3 Best Places to View Fall Foliage

Where are the best places to view fall foliage?

It’s amazing how early folks get going to plan for a fall trip to New England and since a vacation like this can cost some bucks they want to get it right and really enjoy finding fall colors. They also want to hit all the best places to view fall foliage.

Exploring like a 7-year-old

The one thing I try to remind everybody is to explore like a 7-year-old… It doesn’t matter what you find, just get out there and have fun doing it… My first recommendation is for each day, to plan one or two daily activities. Maybe your dates coincide with a fall foliage festival in the North East Kingdom. (NEK) If you plan to be in Peacham VT during their day-long festival, (see my festival page,) then you can take a tour of the town and see the “Peacham view”. Over a five-day period, a different town hosts the festival.

The Peacham view of the church and red barns

You may not like or agree with my Peacham view and that is perfectly all right. You can create your own by stopping to talk to a local business owner and asking them where they would suggest. They are very proud of their town and are happy to tell you where to go… Normally they will even tell you where to find the fall colors as well… 🙂

The secret of finding the best places to view fall foliage

The first secret is there are no secret views or at least no “REAL” secret locations. They are all known. What makes them a secret to you, is that YOU don’t know where they are at. At least not yet!

To me, the only real secret lies in picking the correct time and place. That doesn’t sound too hard, does it? You just have to pick one or more locations and match them to historically proven dates that coincide with the arrival of the fall colors. Ok, this is the most mysterious of the arcane arts. Generally, I’m in the ballpark with my dates but Mother Nature always has the last laugh when it comes to peak fall foliage dates…

I have several articles that give locations for a particular date. Read this one for 1 October locations in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. Although the Massachusetts dates range from late September to early November. This shows you that each year’s weather is a variable that can’t be predicted with 100% certainty (not even 65% certainty). For 1 October you will almost always be in the three northern New England states.

Here is a short list of some iconic scenes that usually produce at the very least, a pretty scene to photograph and if you are lucky, some great color as well. There is a link to another article in each of these listings that describes it further.

Vermont
The Vermont church (any) against a backdrop of hills or as above, we have the Peacham VT church against the backdrop of receding hills dappled in autumn colors. Trying to pick from just a few “iconic” Vermont images to show you makes my brain hurt. Below we have a drone’s eye view of Smuggler’s Notch. You can view the drive on my Youtube Channel.

Smuggler's Notch twists and turns — Smuggler’s Notch twists and turns, View this in my gallery.

Another Scenic location in Vermont is Seyon Lodge, State Park, and Noyes Pond.

GROTON STATE FOREST NOYES POND IN SEYON LODGE STATE PARK — Groton State Forest Seyon Lodge State Park and Noyes Pond. View in my Gallery.

I like to stop in and explore and you can even book a stay at the lodge and wake up to this view.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire has it all, from New England’s tallest Mountain to forests and farmland and even a little bit of coastline to dip your toes in the Atlantic Ocean. We always point out The White Mountains with Franconia (I-93) and Crawford (Route 302) Notches and they are great drives but here are two locations you may have rushed by on your way to them.

Rumney New Hampshire

In your fast-paced drive up I-93 to not miss the fall colors, you could take the 3A/Route 25 exit near Plymouth (exit 26) and take 25 West for a short drive to School Street and head North to Rumney but I would rather you take Smith Bridge Road and catch the Smith Millenium Covered Bridge. The continue until you hit the town common of Rumney New Hampshire.

New Castle New Hampshire

You may have noticed I left out Mount Washington or Flume Gorge and the Kancamagus Highway. This is because they are easily overdone. (worth doing but there is more) So let’s travel to the New Hampshire coast and Great Island Common. You can head to the ocean in late October and find wonderful scenes like this.

Portsmouth Lighthouse with the fall colors

They have a beautiful park and believe it or not you can see two lighthouses from this park. In this picture is Portsmouth Lighthouse and off to the right is Wood Island Lifesaving Station and Whaleback Lighthouse. View these locations on my Youtube Channel.

Maine
Between 25 September and 1 October, you can take the drive up to Maine. Before the 1st you will be heading to Greenville or even further. This is why I don’t cover northern Maine that often, It’s not an afternoon jaunt, you need to plan an entire vacation around traveling up there. In late September we explored Eustis Maine.

Eustis Maine as seen at dawn from my drone — The road is lost in the morning fog and the fall colors in Eustis Maine. The road points to Flagstaff Lake and the Bigelow Mountain Range. View in my gallery.

As you can see I took off with my drone in the early dawn and the colors were just getting spectacular on 27 Sept in this Northwestern part of Maine. We spent a couple of days traveling around Flagstaff Lake and the Bigelow Mountains. The logging roads are not for the faint of heart but with patience, you can do them in a regular car.

Quill Hill

On 1 Oct you can try Quill Hill which is just North of Rangeley Lake in Northwest Maine.

For 1 Oct here is a great stop, try Quill Hill which is on your way to Rangeley Lake. You travel about 7 miles out of Rangeley on Route 16 and you will see a turn with a large sign. The “road” up is made for 4×4 off road vehicles but I didn’t have any worries in my Rav 4 but that is not to say that this is a smooth drive. (it’s not!)

The views go on forever and you have a 360-degree view of the surrounding landscape. If you get there on a clear day you will see for miles.

Massachusetts

Mohawk Trail

Over on Route 2 in Erving MA, you will find heading west out of Erving that the road suddenly gets very winding, and on either side of the road the hills climb steeply upward (and there are a few pull-outs for parking). Also as you get further along Route 2 you will come to Florida. No, you didn’t take a really wrong turn. Florida Massachusetts is out there on Route 2 and once again you will find more of these high-walled roads that are covered in autumn’s fall colors.

Route 2 West of Erving Massachusetts at one of the few pull-outs

The Mohawk Trail also known as Route 2 will take you from Concord Massachusetts in the East to North Adams Mass in the West. You will find many small towns to stop and explore just off the Mohawk Trail and my recommendation is to stop in Erving at Freighthouse Antiques, not so much for the eclectic stuff they might have but they have a lunch counter where you can recharge with a coffee, sandwich or soup and a slice of the homemade pie of the day… This is a secret, so don’t tell anyone!

Salem Massachusetts

Few things are more Iconic on 31 October than Salem Massachusetts. You have so much history wrapped around this single village that weaves its story through the nearby towns.

From the intolerance of the Witch Trials of 1692 to the sailing history that helped found this country, you can’t swing a stick without hitting something of historic note in Salem. Yes, the town does get its notoriety for the victims of the witch trials but there is a National Historic Park there where you will learn about the good and the bad of our history. The first millionaire, Elias Derby began his life there and also the slaves that helped his family build their wealth. The immigrants who came to this country have their stories interweaved through each town in New England.

The flow of the fall colors

As you may have read/heard before, the color tends to flow from the North to the south. We start to see serious color change around the last week of Sept. By the 1st of Oct, the North East Kingdom (North Eastern Vermont or the NEK) along with Northern NH and Northern Maine are usually showing really good color.

These Northern areas may be the first, but I have found great color on the Kancamagus Scenic Highway in NH by the 1st of Oct. You may find this confusing due to it being further south but you also have to factor in elevation. Higher elevation means cooler temperatures and temperature is a critical factor in the color change. I’ve found early color in the White Mountains as early as the 18th of September BUT! this is just a tree here or there.

Traveling across New England searching for the autumn colors is an arcane art and its mysteries are seldom fathomed until the last minute. So while I feel fairly confident in my forecasts, Mother Nature holds all the cards.

Questions? Leave a comment!

Til next week

Jeff Foliage Folger

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

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