Returned from incredible, gorgeous 3 day VT tour!

[ctyanky]

Foliage Friends: Arrived late last night from a glorious, 3 day trek over Central Vermont. I am speechless. The colors were at peak in most of our journeys! I am going to get my trip details together today and will post a longer version in the next couple of days. Without the help from those on this forum, I would have never traveled some of the back roads and routes (esp. Admin's latest state report) discussed here. The weather was a bit rainy upon arrival but cleared by late morning and the weather Gods blessed us with gorgeous autumn skies throughout the entire weekend. Our farm stay was unreal! Every day we drove from 9 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. with short stops just to get all the loops completed! I want to mention that there is still a lot of green in Southern Vermont and I think this week and the weekend will be spectacular! Driving home on I 91 from route 103 the ranges were green and seemed just about to pop! I'm pretty tired so I'll get the details together and post soon! PWT if you read this from Florida I stopped for a maple cremee at the Green Mountain Sugar Shack and it was divine!!! bm Upper Notch Road out of the Ripton Lincoln road through the forest was even more beautiful than I had ever expected, peak through the whole area! Can't wait to share my journey with you all!

[ctyanky]

Abby: thanks! Didn't want to forget you - your pics of Rochester were exactly as I saw it! We went to the Rochester Cafe at 4 on Friday but they were just closing. Seemed kind of early but she was kind enough to let us in so we could buy some crafts - the menu next door looked delicious! Aspen: they had corn chowder on the menu but we needed to get to the farm so we missed eating there and never got back because we were on a travel mission! The town of Rochester was adorable with a great bakery/cafe across the street, neat hardware store and lovely green with gazebo! Wish I had more time to explore there. More later........

[Aspen]

Ctyanky...bravo!! even if you are only a screen friend, share your happiness of being able to have been in Vermont at the right time, right places and right foliage peaks! Know what it is like to desire to experience seeing Mother nature donned in her special red attire! Weather and timing is so critical! Eager to hear all about your journey.
Just can't get enough of Vermont so, definitely will be back on future Vermont Foliage forums!!

[courtmel]

ctyanky-So glad you had a wonderful trip. We went early this year to catch the elusive peak to our dismay! Oh well. Sorry you didn't get a chance to try the wonderful corn chowder at Rochester Cafe. Maybe next year, hopefully. I can't wait to see some of your pictures and read in detail about your trip. Rochester and the surrounding gaps are my favorite areas in Vermont.

Susan

[ctyanky]

Journey into Central Vermont: folks, this may be a bit long for some, but my adrenaline was in overload while I was in VT due to the great foliage and weather. Since we used so many routes from the forum and Admin’s latest state report, there may be some loops in here you might want to choose for next year. So enjoy the narrative, skip where you want, and since I left my camera home and had to use a disposable, descriptions got a little wordy! I just want to share with you my experiences with the places, towns and back roads that were enhanced by this weekend’s splendid foliage. My “icing on the cake” so to speak! If there are any places where you want further details, perhaps others can chime in. Hope I got all the roads right! I’ve divided my trip into three days.

Day One: 10/12 : Began the VT journey (in the rain) by taking Route 30 out of Brattleboro through Dummerston Center, Newfane and Townshend. Saw the Dummerston Bridge and Scott Bridge in West Townshend and stopped at the Newfane Country Store. Jamaica Village was very nice, as was Londonderry. (I think 30 became 100 here?). When we arrived in Weston, the sun came out and it was pretty windy! This town is very charming! The Vermont Country Store was getting so crowded and a bit overwhelming with so much merchandise, that we hopped over to the Weston Village Store where we hit the jackpot! Route 100 past Weston was picture perfect with excellent foliage viewing. About 3 miles out of Weston was a beautiful road where many people had pulled over to view the hills where the color was peaked -it was called “Site Road”. We took it until it ended in the woods at the Old Weston Mountain Road and then turned around. Route 100 from Weston to Ludlow to Plymouth was great! What color! In Ludlow, we stopped at the Green Mountain Sugar House and had maple cremees which were yummy thanks to PWT’s recommendation! Got lots of great maple products and I would definitely go back here again. Echo Lake was gorgeous but the best was yet to come! Route 100A was outstanding! The Calvin Coolidge site was quite impressive and for those of you who have not been there, I would highly recommend it. We didn’t have time for the museum but the landscape, buildings and views were well worth it. We turned west on Route 4 at Bridgewater Corners and that route was very colorful but the road north to Killington on 4, was not that impressive compared to what we just saw, although it had lots of yellows and golds with some reds popping out. We continued on Route 100 to Pittsfield and really got a kick out of the town with the “Pittsfield Original General Store”. They had lots of antiques in the rear of the store, Vermont products and a very nice café which had an excellent menu. We hope to stop there again someday to eat. Pittsfield to Rochester was absolutely gorgeous and after stopping and looking around the shops and the Rochester Café, we headed to the farm, exhausted and ready to eat dinner!

