Gypsy Moth update for Vermont & New Hampshire 2021

Lisa and I went to visit Family in Northern Vermont and it was raining cats and dogs all the way up on Saturday. Hopefully, that helps with the lack of rain these areas were having. So this means I wasn’t able to scope out the trees too much but through the entire trip north on 93 to 89 and into St Albans there were no stretches of bare trees to be seen. This DOES NOT mean there are none in Vermont or New Hampshire. I was only on these two highways on the way up but on Monday we went cross country coming home.

On Monday we got off I-89 before Montpelier and then got on Route 2. NOW, for those of you who stay on I-89 and see the hills zipping by (you are in a valley with walls on both sides and often wished you could pull over on the highway to enjoy the view, well, here is a secret… Shhh… don’t tell. GET OFF 89 and on to Route 2 that runs down below I-89. You can travel slowly and here is a shocker, you can even… wait for it… You can stop on the side of the road and snap pictures. (just sayin…)

We headed down Route 2 to Montpelier (the state capitol) and we followed the Route 2 business route **through downtown**. You can skip the downtown but there are so many wonderful little shops and eateries that you may decide to come back and really explore the downtown…

Martin Covered Bridge

Continuing along Route 2 we were passing the Martin covered bridge on our way to Marshfield.

They have a nice parking lot and you can walk through the covered bridge. On the other side, are a couple of picnic benches and some trails. But bring the bug spray if it’s summer, I was getting munched on.

Marshfield General Store

We stopped in here but they don’t have bathrooms or real seating. If you need facilities then I would continue on Route 2 to Route 215 and take that into Cabot. If you just need a bite then this place will make a sandwich or sell a slice of pizza and they have a decent wine selection to look over.

Groton State Forest

We headed down Route 232 through Groton State Forest. If there were fall colors I would have headed up to Owl’s head to look down on Kettle Pond. Here is a shot from a couple of years ago.

classic view Kettle pond from Owls Head — classic view of Kettle Pond from Owls Head

Everything along Route 232 was fully leafed and no sign of gypsy moth damage was noted. (Remember the above pic was taken in Oct 2019)

We jumped on Route 302 heading west and then jumped on 25 heading South towards Waits River. We went through East Corinth and just so you know, all through this area is very pretty.

Waits River Vermont

Still looking but no sign of any gypsy moth tracks as we came to Waits River. I made a small detour onto Pikes Hill Rd.

You may recognize the location and I have stopped here a few times myself over the years. This is the best view of the church and you will notice that powerlines are running through this image. If you were to click this link to a similar image of the Waits River Church, you will notice that I usually take the wires out in post-production. This is my artistic license because I like it without the powerlines.

So far, so good, no evidence of the gypsy moths…

We continued down 25 to 25C and into New Hampshire. We arrived in Warren New Hampshire and we were both craving a little snack we remembered during our last stop in Warren that they had an ice cream place that was closed at the time we were there, so…

Moose Scoops

We pulled in at Moose Scoops which is just a little ways from the church and the Redstone rocket. Read about Warren and the rocket here.

We had Ice cream and sat and enjoyed the location but we were soon back on the road. We continued on to Plymouth NH and then jumped on I-93. Now once we jumped on 93 we did see some trees with thin canopies but not bare.

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Gypsy Moth Conclusion

For the most part, we didn’t see any real evidence of a widespread problem with Gypsy Moth damage, and where we did see evidence of it, we were past it very quickly. We did not stop over in Conway NH where they had approximately 30,000 acres damaged and I’m hoping to get a report on that soon, Maybe I’ll take a ride up and look around.

My conclusion is that if you do find an area that was hit by the gypsy moths, then simply move yourself to a different area. 99% of what we saw on Monday was bright summer greens and I don’t think it will be a real issue this fall.

hope this helps your fall foliage planning… Happy Trails and good foliage travels!

Jeff Foliage Folger

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

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