Vermont Back Roads and GPS

New England Photography on Vermont back roads

Subjects like this are always my favorites. Anytime I can find my way to a dirt road, I wonder what is around the next bend? I won’t lie, this can go terribly wrong as well…

Once, I was on West Hill Road near Montgomery Vermont. I turned onto Creamery Road and in a short distance, I came to a stop because at that time there were three large granite blocks across the road to block it.

Basically, I couldn’t get there from here! At least not without hoofing it to the Creamery Covered Bridge (also known as the West Hill Covered Bridge). I couldn’t see it, as it was around a bend in the road. So, the question is, do I park my car here in the middle of nowhere or turn around and go find something else to photograph?

As it turned out, it was only about 50 yards past that bend in the road. Lucky for all of you, they have renovated the covered bridge so you can drive to it, through it, and out the other side.

Are you relying on the GPS in your car or your phone?

I will admit that I love the GPS on my phone and now my new-ish AWD Rav4 has navigation as well. But this does not mean you can ignore the maps or disengage your brain!

I was in my sedan a few years back and I was following a squiggly line on my GPS (a real Garmin GPS with a small screen) and I went past a house with people on the porch who were looking at me quizzically as I drove by. The road went from pavement to dirt quickly. Then it went from dirt to rutted dirt and I slowed to a crawl as the “road” was more of a tractor “only” path and I was bottoming out.

I stopped and checked the GPS and it says road (red solid line) and I checked my Gazetteer map book and it says? (WTF!) It says “no damn road here” or even near here! So I slooowly back up and when I can turn around. Imagine this, the road being, one lane, trees on both sides, and I’m in a 4 door, land yacht. So I go driving back by those folks on the porch (quickly) who were wondering what this fool was doing driving up a cow path or whatever that was… I think I left my heat shield back on the trail as well. (Pick up a Gazetteer here on Amazon)

Why write about these things?

Well, a few articles back I wrote about Mad Tom’s Notch in Vermont’s Green Mountains. and I do want you to get out there and explore those back roads but I still want you to come home safe, as well!

Lisa and I were somewhere in the Green Mountains off Route 11 and near Route 30 or near French Hollow Road… Basically, I don’t really know where the #$$#%#% I was but I was really enjoying it. Lisa was trying to figure out where we were on the map when I saw a blue flag sticking out from a tree and I decided to stop to check it out.

I would have driven right by it, but in looking down, there was a decent stream coming down the hill right there, multi-colored leaves everywhere, and the light was fading fast. So I decided to grab my gear and create some New England Photography of autumn.

Low light means bringing that tripod

You may say “My phone does great in low light so I don’t need it” but even with stabilization a tripod or a steady surface makes for sharper pictures. Most photographers creating New England photography will try to blur the water slightly as it splashes down and over the rocks, in a waterfall.

This creates a pleasing sense of motion and instead of being static, it’s a more energized image. Below are some of the images I created of this small stream in the middle of the Green Mountains.

Vermont Green Mountain stream amid the fall colors

I actually have one nicely blurred image that I could have shown you to show, and I also thought I could hold the camera steady since my lens has image stabilization. But after one shot I went back to my car to lug my heavy tripod back down to photograph the cascading stream.

In the end, all went well, we found our way back to the B&B again and we had some great memories to talk about. The next day would be a new adventure…

Got Foliage, my friends?

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.