Tomorrow's (9/28) drive for critique

[orenphotography]

Planning a quick day trip up to Groton State Forest tomorrow. Head out from Marblehead around 4-5am. Up 91 to 302W then 232N. Try to get mist off the water at Ricker pond, Lake Groton and Kettle Pond. Continue up 232 to Owl's head and be there for road opening at 9 or 10am. From there explore Peacham Pond then head up to Rt 2 and across to Danville for a quick lunch. Then back down 93N and home.
Thoughts?
Worth the drive or better to wait (next chance would be Monday, 10/3)?
Thanks
E

[From_the_NEK]

That sounds like a solid plan. I was out in the hills south of St Johnsbury this afternoon and the color is good. The higher you go the better. Tomorrow morning should be good for pond mist as well. Hopefully it doesn't turn into full blown fog for you. If you find it is too foggy at Ricker Pond or Lake Groton, Kettle Pond may be fog free due to less cool air settling into it.

[pwt54]

Colors looked good yesterday. The hot spot was the Mack Mountain Road from the Academy Road in Peacham to route US 2. If you drive route 232 to the end at route US 2, turn right and drive toward Danville. At the truck lane stay in the right lane. Half way up the hill, look for the Mack Mountain Road on the right. Drive that to Peacham and the drive the peacham/Groton Road back down to Groton.

[orenphotography]

Now you tell me

I ended up going up 302 and hit up Ricker Pond (no mist; too warm) then Kettle pond. Both seemed to be pretty early and the light wasn't great. From there I made my way to Owl's Head but the road was closed (at 9:45am). Stopped at the next pond and the ranger there informed me she was the one who is tasked with opening the gate and does so between 9 and 10. I returned with her and made my way up to the Owl's Head overlook. The view was awesome and I had to wait about a half hour for the sun to emerge. Hard to tell what the colors were doing down there. Again, the pond looked early with a few yellows/reds. The area surrounding it looked a bit lackluster. Not sure if it was leaf fall or a fair number of burnt out ones.
Then headed to Peacham pond but there was little color there and the wind had picked up so I turned around. Thought about going up to Cabot but didn't see much that way so headed on Rt 2 to Danville. Didn't know about Mack Mountain so made my was home via 93 and ended up at the Basin of Franconia Notch. Had never been there before and managed a few shots of falls with a bright yellow or red tree.

I'll update with photos tonight.

[orenphotography]

Here's Owl's head

[Snookman2]

Looks awfully grey and brown. Someone talk me off the ledge, I'm freaking out.

[From_the_NEK]

Looks awfully grey and brown. Someone talk me off the ledge, I'm freaking out.

The last several of days of above normal temps, fairly high humidity, and no rain has caused the colors to fade. Last night's rain revived them a bit and the upcoming cool weather this weekend should bring out the colors even more. The bright side ( ) is that there is no wind forcast for the next several days so the peak should be long.

[Snookman2]

The colors can fade then rebrighten?

[Andy]

The colors can fade then rebrighten?

I'll take a stab. No.

I am guessing that what NEK meant was that things were moving fast in terms of the color starting to turn and then with the weather conditions, the "turning" has "faded" ?

The Owl's Head shot -- first of all, I love the composition, "oren" -- the greys looks suspiciously like leaf drop to me?

[orenphotography]

Thanks Andy
I've got a bunch more and hope to get to them tonight. The downside of being a Mass-guy is that I had to wake up at 4:15 to get up to that area in time and was too tired when i got back home at 5:30 to process the shots. There's a neat view looking to the right from owl's head at Lake Groton.
I tend to think that is leaf drop and was quite surprised to see it this early. I was thinking that this drive would be too early in the season but now realize the wide view from Owl's head is unlikely to get much better this year. The Kettle Pond area should explode soon so a tighter shot may be really nice in a week or so. I'll post one with the 200mm in a thread tonight.
E