Well, the question is… Can I do a fall foliage trip in 7-8 days through all six states?

Is this a fall foliage trip that can be done? Of course, it can be done, but I never have done it myself. I’m afraid of missing that interesting something just around the next bend in the road. There is nothing wrong with this goal, and here is what a reader told me they wanted to do:

• Bucket list item- to visit New England in the fall
• Her and her BFF in a brand new 22′ RV
• 7-8 days to travel through all 6 states
• and, of course, the best routes and places to stay

My response is below and as always, this is my opinion, nothing more. It is not law, or engraved in stone on the summit of Mount Washington. It’s just that I try to take my time when I do take the time to take a fall foliage trip. Much of it applies even if you aren’t traveling with an RV.

I usually fail at taking my time, but I do try to find new places that I haven’t visited before along with a few of my old favorites. This is the Milan Fire tower in the Milan New Hampshire State Park.

New England Photography and Fall Foliage in 7-8 days

With dates of 27 September to 5 October, your primary points of interest for the best fall color will be northern Vermont and New Hampshire. I think Maine will be a stretch because you will have to drive up to Jackman and Moosehead Lake for really good color. But if you wanted to include Maine, you could drive to, say, the Rangeley area and see some decent color.

You might ask, “What about Acadia?” (because everyone wants to go to Acadia when they come to New England) I know Acadia gets beautiful colors in the fall, but not until late October or even November in some years. Massachusetts starts getting really good about mid-Oct along with Connecticut and Rhode Island which can extend into November with the seaside communities.

The rule is the closer you are to a body of water the later the color changes will be. (applies to lakes and big rivers)

If you noticed, the mid and late-October dates won’t coincide with the dates of 27 September to 5 October in the example above. So if fall foliage is your primary goal, you will not see foliage in ALL of the six states in the same 7-8 days. It just does NOT happen! 2-9 October the colors are up north in the Green/White Mountains and over into NW Maine. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island won’t put on their colors till 15-30 October, and guess what? There may be snow during that time in the White and Green Mtns…

I’ve stayed in RV campgrounds near Woodstock (on Route 4 outside of Quechee VT) and just south of Conway on Route 16. Both of these places were KOAs, so you should be able to find them okay? Also, I stayed there back in 2004, and in checking along Route 16 I found, “The Beach Camping Area” and “The Saco River Camping Area”. They are almost in the downtown area so you are near everything.

Too much driving makes for a windshield vacation

NOW! Before I go too much further I will tell you like I tell all the others who plan to cover as much as they can in a week or even a weekend. Yes, you can visit all six states in seven days, Heck you could drive through all the states in one day if you have a mind to. But if you’re trying to pack too much in your trip, you will be driving from sun-up to sun-down and not enjoying the trip.

One thought on our highways

Basically, the adage of “You can’t get theya from heya” Applies if you want to go east to west in New England. Although Massachusetts has I-90 that goes from Boston all the way out to, and past Michigan, and it may be your route into New England if you’re coming from that way. But I-90 and Route 2 in Massachusetts are the ONLY roads that really go east to west. You may say, Hey! The Kancamagus Highway goes East to West. If you choose this road though you may find yourself in a line of cars 20 miles long… (just saying…)

We have several nice highways to travel north to south in Vermont (like I-91 and Route 7 ) and in New Hampshire, you have I-93. I-95 follows the coast (more or less) through MA, New Hampshire and into ME. But if you want to head east to west in any of these states you will be on two-lane primary roads. (I Just thought of this), I-89 in VT connects from Concord NH and does snake its way from the south-east to the north-west in Vermont. (it’s almost E-W…)

My experience with RVs in New England & Photography

I traveled in my 26′ RV from Wisconsin to as far as Illinois or western PA before I stopped for the night, then I drove the next day up to Erie where I grew up, and visited with friends, and then another long day of driving (9+ hours) to get to Salem MA. I don’t know what you have pulling your RV, but please take many small trips with your RV before your big trip to New England to get an idea of how long it takes to get from point A to point B on the highways. Then I want you to drive the same distance on the back roads, and see how long that takes. You are also going to need to take into consideration setting up and breaking camp, so to speak.

Finding highways in New England versus two-lane roads

Here in New England, we have far more back roads to travel on than we do highways. I’m not talking dirt roads, but we do have a lot of them as well, and some of the most interesting things are found on them. Read my hundreds of articles on this subject if you have any questions.

I also don’t want you to get scared off, I just want you to be realistic in your goals. I would much rather hear that you have had the most wonderful adventure ever, and not that you need a vacation from your vacation…  This part of America is a once-in-a-lifetime journey, and should not be considered a one-time, checked that box off, vacation. I’ve been exploring for 20 years and while I have covered a fair amount of it, I haven’t even found ALL the covered bridges yet. It may take another 20 and I might get them all…

Looking for routes? get a Gazetteer here.

Then start looking at all the routes you can take. Do NOT rely only on a GPS because unless you know where you want to go, you can’t tell it where to go. You may also pass up a dozen covered bridges because the GPS will take you on the most suitable route, but not always a scenic route.

Choose your route because it has an interesting name like Mad Tom’s Notch… I would take that road any day instead of Route 7… While Route 7 in Vermont IS very scenic, in fact, it can be a valley of color, I far more enjoyed Mad Tom’s Notch for its unique views of the Green Mountains.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter what route you take because I find all the roads I take will make some incredible memories…

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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