Take a Fall Foliage Trip to Florida?
Just picture it… Multi-hued palm trees and walking along the beach with a cool wind of 85+ degrees? (Gotcha!)
I bet you are reading the title and scratching your head right about now and wondering if I’ve gone off my rocker and hit my head… 🙂 Ok, so it was misleading… Or was it…
Autumn route for foliage viewing
In this week’s route snapshot, we’re going to Florida, (Massachusetts) where we are going to drive a short piece of the historic Route 2, better known as the Mohawk Trail. This trail is a long one for me since I travel down Route 95 to Route 2 near Lexington and Concord and then I travel Route 2 the rest of the way. (Yes it would be faster to drive Route 90 to the Mass border but where’s the fun in that?)
Have you picked up your DeLorme Gazetteer map books yet? 
One of the reasons that I depend on these books is that they show the terrain elevations and even if you’re not an accomplished orienteer who can read and understand terrain elevation maps, most folks can tell from the pictures where the peaks and valleys are. and valleys are fun!
There is a small section of the Mohawk Trail that passes through the Mohawk Trail State Forest. If you’re coming from the East you will pass through Greenfield MA, and just as you cross Route 91 you will start to head up into a hilly region. During the 2nd week of October, this area which crosses through Shelburne Falls and passes south of Catamount State Forest is ripe with possibilities for peak fall foliage.
When the conditions are right, I like to drive through narrow valleys with high sides that are covered in trees. You can see where it can get dangerous because your eyes see the curve ahead but you also see the fall colors climbing up the hills along Route 2, and you could drive into the guardrail. Lucky for us there happens to be a pull-out at this spot for one car to pull out at… Maybe you’ll be the lucky one?
Charlemont Massachusetts
As you can see from the map above, shortly after you drive through Charlemont, you will come to the edge of the Mohawk Trail State Forest.
The Mohawk Trail runs next to the Cold River which winds its way through the valley. The steep valley walls peak out between 1600 and 2000 feet. [*Note: when you look at a terrain map and you see that the contour lines are very close together it indicates how steep the sides of the hill far above the valley]
One of the nice things about this stretch of road is that the road planners took into consideration the desires of people to want to stop and get out of their cars to view the scenery. So if you don’t see a pullout on the right or left, don’t panic they will be coming up shortly.
What I really enjoy is seeing walls of color and most of these valley walls seem to be covered in deciduous trees that provide a wonderful tapestry of color.
Finally Florida…
Well, there are no beaches and to be honest, if you blink and sneeze you will miss it. The entire “town” of Florida consists of the Highway Dept, the town hall, and the Town offices. That is it. no town common, bandstand, Meeting House, nothing. The picture I grabbed a few years back of Lisa under the sign for Florida is about it. Maybe I should write an article about Peru Massachusetts? That way we could visit the Andes Mountains… Or could we?
There are lots of side roads that provide endless possibilities for exploring back roads off of the Mohawk Trail. Make sure you have a good map book (like a Gazetteer) and possibly a GPS and don’t hesitate to get off the road most traveled. Then go and see what’s on the other side of those hills.
Jeff Foliage Folger
Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage
- Visit my Fine Art America Gallery
- Visit my Amazon store to pick up New England-related materials
- Visit my Pictorem Gallery (Free shipping in the US and Canada)
- My Facebook foliage page
- Threads.net/@Jeff_Foliage
- Follow our new Fall Foliage FB Group!
- You can visit Lisa’s Artist Facebook Page by clicking here
I love the pictures! Fall is my favorite season. I live in South Florida and have not seen very much color change. I want to take a short trip to see this natural beauty. Can you tell me where the picture of Lisa entering Florida is located and approximately when (mid Oct -Nov.?)
Thanks
That is along the Mohawk trail in western Massachusetts. Route 2 is a wonderful trip to take in the autumn and between the 6th to the 15 of October should be very nice.