The Fall Foliage Formula
What are good dates for Fall Foliage in Vermont? This could also say, New Hampshire or Maine…
As you read this, you will note that I started talking about Vermont. Then I’ll transition to some Northwestern New Hampshire zones as well. This is because when the 1st of October arrives the fall colors arrive in more than just one place.
You can also head up into Maine, but you have to head up north. How far North? Every year is different, but usually, you might be safe in Greenville Maine, and sometimes you have to head over to Mount Katahdin in Maine. But I digress Let’s talk fall colors in Vermont.
Vermont over New Hampshire, or Visa Versa
First, in some years, the fall colors may be better in one state over the other.
As you might guess, I receive one or two emails on the subject coming in many flavors. “Is my itinerary dates good?” (maybe…), “When will it be peak fall foliage in New England?” (definitely!) and like this one, “What are the best fall foliage dates for these locations?” As you read my answer to Mike and Sue, you will have all the info that I gave them when I replied to their question.
So What is the Fall Foliage Formula?
You may not agree that locating the fall colors can be reduced to a formula, but I think it can. I created this formula and then wrote an article (about the fall foliage formula) where I came up with this Equation, I + D = L. If your mind just blanked out because you hate math, don’t worry, this is more of a logic problem than real math. 🙂 I’ve defined each of these as:
- I = Interest in activity
- D = Dates of vacation
- L = Location Desired
When I get emails like the one below I like to turn them into a teaching tool so everyone can benefit from them. (
Vermont Fall Foliage Dates & Locations
Question: We are from England and are planning a trip to see the Fall colours – a lifelong ambition. Please, can you advise us – before we book flights etc. Despite visiting many accommodation websites, I can not get a feel for the best dates to be sure of seeing glorious colours before they start to fade. We like the look of Warren in Vt and Jackson in NH. When please should we visit these places? We would much appreciate your advice.
My Answer: Hi Mike, I would say if you showed up around 5 October and did a few days over in the area of Warren Vermont, and then up into the Northeast Kingdom, you would find great color. If you then drove across all the back roads until you get to Jackson New Hampshire, I would bet you’d have a very colorful vacation.
Once you have a place to stay in Warren Vermont, you can begin to explore the east side of the Green Mountains. (Or even hike the Greens or the Long Trail). You’ll find Camel’s Hump Mountain just north of Warren and Northfield Vermont, to the northeast of Warren.
Places of interest around Warren Vermont: Northfield, Waitsfield, Camels Hump State Forest, and South on Route 100 in Hancock Vermont. If the colors are early, head south a short distance and you can take route 125 across the Green Mountains (a very winding road but “could” provide some great fall color about that time).
Northfield Vermont and 5 Covered Bridges
I photographed the Northfield 5 (5 covered bridges in Northfield Vermont) as early as 23 Sept, and as late as 10 October. Around the 2nd of October is my best pictures.
Depending on what you enjoy, you can look at Route 12A which runs parallel to Route 100, and
One thing you can do is order a Gazetteer from Amazon.com which I find to be invaluable when I’m off the beaten path. This is a link to the map book in question.
If you are early or late arriving or the fall colors are…?
If the fall color comes early, and Warren Vermont is fading, you can travel south on Route 100 and shortly be back in the thick of fall foliage colors. Also If the color is late, and this is the way the past few years have been, then you could travel north on Route 100 with very little difficulty, and again be in the fall colors. (Or East or West)
And if the colors are just not showing up, head east toward New Hampshire. I’m not going to give directions because there is no direct “fast” route. There are many back roads that will take you towards, Orange, Corinth, Topsham, and Waits River, all of these are before you get to New Hampshire.
Checking out the fall colors at Polly’s
When it comes time to cross back to New Hampshire, I’m thinking that if you traveled over 302, and then follow that until you pick up route 117 in Franconia. As you must know, Polly’s Pancake Parlor is just up Route 117 (read my article on it).
The Beaver Pond
Another thing to watch for is if you get off Route 302 early at Route 112 when you get into the White Mountains it turns into the Lost River Road. It’s along this stretch where you will find the Beaver Pond. It’ll be on your right-hand side, and it is down in a bowl below several peaks in Kinsman Notch. There is a small parking lot for maybe eight or so cars, and you can get out and stretch your legs.
