This piece is all about me because so many ask me how to… (fill in the blank) 🙂

So the title for this article was EITHER, Put the fall foliage vacation planning where my mouth is (yuck) or How I plan my fall foliage vacation!

Carrabassett Valley Maine off Long Falls Dam Rd

If you are wondering, this does not mean I’ll be putting leaves in my mouth. I will press them or photograph them but I don’t eat them…

I have created a formula that I think makes your job easier and it may or may not stand up to scientific analysis but in most cases works for me. (YES I USE IT)

D + I = L (Date when able to take a vacation + your Interests = a Location to go to visit. in his particular year, I couldn’t take any vacation time during the month of October so the Dates that I had to take were 25 – 29 September. Now my interest is Photography (of course) of fall foliage, and blog/Facebook/Twitter about what I find.

So I take these Dates (25-29 Sept) plus my Interest (photography) and realize that I have to be (my location) in northern New England (NEK in Vermont, or North of the White Mountains, or From Greenville Maine to Katahdin National Park Maine. I have to choose one of these “locations” for these dates.

So Lisa and I (based on these dates) started looking for lodging in Greenville Maine. We found a Triple AAA lodge with rooms looking out on the hills of Maine for $99. So we’re staying there for 2 nights as our base of operations.

[Here is our write-up on Greenville to include lodging and dining]

I’m looking to take a guided Maine moose tour while they’re around $135 +/- and we will spend the rest of the time exploring Moosehead Lake and each mealtime we will try to visit one of the local restaurants in the area. (All mom-and-pop places) Also, I know that there is an airplane charter service up on Moosehead Lake, Currier flying service and I will price that. Maybe too pricey…

Then we are driving over to Rangeley Lake and a hotel near that location and we will explore that area I hope to get there early enough to see a bit.

NOW! Many of you may ask why not drive directly over to… Colebrook where I could spend a day or so in NH (which is what I would like to do)?

The problem is this… There are NO major roads going east to west. So we will have to zig-zag north to south on secondary or tertiary roads. This means the Greenville to Colebrook route has a total driving time of @4.2 hours (according to Google)

For those of you saying 4.2 hours? That’s a very short drive!!! But, I know me, and I could never drive this route and not stop to take pictures! So the 4.2-hour trip will be at least 8-10 hours minimum!

I think many people forget to factor in the gawk factor. First, I’m not going to be traveling 50 MPH. I will most likely be doing 25-35 MPH (as long as there isn’t a line of cars waiting to pass me) as I travel this route. There are many considerations so Lisa and I decided to travel less distance and explore more.

So we plan on spending the night at a hotel in Rangeley ME, and then the next day we will drive over to check the fall colors of New Hampshire. We will slowly wind our way south on routes that keep us on back roads and I may even take the Kancamagus highway from Lincoln over to Route 16 and take that venerable route south to home.

This allows me one day to relax and write up my notes and get several tweets out to my 19,000 followers I know you are all following me on Follow @Foliage_Reports and on Facebook. Feel free to click the links below.

You can also check this article called the fall foliage formula. They talk about this from different viewpoints.

What am I looking for while foliage vacation planning?

Lisa and I are looking at the Maine Gazetteer for information on Greenville and the roads surrounding the lake. I’m talking to Heather at the Cozy Moose Cabins on Moosehead Lake for her “local” expertise. I also have The Fodor’s Maine/New Hampshire/Vermont guidebook to see what they say.

Of key interest will be placed with sidelight opportunities, the dawn light on the shoreline with outstanding reflections. And if I can get the moose standing in the water with a backdrop of brilliant fall colors, his misty breath frozen in the morning light as he bellows for a mate… Well, I wouldn’t turn that down either. 🙂

Let me know if this helps in any way in the comments below. It really helps me to help all of you if you tell me what you are thinking. If I didn’t fully answer your questions that this article brought up on fall foliage vacation planning then I need to hear from you to make it better!

Jeff Foliage Folger

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

Visit my Amazon affiliate store for items that Lisa and I have curated for you. These items are either New England-made or things we think will make your fall foliage trip more successful.