The Big Weekend is Past But is the Color all Gone?

Spoiler alert… (no it isn’t… SHHH, That’s a Secret!!!)

Welcome friends, The fall colors are there if you forget about the mountains to the north and you head south. This year is a tough one to predict because we first got a ton of rain in July and then in mid-August the rains shut off and we went between 15 to 30 days without rain. This has been unprecedented for New England making it even more difficult to predict. Before I go into this drone shot which I captured at sunset. We’ll chat first about what ELSE was seen down below...

Well, the White Mountains now have snow on them, and even at lower elevations, the leaves have mostly left the trees…

This was captured this afternoon (18 Oct 2024 at 3PM) and as you can see most of the color has left the trees but that will not diminish the views while taking the Cog Rail train to the top of Mount Washington. But for the fall colors, you will have to go south into the Lake region or even further down into Massachusetts.

Maine

Stephen Beckwith of Scenes of Maine Reports:

“As I am finding out, the roadside scenes are holding onto peak much more than the hills. I’m not sure if you want to use this or not. What I am finding on my drive to work along Rt302 from Naples down to SoPo (South Portland) is looking really nice, though Rt 302 doesn’t offer much in pull-off scenes. There is a pond in Casco that looks really nice.”

Jeff “Foliage” Folger Reports:

Lisa and I drove in from Meredith on Route 25 into Maine and much like New Hampshire, Maint we showing a lot of muted colors. The drought is making it hard for a leaf snob like me to get excited about the fall colors. IF I get excited about the fall color you can bet there is something to see. Since I was tired I only drove Routes 25 to 160, to 5, and then jumped on I-95 to home, (More on that later)

We found the Little Ossipee River on Route 5 and I pulled us over for a VERY nice and mirror-like pond view…

As I was tired, we continued down to I-95 heading south into Massachusetts where we found!!! Well, you will have to wait for the Massachusetts section… I’ll get to it…

New Hampshire

Not too much to report in New Hampshire and as I’ve been telling you for over 20 years… after the Colombus Day Weekend/Indigenous Peoples Day you need to start looking further South. On Wednesday Lisa and I met up with a friend for a later breakfast in Greenfield New Hampshire.

Butch Lombardi Reports:

Butch found good color all through Southern New Hampshire. “We explored Temple New Hampshire which was just in this year’s fall issue of Yankee Magazine. He explored SW New Hampshire and some areas have gone to sticks but along Route 31, almost the entire length from Route 10 and Route 31 to the Massachusetts border is brilliant”.

This shot is from Washington New Hampshire on 17 October.

Jeff “Foliage” Folger Reports in NH:

On the 16th we were in Temple NH, Peterborough and then we took whatever back road showed up on the GPS or our Gazetteer. Do you have a New Hampshire Gazetteer? Buy one in my Amazon Store. We hit roads like Route 31, 101, Hadley Hwy, Old Ashby Road, and Forest Road leading to Greenfield with the Greenfield covered bridge.

Obviously, if you get off the main roads and onto back roads you WILL find many things to photograph in Southern New Hampshire. Before I move to Massachusetts, I got a late report from Vermont.

Vermont

John Rowe Photos Reports:

John wanted to post one last shot of Island Pond, Here we see the past peak colors before they go away. Any color will be down in the Southwestern corner of Vermont.

You can find John on Instagram at John Rowe Photos, Now all the directions are pointing to Massachusetts so why don’t we see what we found down in the Bay State…

Massachusetts

Jeff Foliage Reports:

This year ALL of my best images were taken down in Massachusetts. From my last report on 10 October and my wonderful shot of the Hairpin turn above North Adams Massachusetts, Lisa and I kept finding really beautiful images this week from the 14th to the 16th…

On the 14th we started in a drizzling rain at the Wayside Grist Mill in Sudbury Massachusetts. The clouds and rain would follow us all day.

For the most part, the rest of the day we found all sorts of little scenic locations on back roads in East Central Massachusetts (I set my map settings in Google to keep me OFF the highways) and this helped me explore little back roads.

Townsend Massachusetts

The rain was just ending which had dogged my footsteps all day and we came down Canal Street onto Route 119 and while I wanted to get on the larger road, I was watching what the sky was doing. I’ve been doing this long enough that when I see the sun starting to break below the cloud deck, magic “could” happen. I saw a rainbow start to appear (hence the magic) so I pulled over but the was no view so I raced down 119 to a place I could safely pull in and launch my drone and see the real magic!

I had just captured an incredible scene and once the Rainbow had faded in the darkening sky I assumed it was time to fast-track my way home, BUT! I was not done yet!

Have you picked up a Gazetteer for Massachusetts? I find them to be invaluable, pick one up in my Amazon Store.

Groton Massachusetts

I hadn’t been to Groton since the fall of 2020 and I was curious to see what Bancroft Castle looked like. But when we pulled into the Gibett Restaurant’s parking lot the sky was already turning pink so I again launched my drone to see what I could see… I saw with amazement…

Here are some views from my drone BUT! You can also see them if you climb the big hill to Bancroft Castle…

So you can find me on my Facebook page, New England Fall Foliage, or on my Instagram Page.

Rhode Island

Mark Spremulli Photography Reports:

Mark is reporting the colors are beginning to show up in Rhode Island and today’s image is from Scituate Rhode Island.

Scituate Rhode Island at a farmers market, View his images on his website.

You can also find Mark on Instagram.

What Jeff Thinks…

There are fall colors to be found, you just need to head south. Obviously in Massachusetts west of Boston and East of the Pioneer Valley are the places I found my best colors. It has been very tough this year but if you are heading out to look for the colors then those are the areas I’m suggesting.

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.