If you look at some of my pictures from last year or search my site for Kinsmen Notch and Beaver Pond, you will find pictures of what this pond can look like when it is colorful. The location will be on many maps or in the Gazetteers as I have pointed out.
Woodstock and Lincoln New Hampshire
You will come out in Woodstock New Hampshire (but you’ll stay on Route 112 all the way to Route 16 in NH). If you arrive in Woodstock during a meal, there are several places to grab a sandwich or meal. If you drive a bit further into Lincoln New Hampshire, you will find that this ski town is full of fast-food sandwich places and delightful restaurants that are very popular in the winter.
The Kancamagus
You definitely will want to cross the next expanse of Route 112 during the day (early afternoon is nice). This section is called the Kancamagus Scenic Highway. And you will find many references to this stretch in travel books and travel sites all over the Internet.
There will be several pull-offs crossing these mountains, so don’t let traffic from behind push you to go too fast, or you might miss a scenic opportunity. You will be topping out somewhere around the 2,855-foot elevation and the views can be quite spectacular.
Conway or Tamworth New Hampshire
You will finish this article by leaving Route 112 and getting on Route 16. Now you have a decision because Conway and North Conway are a left turn, and Tamworth is to the south. It can be simply based on the dates. If you are here between 1-5 October, you will probably want to head north through Conway to Jackson or maybe points north of there. (depends on the year)
If this is 5-10 Oct you will find better fall colors, but in my experience, Conway doesn’t get full color till the 7th of October. Chocorua and Tamworth should have nice fall color by the 7th, but the peak fall color will be during the next week.
Remember Conway and Tamworth are just south of the White Mountains, so in general, the fall colors will be in and around the northern White Mountains from the 1st to the 6th of Oct. If you are earlier than this, then you need to be north of the White Mountains in areas like Colebrook, Dixville Notch, and Pittsburgh New Hampshire.
Conway and Jackson Amenities
The town of Conway has two covered bridges, the Swift River Covered Bridge and the Sacco River Covered Bridge both are nearly in sight of each other. You can follow the map books to find your way there. Also if you have time, and are so inclined, you can take a drive up the West Side Road which parallels Route 16 and goes from Center Conway (what they call their town in the south, and before you get to North Conway) and as you travel up West Side Road, it will take you right by these covered bridges. North Conway also has a scenic fall foliage train, but you should plan for this early if you want to take one of their foliage trains. They sell out quickly.
Just North of Conway on Route 16, you will find Jackson New Hampshire. Jackson is a cute little town with a very eclectic art shop next to the firehouse, Ravenwood, and I highly recommend stopping in there for at least 30 min to an hour, and make sure that you wander around their backyard (there’s no way to explain it, you just have to do it).
There are many little shops around Jackson along with the golf course, and depending on what road you come in on to Jackson, you will see the Jackson Covered Bridge. I believe one of the prettiest places to stay at is the Wentworth in Jackson, and they have a few more beautiful hotels if you check the booking sites.
The End of your Trip, or is it?
All of the places that I’ve mentioned are the ones that I try to visit every year, and I’m seldom disappointed by my visits. You may find that you have traveled to all these places, and you are ready for more. Get your Gazetteer out and see where to go next. I wouldn’t worry about the fall colors but look for interesting places.
There are no fall foliage guarantees that I can give you, but in general, that makes searching for fall colors an adventure! You never know what you will or won’t get. Mother Nature is fickle, at best, and some years I’m very successful. In other years, I come away with five pictures for the entire month of October.
