Northeast Kingdom Destinations

[edmcguirk]

After having spent the past ten years doing most of my fall foliage wanderings/photography in NH, ME, and MA, in 2017 I decided I needed to return to Vermont again. I stayed in St. Johnsbury from 10/1/17 thru 10/5/17 and had nothing but green, and sadly brown leaf drop).

Undaunted, I planned a return to St. J this year from 10/03/18 thru 1011/18, hoping my luck and timing would be better. I'm more of a photographer, but enjoy leaf peeping too. I'm looking for input from the very knowledgeable folks here about more off-the-beaten path locations in the NEK. I have bought Carol and Andy's book, and plan to try Jobs Pond, Lewis Pond, and some of the ponds around Barton. I see lots of nice comments about Darling Hill road, is that a morning or afternoon drive for photography?

Doing a little map research on less visited corners of the NEK, I thought Brosseau Mountain summit and the view of Little Averill Pond might be nice, has anyone here actually visited it in autumn? Does anyone know of good driving routes around Victory State Forest and Island Pond?

I'm really looking for any good suggestions anyone might have about NEK photo locations, driving routes. Thanks for any help you might be.

[edmcguirk]

Carol/Abby, thank you so much for the helpful information, I was hoping you might chime in here. Your foliage book is outstanding. It's a wonderful resource, and I highly recommend it. Last year I visited a number of NEK locations in your book, and they were great spots, it was just frustrating to have so little color during the first week of October 2017. So I sure hope we get the right weather here in the next 10 days.

[ctyanky]

Ed: nice to see you back here on the forum! Sorry you were so disappointed last year, the season was just plain weird. Phil and I missed meeting up with you for Lewis Pond, it was beautiful. Hope you can return this season. I think you'll be just fine with the later dates and I expect you will find your color and have a great photography experience! CT

[ctyanky]

PS Stannard Mountain Road is one of my favorites. Just a thought......

[ctyanky]

Ed: here is John's (from the forum) video of Little Averill Pond from 9/11 last year! It was featured on wbz Boston.
Looks like it was a week ahead of this year in terms of color.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfyA2JBgtVs

[edmcguirk]

Ed: nice to see you back here on the forum! Sorry you were so disappointed last year, the season was just plain weird. Phil and I missed meeting up with you for Lewis Pond, it was beautiful. Hope you can return this season. I think you'll be just fine with the later dates and I expect you will find your color and have a great photography experience! CT

ctyanky : Lewis Pond is very high on my list, I've been wanting to go there for years. I'm staying in St. J from 10/3 thru 10/11. Let me know if you and or Phil plan to revisit Lewis during that time frame again this year, contact me ,and I'd like to work it out to meet you folks there, and introduce myself.

Thank you for the tip on Stannard Mountain Road, I'll be sure to check it out. It looks like a good route on the map.

[edmcguirk]

Carol/Abby, thank you so much for the helpful information, I was hoping you might chime in here. Your foliage book is outstanding. It's a wonderful resource, and I highly recommend it. Last year I visited a number of NEK locations in your book, and they were great spots, it was just frustrating to have so little color during the first week of October 2017. So I sure hope we get the right weather here in the next 10 days.

Thank you Ed. I'm very happy to know that the ebook has been helpful and I appreciate the recommendation. The weather is looking pretty good for the next ten days to bring on the colors. Lots of overnight lows in the 30's are forecasted for the NEK followed by some nice sunny days. Not all the days look sunny, and I'm hoping that will change, as the cool nights and sunny days are what bring out the vibrancy of the colors. Can't wait to see this years display. Soon....very soon. Again, thank you for your kindness.

Carol

Carol thanks for the help. I re-checked the weather forecast again this morning, and it does look good. I don't know if you are still a member of the South Shore Camera club, but I am presenting a program there about macro photography on 9/25/18 at 7pm. If you attend the meeting, stop by after the program, I'd be happy to meet you.

