We want to go away the last weeeknd in September.
In terms of Fall foliage, are better off going to the Sagamore in lake george or smugglers notch in vermont>

which will have better foliage?

Melissa

Melissa, too early for both. There will be some foliage at Smugglers, definitely much too early for Sagamore. Northern part of Vermont (Stowe and farther up) and Lake Placid area in the Adirondacks the first week of October. Sagamore, I would say, the second week of October or later. There are some leaves that are turning color in the end of September around Lake Placid, Burlington but for the peak wait a little longer. Sometimes it is even latter. Btw, it is a great time to be there even without spectacular color display.

The problem with trying to guess on peak fall foliage is that it can go from 'peak' to gone overnight if there is a big rain/wind storm. I think late Sept is a good bet, as the sugar maples will be changing by then but many of the other varietes will not. (aspen, birch, oak, red maple). While there will be patches of beautiful color, much of the landscape will still be green. Not sure which area (lake george or smugglers has more sugar maple - I expect Vt does).

To me, fall foliage is a backdrop for fall outdoor activities like hiking.

Would we be better off going to the Shen national park?

Melissa

I recommend you figure out first what it is you want to do for the weekend, then pick a destination that matches.

You won't spend all weekend standingin one place gazing at the leaves, but rather will be engaged in some activity (be it driving, hiking, hanging out lakeside, picnicing, dining out, etc) with the foliage around you near and far.

Deciding on a location that matches your needs in that regard is more important than picking the absoulute 'best' place and trying to catch peak color.

We were doing the 6 N.England states in Sept/Oct 2004 and that particular year the best foliage was in the White mountains N.Hampshire. We stayed a couple of days in Jackson and it was great;Kamcamagus highway was beautiful. In Vermont and further south Massachussets and Connecticut it was only just starting.Greetings from Belgium .Paul

In 2004 there was a fantastic foliage in NH, VT, in NY's Addirondacks. And 2005 wasn't bad either. I think the best I remember was in 9th of October 1998 around Lake Placid, NY

agree with J62, first decide where you want to go and why?