Vermont Fall Foliage, Help!
 

I am reading so many contradictions concerning the peak time for Vermont's Fall foliage. I have found a place to stay near Springfield Oct. 8-15 but now I am reading that the color may be gone by then. Since I was not able to find a place the week before, I am thinking that perhaps this is true. Anyone from Vermont, please advise. Thanks.

For that weekend you probably need to be further south - perhaps southern connecticut?

Yankee magazine has a great interactive fall foliage map. It helps to know where your lodging is on the New England map.

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/foliage/findcolor.php

Rule of thumb is that it usually peaks around Columbus Day Weekend in Southern VT. Generally speaking the 1st 2 weeks in October are the best time to come. Lot's of folks find a place in Central VT and drive north or south depending on the stage of the colors during their visit. Extreme NE VT starts changing over in mid-late Sept. That being said, there SHOULD be good color around then in Southern VT(barring any large wind/rain storms). If you're too late, just head south. You may consider spending the 1st part of your trip in VT, and the 2nd in the Berkshires or Litchfield Hills.
A good website to try is www.scenesofvermont.com They have a foliage discussion board which I was checking out the other day-some good advice given there over the past few years. Yankee Magazine's site is also very good.
Also, check out the state's website: http://www.1-800-vermont.com/seasons/fall.asp
Grew up and still live here in VT and fall is my favorite season! Have fun.

PS. to my above reply..
"Peak foliage" is very hard to predict..because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One person's peak may be another's past, which is why you've probably seen lots of conflicting reports.

Foliage-wise, you're probably better off further south in the Bershires in Massachusetts or the Catskills in New York that week.

For your dates I'd try to stay further south. I have a good measure of the "normal" peak in the Berkshires. My Dad's birthday was October 10 and I generally combined a trip home for that with our annual foliage touring. They lived in the Berkshires, so our leaf peeping centered from that area (Lenox/Stockbridge/Williamstown) up to Manchester, Vt, across to the Grafton area, and back home. That entire loop can be done in a long leisurely day, and that day included a nice lunch at the Equinox Inn in Manchester. The colors will be beautiful all around the vicinity. Berkshires usually peak right around that time and southern VT slightly earlier--I worry that it may already be late for you to find good lodging in the Berkshires for those dates!

The two websites that people have recommended: http://www.yankeemagazine.com/foliage/findcolor.php and http://www.1-800-vermont.com/seasons/fall.asp contradict each other. Yankee's interactive foliage map says that around Springfield the second week in October is past the typical peak and 800-Vermont says the opposite. Which one should I believe? These are supposedly the experts.

Webecca, don't sweat it. I think we are having a wet, cool summer so that will effect things. I can never remember whether it means colorful foliage will be later because the trees aren't stressed or not. We have several weeks of very beautiful color. Springfield is far enough south to allow an easy day trip further south. That's part of the fun, driving and driving to see if it looks even prettier over the next hill. You will be here at a good time.
Life in New England changes everyday. We get excited when we spot the first trees that change color. We celebrate when Macouns apples are picked. We argue about when lobsters taste best. Foliage develops slowly and ends slowly based on elevations, temperatures, weather and who knows what else.

Hi!

I agree with D above. Nobody can exactly predict the peak season. It's like asking when the cherry blossoms will bloom. I think your timing will be great, as the past few years we've seen much later foliage then we did when I was a kid.

Two years ago we were staying in a hotel for a few days around Sept 27-30th before closing on a new house in the Concord, NH area, and it was full of leaf-peapers going out daily to view full green-leafed trees. You just can never tell. Some years the color is dull (like last), and some years absolutely vibrant.

Plan on spending the first half of your week exploring places like Woodstock, Vt and Peterboro, NH and the second half around Deerfield, MA and the Berkshires.

And finally - from where are you coming, and what is the hotel cancellation policy? Could you cancel if you read that the leaves are "done" by Oct 1st? Or are you flying in from afar? Personally, I think you're arriving at a good time, and should have a great trip.

I am coming from California, where we really do not have autumns like in other parts of the country. I want to have that "picture postcard experience" that NE is known for. Now, here's another question. Someone said on another travel board like this one that Maine is not really a good place to go for color, that I should stick to Vrmont and NH. Is that true? We are thinking that maybe we will rent a place the first week of October (if I can find one this late in the game, anyone know of a place?)somewhere in northern New Hampshire and do day trips to Maine. Is that too far to drive in one day?

Mostly that is true. However, if you could find a place around Camden or Rockport, Maine for that first week in October, you would not be disappointed. :)

Day trips to coastal Maine are not impossible from the White Mountains, but you'd probably be better off splitting that first week into two different bases. And this all assumes you find a room, which will be difficult at this point.

You could plan on flying into Portland, Maine and out of Newport, RI, making the two weeks a driving tour with 3-4 places to stop for 3-4 nights each. However, booking two more places this late in the game may prove impossible.

Good Luck! And please post back with a report!

Sure, the foliage is great in Vermont and New Hampshire, but it's also darned good in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts and the Hudson Valley and Catskills in New York.

Howard, you forgot to mention Adirondacks

Go for it!

While it is possible that the foliage may be past peak, it could also be positively optimal timing in Springfield once you arrive, or even a bit early. You just never know. If not, you'll be an easy drive from southern New Hampshire and Vermont and northern Massachusetts, where it is typically positively glorious at that time.

Again, you just never know...colors may come sooner or later, or last longer, or disappear with lots of rain. No matter, you can always find plenty of beautiful foliage a bit of a drive farther.

Every state has a toll-free hotline which is updated twice a week.

The very best way to enjoy the foliage and otherwise fabulous scenery is by getting in the car and driving all over anyway.

Foliage varies everywhere, all about, even from one side of a mountain to the other, along with proximity to water.

Be advised that the foliage map at yankeemagazine.com is exactly the same year after year, yet the foliage changes every year are definitely NOT.

We've been to the Berkshires that week, and it was too early, but other years just past.

You're right, z, but if you miss the foliage in Vermont and New Hampshire, you'd probably miss it in the Adirondacks as well. My point was that if you miss the foliage in Vermont and New Hampshire, going further south is a viable replacement experience.

Here is a link that might be helpful

http://www.foliage-vermont.com/foliageinflash.htm