Day Two: 10/13: Started out at 9 a.m. after the fog lifted (quite cold, frost on the windshield, my sodas and other items froze in the car overnight) and continued on 100 to Moss Glen Falls! Due to recent rains, the falls were gushing and quite beautiful. The wooden path was very icy so I had to tread slowly - read of all the accidents from those who ventured into the falls unwisely. It mentioned a couple of past fatalities! We stopped in Warren to the country store and then began a remarkable journey on the Roxbury Mountain Road! All I can say was WOW. Looking backward, the vistas and color were unreal. If I had to do it again, I would take that road into Warren so we would not have to keep turning our heads back or stopping the car to view behind us. We continued on Route 12A north into Northfield and then on to Route 64 east to Williamstown. Beautiful colors everywhere. Thanks to my Northern Cartographic, we found Chelsea Mountain Road, a beautiful paved, then unpaved back road to Route 110 S to Chelsea. (No out of state cars of the three that passed!) I really liked this town. Thanks to my Explorer’s Guide, we read up on Chelsea and enjoyed the 1810 twin brick country store and then ate at the tiny Chelsea Diner. The trip got even better as we continued on 110 S to Tunbridge. Taking the Strafford Mountain Road (a little hard to find) to the town of Strafford was just wonderful. Gorgeous rolling hills, green pastures and farmlands, and lots of color. I was so thrilled with this route, and then the town itself, was amazing. I think I’ll put Strafford on my favorite top ten towns! You must come here! A perfect hidden gem in Vermont with the most beautiful, white steepled church I’ve ever seen in all of New England. Lots of pristine homes surround the town green with a cute little post office to call their own. We continued on Route 14 N through Royalton and East Randolph, still at peak and then another WOW! Brookfield and the floating bridge! Too chicken to go across and since we were going to take Route 65 west, I didn’t realize that you had to cross the bridge to travel R65W! So we had to turn around (I know, no guts - no glory) and headed to Brookfield Center and followed “Ridge Road” to Randolph Center. As we looked to our right the views of the ranges in full color rendered us speechless. The only words that finally came out were “Unreal”, “Oh my”, “I can’t believe this!” This has to be one of the best viewing sites in Vermont! When we turned west on Route 66 facing I 89, another speechless moment! Everyone was stopping here at District 4's Randolph Gorge entrance parking lot. We stood here mesmerized for ½ hour, calling our families to describe our view. We also miraculously got cell phone reception here! It was a sight to behold! We continued on by taking Route 12 S to visit Bethel, another nice town with a train station/depot and nice restaurants. We took the Bethel-Rochester Mountain Road home with spectacular views and gorgeous foliage, very tired and ready for our wonderful farm dinner! What a great day!

Folks, the third day was the best but I’m still recovering from the road trip so I’ll post it tomorrow! On the third day, somewhere along the Middlebury Gap, I had another Hinton Hill to Lake Willoughby special “moment”. Till then! Hope I haven’t bored you to death!!!

[Andy]

bm: I like the idea of a "get-together" -- though we probably couldn't pull it off -- with the different schedules. Last year, I had the best of intentions to stop and see an internet friend I met on one of the photo boards -- he lives in Tunbridge, but works in Richmond. I got near his office during the week -- but was so frantically trying to cover the whole state that I just didn't take the time.

[Andy]

ct: Thanks for the detailed report. I put several of the locations in my "explorer" list for good photo ops for my next trip. The Strafford one sounds pretty good. I'll have to check it out next time.

Ironically, I spent a year in Randolph Center (at Vermont Technical College) in the 70's and other than right close to the campus, never explored it much. Didn't even know there WAS a Randolph Gap (just a "young and dumb" college student, I guess).

[ctyanky]

Abby, Courtmel, Andy, Aspen, bm et. al.! Let's do the "SOV" reunion next fall. We can make it work! Get PWT to take us off road into some uninhabitable VT places!!!! Thanks for all your responses! Anyways, foliage friends, here's my third day scenario. It's a bit long, but what finer way to enjoy the rest of the evening, than with someone else's Vermont ramblings!