The one thing to remember is to look for things that you want to do, explore, and see, and take the fall colors as they come your way. You can have a great vacation by visiting Vermont and New Hampshire, and if Mother Nature is in a good mood, she may
Jeff Foliage Folger
Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage
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Jeff,
I will be retiring this year after teaching over forty years! Since school always starts in September, I have never seen the fall colors of New England. At the top of my list is to FINALLY see them next year. I am a planner and that is why I am starting my research now. We would like to spend two weeks feasting on the colors. Am I right thinking arriving around September 29 and departing around October 15 would be good choice for dates? We are particularly fond of Maine, New Hampshire and especially Vermont as our area to view. I guess my dilemma is that if you follow the foliage, which is leaving it up to mother nature will there be places for us to stay with vacancies on a short notice (like just come across a place with vacancies that day). To be honest I usually plan trips to find the most quaint and atmospheric b & b and book before I leave. The balance between following the foliage and having a reservation ahead of time is hard for me to figure out. If you have an itinerary for these states with an emphasis on Vermont I truly would appreciate it. We live in California I want to make the most of the trip and not feel like I should have booked reservations, and we find ourselves stranded without anyway to stay and it is getting dark on the road.
As I’ve written about before. Midweek is “usually” not a problem but! The weekends and especially the Columbus day weekend is tough. You will have to be ready to leave your comfort zone of b&b or Inn behind and you may have to take a motel with a smoking rooms instead.
We quite literally fill up on that weekend. Also that weekend is when accommodations cost the most…
Except I will note that last Columbus day eve I was heading to Stowe and it was late (dark) when I started looking for a room. I found a place in Stowe that was only 90$ so it can work out but you have to be ready to take what you can find. Sometimes you’ll have to keep travelling to the next town.
I am thinking the best approach is to book a room in a central location for a couple of days and explore that area and move to a new area and do the same thing. That way we can be at a comfortable place and know we are booked. Of course, the trick to this plan is to somehow gauge the right place to stay at a time when the colors are historically present. Since I am not used to New England’s time line of fall colors, that is the million dollar question! I have read some of your advise about higher elevations and starting north first, but that is all I know. I am definitely going to book Columbus day weekend. Where in Vermont would be a town to book for that Columbus day weekend?
What you are talking about is a base of operations. I’ve talked about this a few times and as long as you get close you should be good. I would say if you are near Woodstock or that vicinity you should be good. I just heard a report of stressed swamp maples turning in CT but I’m waiting for pictures… Even if the colors are slow like I think they will be you will be able to travel 30 minutes to an hour north to find good color…
Hi Jeff!!!! I absolutely love everything on your site. My girlfriend and I are new to New England (we moved to Rhode Island last October for work from Chicago). We are actually planning to make this trip from Jackson to Warren based on the info you have provided here. I was just wondering if you knew of any good areas to pull off and have a picnic or something like that with a nice view? I am not sure how I would find a good spot unless by chance. I also wasn’t sure of the etiquette to do something like that when we find a nice area.
Which Jackson? and Warren RI?
We are traveling October 7-9 for this trip as an FYI!
Ah, sorry! Definitely should have clarified better there. We are driving up to Jackson,NH Saturday morning then heading towards Warren, VT. We are staying in Waterbury, VT Saturday night. Actually doing a hot air ballon ride with Above Reality on Sunday morning too. Then driving back Sunday to Rhode Island. So I guess my original question was if there were any good spots to stop and have snacks/picnic between Jackson, NH and Warren, VT. Also any suggestions on any places as we head back to Rhode Island? Jenne farm seems like a must
too many places and not enough time to write them down but two that come to mind… As you leave I think you’ll head up 302 to Littleton and over to Peacham VT. Find the volunteer fire company in town. Park way away from the firehouse and there is a field behind it and you sit there over looking the town with church.
Next over in Seyon Lodge State Park, find Noyes pond and there are usually some adirondack chairs set up around the pond… I usually eat lunch in my car so I’m drawing a blank but anywhere along here you will find town commons where no one will mind you laying out a blanket and a lunch…
Loved reading this as it includes all my personal favourites .Can’t wait to explore them all again
Great article on foliage locations in Vermont and New Hampshire. If your forecast is correct then we will be arriving a couple of weeks after peek foliage. We’re staying in Lincoln,NH from Oct 13-20th but the possibility of missing peak foliage is not damping my enthusiasm for seeing the places you write about. There are way too many things to see, explore and photograph in one week. As a photographer I’m use to the whims of Mother Nature. I look forward to exploring hidden gems on the back roads, which you describe in your blogs.
My question is about places to explore or see near Manchester,NH. We have a late flight out, 4:30p.m. on Monday the 21st and really want to avoid sitting in an airport all day. Any suggestions?
Thank You.