This weekend in VT

[loveVT]

Helow, everyone, we are planning to visit VT for foliage and photography this weekend. We have been reading the posts here a lot, and thanks pwt54, BM and others to post valuable information here.
We plan to stay in Stowe area, goint to NEK, Smuggler's Notch and the Roxbury Gap/Lincoln Gap roads as suggested here. We still have a couple of questions:
1. Will Groton State Forest (a couple of ponds there) have good colors this weekend?
2. We'd like to get up early and drive around, catch some misty/fog on some rivers/ponds with good foliage along the way. Which road should be near Stowe and good for this purpose?
3. Where near Stowe can we photograph some Vermont Farms?

Thanks a lot.

[loveVT]

Thanks bm for the route and info. We will do that. Hope the weather is coperative. However, rainy or overcast day would have its beauty.

[pwt54]

Lovevt, colors in Groton may be a little early, but they will be bright. Look for the Owl's Head Road off route 232. Drive that to the parking lot and walk the 1/4 mile trail to the top. Great views. Drive the road to Boulder Beach to the gate and park on the side of the road. walk down to Groton Pond. The Danville Hill Road has a great 180% panaramic view of the Green Mountains. You can see Jay Peak, Mt. Mansfield, and Camel's Hump. Best see before noon. I was there last Sunday and the colors are early, but there are some real "firecrackers" along the roadsides. By the way, if you do visit the Capitol, walk west of there to the little red brick welcome center and ask for Mike's special map of that area. Make sure they mark out the Tebbetts Road in South Woodbury. The road goes under a barn. You should also try the maple cree-mees at Bragg Farm on route 14 north fo East Montpelier or Morse Farm on the County Road. Yummy !!!

[pwt54]

Lovevt, colors in Groton may be a little early, but they will be bright. Look for the Owl's Head Road off route 232. Drive that to the parking lot and walk the 1/4 mile trail to the top. Great views. Drive the road to Boulder Beach to the gate and park on the side of the road. walk down to Groton Pond. The Danville Hill Road has a great 180% panaramic view of the Green Mountains. You can see Jay Peak, Mt. Mansfield, and Camel's Hump. Best see before noon. I was there last Sunday and the colors are early, but there are some real "firecrackers" along the roadsides. By the way, if you do visit the Capitol, walk west of there to the little red brick welcome center and ask for Mike's special map of that area. Make sure they mark out the Tebbetts Road in South Woodbury. The road goes under a barn. You should also try the maple cree-mees at Bragg Farm on route 14 north fo East Montpelier or Morse Farm on the County Road. Yummy !!!

[loveVT]

Just came back from our weekend trip of VT (Oct7-Oct10). Thanks for everybody on this forum, you gave us really great information for the route and places to visit.
Though the weather was not coorparative, it was still a great experience! We stayed in Waitsfield, a quiet nice town. On Saturday, we went to check out the Bingham Falls and Moss Glen Falls near Stowe, and it was reallly good visit. We stopped right befoer Smuggler's Notch as we don't have enough time. But from what we saw on Rt108 the color was really nice.
On Sunday we went up to NEK through Rt16, then turn to Rt5, to 5A and stopped at Lake Willoughby. Rt 5 to 5A was really good, there is a Crystal Lake at the corner of Rt16 and 5 that shows pretty colors. We went on a Newark Pond Road on 5A, which turned out to be really worthwhile, the road was covered with tall, yellow-shining trees. Lake Willoughby of course was really spectacular. We went on Rt58 all the way to Hazen's Notch and this turned out to be a very good choice. The part in Hazen's Notch is not paved, but again, another spectacular road with tall, yellow trees, in some point the trees were so dense we actually could not see the sky. The road was really quiet, and there are brooks running along the road, makes it really surreal experience.
Yes, we agree that we are missing some reds this year, and saw more of yellows and oranges. But still it was a really breath-taking journey.
I have just organized some pictures I took along the trip here:
http://www.pbase.com/xue2004/fall_in_new_england
Please enjoy. There are some taken with my previous trip to NH.

Thanks again everybody on the forum. We will definitely be back.

[OLEG]

Dear loveVT,

Yours are the best pictures of foliage I have ever seen. I am very, very impressed. Perhaps, you can do me a favor and explain to a amateur photgrapher what tool you used to make them so beatiful. Was it just Photoshop. If yes, what mask did you select?
Thanks.

[Jonie]

Oh...mannnnnnnnnn!!!!

That was incredible !! Brilliant photos !!!

[ixl]

Some very nice work there.

For the observers, please know that the color saturation level has been seriously cranked up in those images.. it doesn't really look that nice to the naked eye.

c

[Jonie]

I agree with that

[steve20]

I just can't believe these pictures are from this year!!

[pwt54]

Great photos. I've always believed the the Northeast Kingdom had the best colors in the State iwth route 100 between Stowe and Stockbridge and from route 11 south coming in a close second. Groton State Forest is third if you catch it right.

[loveVT]

Thanks everybody for your comments. I am using a Canon Digital Rebel (300D) for these pics. I did adjust level and color in PS, however, nothing more, as I am lazy and try to avoid playing with layers, masks, etc. When I adjust colors, I tried to remember the softness and purity of the color I saw along the way, and I am certain that the color I saw were as nice as that depicted in my pics, if not more. I hope my photos showed this soft and misty side of the foliage this year. However, if they are not, then I have to improve my techniques (as I always should) both when taking a picture and doing post-processing. (Please remember that the computer screen affects colors a lot, especially if you are looking at a computer screen whose color has not been adjusted properly).

Thanks everybody and enjoy the rest of fall.

[tremint]

You have some great shot, but my only feel is that most of them are not sharp. Under cloudy skies after the rain the colors pop out and you have some great shots.