[pwt54]

Because of personal responsibilities, I can't get out and drive around like I use to. After reading a post by Wentworth I made time yesterday and drove around the NE Kingdom and he was right. Color change is behind schedule. The change has happened, but there is only hints of color. I think your schedule of 10/3 to 10/11 will be alright, but better closer to 10/11.
The back roads I did were a surprise. There is color along the edge of these roads. The Hinton Hill/Westmore Road between Lake Willoughby and Charleston, VT had some nice color. The road over Stannard Mountain had some brilliant color at the top.. Mostly next to the road.
This road starts as Main Street in Greensboro Bend and ends in Lyndonville as the South Wheelock Road. The road is paved at both ends, but gravel in the middle.

[From_the_NEK]

The foliage is running a little bit behind right now but not too far. The incoming cool weather should really kick it into gear this coming week. Higher elevations right now are where most of the color is. Unfortunately, in the immediate St Johnsbury/Lyndon valley areas I have seen some of this again this year:

This is damage done to maple leaves by Maple Leaf Cutters. https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_s ... _existence

Last year these buggers caused very early leaf drop in many of the maple stands around the Passumpsic River Valley. It may happen again this year as well. I also noticed similar damage (but not as severe) to leaves when I camped at Kettle Pond in Groton a couple weeks ago.


Hopefully these don't become an annual problem for leaf lovers.

That said, this morning's weather front came through with some strong winds and heavy rain. This knocked of the small percentage of leaves that turned very early and had since dried up. That should provide a nice new clean canvas for new color to emerge in the coming weeks.

[edmcguirk]

To PWT and From_the_NEK, thanks for the update on conditions, it's appreciated. The weather forecast does look like it will help move things along next week, hopefully it doesn't go back up into the 80's again this year.

[ctyanky]

Hello Ed: Phil and I are probably not going to Lewis Pond again. I've been 3 times now and could never convince him to drive there again! And I won't drive in there by myself! That being said, I would still enjoy meeting up with you somewhere if our schedules work out.

As I am in Warren Oct 1, 2, and 3, I will be closer to the NEK than my other 3 locations at which I am staying. If you are coming to shoot Blueberry Lake in Warren (which I hope you eventually do), I could meet you there or if you do Stannard Mtn. Road, that is another option. I am waiting until I get up there to determine my routes depending on the foliage. I see you don't arrive until the 3rd. That is my free day in Warren. I might be in S Johnsbury that day with Tim, board owner, as we are supposedly meeting at Dog Mountain. We could plan to meet you somewhere as well. There are a lot of scenarios, all of which depend on weather, color, etc.

Anyways, I think you are arriving at a great time and expect to see lots of reports and perhaps a photo or two! CT

[edmcguirk]

Hello Ed: Phil and I are probably not going to Lewis Pond again. I've been 3 times now and could never convince him to drive there again! And I won't drive in there by myself! That being said, I would still enjoy meeting up with you somewhere if our schedules work out.

As I am in Warren Oct 1, 2, and 3, I will be closer to the NEK than my other 3 locations at which I am staying. If you are coming to shoot Blueberry Lake in Warren (which I hope you eventually do), I could meet you there or if you do Stannard Mtn. Road, that is another option. I am waiting until I get up there to determine my routes depending on the foliage. I see you don't arrive until the 3rd. That is my free day in Warren. I might be in S Johnsbury that day with Tim, board owner, as we are supposedly meeting at Dog Mountain. We could plan to meet you somewhere as well. There are a lot of scenarios, all of which depend on weather, color, etc.

Anyways, I think you are arriving at a great time and expect to see lots of reports and perhaps a photo or two! CT

ctyanky, I won't be getting to St. J until the evening of 10/3, so that doesn't work. I will definitely post foliage reports and some photos once I'm in the NEK.

[Andy]

Hi Ed: Due to many other obligations, I have unfortunately not made it to Vermont as frequently as I used to. I will be officially retiring in 2019 and hope to have more flexibility to just jump in my car and drive during the foliage season, hopefully beginning in 2019 - maybe 2020. So - will be looking forward to seeing your 2018 NEK images!

I expected, and was glad to see that both Carol and Tim jumped in with commentary. They are the "resident experts" (along with the other Tim - the proprietor here) on the NEK. I have had the pleasure of having Carol as my personal guide on a couple of trips in the NEK. She knows the area and I have seen some spectacular scenery with her - and have made some of my most memorable photographs with her, too.

Thanks for the compliments on the eBook. It has been a true "labor of love." One small correction: That book is Andy and Carol's book (not Carol and Andy's book) (just kidding, Carol).