Final Fall foliage Report, 31 Oct 2024

Happy Halloween my Spooky Fall Foliage Peeps! Living in Salem Massachusetts gives me an unusual take on Halloween. You might ask, what about the fall colors? Well to me they are all wrapped up together. Past peak is what almost everybody is asking about, Peak is useless at this point in the season, Also the bright colors are fading into russets and gold which if you look at it right, is not too bad…

First, we had the early days of the leaves turning red, orange, and gold. Then the farm stands, apple picking, and cider donuts. The Leaves started falling as we scrambled to capture all the Autumn memories that we could. Finally, the sundrops below the horizon, the trees creak in the wind, and leaves crunch underfoot as kids dress up as their favorite make-believe characters. And yet Halloween is still uniquely Salem as seen out at Winter Island.

Massachusetts…

My calendars are available on Lulu.com and they print on demand. I have four calendars this year. New England, New England Fall Foliage, Covered Bridges, and New England Lighthouses. There is a 20% off discount code on my Facebook pages that expires on 1 November so move fast as any further codes will be much less!!!

Most of the reports from my Photographer friends and I are from coastal Massachusetts. Joann and I both ventured into the traffic that Boston is famous for. But I think she is much more at ease with it than I am. Even with Lisa staring at the GPS to determine which road to take or lane to be in… It is tough.

Joann Vitali Reports: “Boston was still colorful with yellows and a few reds mixed in with the rusty colors—lots of wind and leaf drop.
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As you can see Joann has been finding good if not great fall colors in Massachusetts. Visit her Facebook page here OR check her Instagram page (Cobblestone & Birch) here.

Jeff “Foliage” Folger Reports: Lisa and I traveled down to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston to explore. They have hundreds of varieties of trees and bushes for you to enjoy. The trails are well marked and almost all the trees are labeled with the genus and common name. They have a section of nothing but maples and while this was probably prettier last week. I found a few views worth enjoying.

Let’s not forget about…

Salem!!!

I obviously went downtown this morning at dawn to try and beat the crowds and I stopped at the Salem Witch House…

Now if you go there you will see stanchions, barricades, and a TV crew had set up to document the crowds. You can see the BEFORE Photoshop version here, it’s basically a testimony to my ability in Photoshop. Lisa says what I removed was all the distractions and no… This was not a single action and it was all gone. I spent an hour removing the “stuff” keeping me from enjoying the scene.

Vermont

Jeff Foliage is happy to report…

Lisa and I visited family in St Albans Vermont this past weekend and while much of the fall colors are gone, the oaks ARE STILL producing colors. The oaks are always last and if you can backlight the leaves you can get great pictures. Saturday night in Taylor Park in the heart of St Albans Vermont I had to do an emergency pullover when I saw this.

The pink clouds are from the sunset which caught me off guard. I didn’t expect it to do much, and combined with the MAPLES in the park, let’s just say I was amazed. There were bare trees in the park and before you get in your car, the winds that started that evening took a lot down. This particular tree the next morning was much as you see here, even after the winds.

Randolph Whale Dance

If you don’t know the story of the Whale Tails that you might have seen on the side of I-89 in South Burlington Vermont, there is a newer set down in Randolph where the first set started at. You can read about the history of the TWO sets of Whale Tails in Vermont here.

The Whale Dance Tales are just of the exit and there is a parking lot there. We continued down Route 12 through Barnard VT and into Woodstock.

Woodstock

The main trees in these images are oaks and like I have always said, if you can backlight or sidelight the leaves, you can get some very nice colors. Around the Woodstock Inn, you will see they have some birch and a maple or two that still were holding their leaves.

Basically, when you get this late into the season (27 October for the above images in Woodstock) you don’t know what you will find until you get there. I will say that most of the maples on the common in the center of the Town Common were either oaks or bare. There was a young maple that was fully leaved and there was a constant line of people wanting to take their picture under this tree, LoL.

Jeff’s thoughts…

Well, if you are going out this weekend (1-3 November) then you should be looking along the coast of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. I still saw some pretty color in Salem this morning (31st if you forgot) but I would not do it today/night in Salem. The crowds should be much less come this weekend!

I hope this season was productive for you if you ended up in New England and if not, I hope you enjoyed the virtual tours through my blog. Lisa and I will be working on some new articles over the coming months, such as our alternatives to places like Stowe and Woodstock, and a look at the longest rail trail in Vermont…

I hope your travels are adventures and you discover many new places in the days ahead…

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.