vermont to New Hampshire and on to Maine and the best dates to see the fall colors in these locations. We will be traveling by car from Tennessee and imagine we would first enter Vermont via I91. Also, would you comment on the length of time you think it will take, once we arrive in Vermont, to cover these areas? Please feel free to make suggestions as to changes in what we have planned so far. Your input will be greatly appreciated!!!
Vermont: Route 100 from south to north; Interstate 91 or local roads along Connecticut River; Route 4 from I91 to Route 100(Woodstock); Route 7A (Bennington to Manchester); Route 123 to 119 ( Marlowe to Fitzwilliam); Route 73 (Brandon Gap); Route 125 (Middlebury Gap); Route 17 (Appalachian Gap); Route 15 (Hyde Park to Jericho); Route 7 (Charlotte, Shelburne, and Burlington); Route 58 (Montgomery to Westmore)

New Hampshire: Route 302 (Bethlehem to Conway); Route 112 (Lincoln to Conway); I93 (Plymouth to Franconia); Route 16 ( Gorham to Jackson); Route 49 (Waterville Valley Lake Winnipesaukee region to include Sandwich, Tamworth, Wellborn (not sure best route)

Maine: Route 1 (Bar Harbor to Maine/NH border); Route 302 (Fryeburg to Portland); Route 113 (Fryeburg to Gilead); Route 26 (Eroll, NH to Bethel); Route 201 (Jackman to Solon); Eastport? Rangley?

Fall foliage color development in autumn

What I had to say about her routes…

First, those are some GREAT routes you have listed! To be honest it would take me the entire month of October to do those routes for one simple reason. They rarely if ever turn all at the same time. So I would hit one route one day, then a few days later hit another to the south.

This is one thing to keep in mind, the color flows like someone dumped a can of multi-hued paint out onto a bas-relief map of New England. The paint will splatter some areas where the color will develop independently of the surrounding areas. Then in other areas, the color will fill in whole patches of the map. This is my version of how to look at the fall foliage season in New England.

Your driving plan

Historically the first week in October the color will only be in northern VT, NH, and ME. So you can minimize your time in the southern portions of those states. Your plans should aim to get you into the northern area of VT or NH and then explore from there.

Now, 7 days and three states are very doable, BUT this is if you really enjoy staying in the car (A LOT)! I think you should plan to cut back on driving a bit and take the time to get out and explore. If you like to explore general stores or antique shops then you will need to take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour… (depending on what you like) How about lunches? In the car, or will you want to try the eclectic luncheonettes that you will find in any and every little town? That’s at least 30 minutes or an hour… (Hell, what about morning coffee and bagels or hot sandwiches or donuts?).

Now! do you just get out of your car and look at the fall colors or do you like to photograph and compose your shots? (check jeff-foliage.com for more details on this). A year or two back I drove from St Albans VT down Route 7 to the Sturbridge Village area of Massachusetts. Now before you say, well that means we can cover a similar distance in a day, let me give you the details and you decide.

Let me put this into perspective we left at 7:30 in the morning and made maybe three short stops for photo ops then I stopped at a farm near Danby VT to photograph the barn and surrounding area (here is a link to a shot of the barn).

After that, we drove like the wind and had fast food dinner at Bennington. Then we drove into the night arriving at our B&B around 9 PM where we spent the next couple of days. (13-14 hours of travel time, are you up for that?)

So Route 7 from the Canadian Border down to central Massachusetts took us the better part of one day and your plan or desire to hit 2-4 of the major routes in VT let alone NH, and ME will depend entirely on you. But you are going to be DEAD tired!

Here’s my recommendation and it’s entirely up to you to try my toned-back version listed below or blend it with your own desires.

Jeff’s recommendation

On the start dates 1-7 of October, you will want to be in the mid to upper third of either Vermont or NH.

North of these areas you will be finding really great colors. You can also easily head east from the Green Mountains into the NorthEast Kingdom and the small villages in that area. You can also cross into New Hampshire with ease looking for that elusive peak color.

The mileage will climb if you try to get to Maine so I would concentrate on those areas of NH and VT. Back in Vermont you can catch Route 100 and take that up to Stowe. Once in this area, you have many scenic routes/options to take from Route 108 and Smugglers Notch and a dozen or more covered bridges to view.

Stowe is a little touristy but it is someplace you should visit at least once… (or twice). You could head to Danville on Route 2 in Vermont and stay a few nights at Emergo Farm B&B. Lisa and I stayed there in 2019 and you can find a review here. I have several friends who spend the majority of every year at their establishment. They have never regretted staying there.

I would say a reasonable amount of time to really explore AND enjoy just this portion is 3 days. Now depending on what the fall weather is doing, you could next move to Conway New Hampshire, or up into Jackson, or even the Sugar Hill area of Franconia.

The reason I pick these locations is this… In a good year, the color will be all around you. On a so-so year, if the color is late, you can drive northeast into northern NH to find the color or if the year has moved more quickly, you can just as easily drive south into the White Mountains, and explore that area. You are either in it or a short distance from it, depending on what the foliage season hands you.

I hope this helps

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

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