Day Three: 10/14: Left at 9:00 a.m. on 100 N to Hancock and turned west on Route 125 - Middlebury Gap. We stopped at Texas Falls - what a beautiful state park with great signage, trails and picnic areas overlooking rushing streams. The falls were flowing as much as the Moss Glen Falls, and it was a nice walk along the paths to catch different views. It was so serene in the cold, early morning silence; the forest was still except for the breaking of the water on the rocks. Wish we had time to hike and maybe see some wildlife! (Like Abby’s moose, lucky gal! All we saw on this trip was a deer which we pretended was a baby moose, a dead porcupine and other such roadkill). Next stop was the Breadloaf Campus - buildings all decked out in yellow - a sight to behold with the surrounding hills alive with color. Middlebury Gap was easy to drive and the foliage was great. It was parents’ weekend at the school and there were lots of people scurrying about. Just beyond, my Explorer’s Guide described the Robert Frost Road which was beckoning me to go forth for some reason. We drove up a very narrow dirt road with beautiful leaves and fields and there was the Homer Noble Farm! We parked and walked up a lovely, leaf-strewn path paralleled on both sides by old stone walls that lead to Robert Frost’s cottage! He spent 23 summers at this site. Here was my Vermont moment for 2007!. What a rush of emotion filled me as I stood alone, looking out over his pasture, stone walls and brilliantly colored hillside. In the distant field, a group of wild turkeys were bobbing their heads up and down in the grasses and the only sound I heard was the wind rustling through the trees. Awesome reflective, moment for me - experiencing nature on Robert Frost’s land, in my beloved Vermont! This was not the same overpowering feeling I had looking out over Willoughby, just a rush of "happy to be alive" emotions! (Had to share this with you all!) Moving on, we then took what I thought was the Lincoln-Ripton Road north, but I hadn’t driven far enough down route 125 and ended up on the Natural Turnpike which bm mentioned in an earlier post!!! We cut across a small dirt road and then found the Lincoln Ripton Road. If I had time, I would have taken the Natural Turnpike to it’s end. Just gorgeous! That’s a next year route for sure. bm: what did I miss by not taking this? Anyways, we took the Lincoln Ripton Road through what was to me an enchanted foliage forest; trees at their peak and silence. I never thought I would appreciate a forest road when my only experiences have truly been viewing ranges and hills from popular routes. I would highly recommend getting off of the main roads and into the back roads and forest roads, but be sure to have the right maps. We then turned west on the Upper Notch Road (after making a wrong turn on Lower Notch Road, had to use the Cartographic again) and this road was even more beautiful than the Lincoln Ripton Road. As we drove along the twists and turns, we were canopied by gold, orange and red trees for much of the route. At one turn we looked behind us and were able to see through the trees to the northern ranges of the Green Mountains. What a vista! Wish I knew where I was on the Notch Road! bm: any idea? We took 116 South and experienced great foliage once again. At this point, I had planned to do Route 7 S to Route 53 S along the Bradbury State Park. However, another area beckoned me and wow, am I glad we did. Middlebury was next, on the list of bm’s favorite towns. Middlebury is vibrant and full of great shops, restaurants and college kids! Just loved it! The waterfalls next to the bridge were awesome. We hit all of the upscale stores looking for my earmuffs but no luck yet! Middlebury is the kind of town that I could definitely retire to! I last visited there after the ‘89 snowstorm but don’t remember being so thrilled to be there! At the last minute we went to the Morgan Horse Farm in Weybridge on route 23 and on the way saw the very lovely Pulp Mill Bridge. I made my friend drive in one way and back the other for the pure joy of it! I would recommend the University of Vermont’s Morgan Horse Farm to anyone! The tour is quite informative and the location is splendid, down a nice country road with pretty pastures. We got to see all the horses and two in training in the indoor arena; one for dressage and one for surrey work. I ride and love horses but just being there was a very different experience. We also got to see their next raffle horse “Priceless” and that’s how I would describe this place! Kids would love it. They have a nice walk in the woods to a corral with young horses just weaned from their moms and they were all frolicking around biting each other! The Morgan Horse Farm is one classy, immaculately groomed place! Time was running short and we needed to start heading home. Thanks to Admin’s latest state report, we decided to take Route 30 S out of Middlebury. What a spectacular foliage display! I was hesitant because R 7 S along the range is what I usually do, but why not try something different? Well this was great. The fields and low lying areas were bursting with color and from R 30, we got to look east and see the ranges from a different perspective. The greatness of the range was unbelievable from this vantage point! The hills were just sparkling with color and I had a renewed appreciation of the magnitude of these mountains that I’m not sure I would have gotten from 7S. Approaching Brandon from Route 73 was just as memorable. Gorgeous color on either side of 73. Brandon is a very nice town and thanks to the forum, we ate at Sully’s aka Patricia’s! Route 4 east from Mendon to Pico was beautiful with lots of peak color. As we headed on 100S to Ludlow, we noticed that it was getting greener. Route 103 S to Chester was a windy, fun route to travel with lots of nice shops and places to eat. Since I am going to Chester for the first time next weekend, we didn’t stop in Chester Village, as I want to be surprised when I arrive! But we did see Stone Village and the Chester Depot which were very quaint. We ended our trip by getting on I 91 S which as I mentioned before, was very green, looking to pop during the week. What a wonderful final day, no earmuffs, but I managed to get my “special moment in Vermont” to cherish in my memory for years to come.

Now I am ready to start routing my next trip this weekend to Southern Vermont and can’t wait to get back up there! Hope we can catch the peak in this section, but if not, I just love being in Vermont!

[ctyanky]

Abby: yes, all this in three days. Like I said, we started at 9 and got done at 4:30. We've been doing this for years! I'm still pretty tired and now have to get some routes together for the weekend! We usually have a full itinerary with routes highlighted on the map and then another notepad with places to eat, visit and shop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We relax at night or when we get home!

[Andy]

ct: I remember the first time I met some photography "friends" at a nature center near Detroit. My wife was certain that I would dissappear and become a murder statistic somewhere. Mark, who has become a good friend, his wife and I still laugh about "Mark the axe murderer."

When I explain to her about some guy name PWT taking us to the middle of nowhere in Vermont, I wonder what her reaction will be?