Hello,
First of all I want to thank PWT54 for the execellent site on waterfalls in the area.
I am planning to stay in Chittenden (near Killington) on Oct3 - Oct4 for two days. I visited vermontvacation.com site for a list of scenic drives. I short-listed two of them; one which covers the Addison county and Route 125, Route 73 through the Green Mountain park for a loop of 120 miles and the other goes up north to Stowe and covers a loop of about 125 miles. I have no clue about the speed limits etc and hence I am not sure how much time it would take to cover the loops.
I wanted to know the color condition in Stowe and Addison County at the time of my visit. Should I select one over the other or would both the areas be near peak?
Thanks
Foliage routes/Speed Limits
Moderators: Andy, pwt54, admin, ctyanky
Re: Foliage routes/Speed Limits
Hi,
The general speed limit on most N-S roads over there is 50 mph (Rtes. 100 and 7) down to 30 or 35 in the towns. However, a fair portion of your Addison county tour goes E-W over the Greens (a good choice, mind you!). The speed limit is generally 40 mph over the mountains. Depending on your automobile, you may not even go that fast as you traverse the Brandon and Middlebury gaps (probably not a good idea at the steepest parts of the climb anyway). So, that 120 miles may take 4-5 hours or so (taking into account some stopping time for picture taking). I'm not sure what your Stowe loop is, but if it involves Rte. 108 over Smugglers' Notch, you will once again be slowed down considerably. If the climbing is similar, I would guess a similar amount of time as the Addison County trip (however, it could potentially be a bit less). They both sound great! Have a wonderful time.
Daniel
The general speed limit on most N-S roads over there is 50 mph (Rtes. 100 and 7) down to 30 or 35 in the towns. However, a fair portion of your Addison county tour goes E-W over the Greens (a good choice, mind you!). The speed limit is generally 40 mph over the mountains. Depending on your automobile, you may not even go that fast as you traverse the Brandon and Middlebury gaps (probably not a good idea at the steepest parts of the climb anyway). So, that 120 miles may take 4-5 hours or so (taking into account some stopping time for picture taking). I'm not sure what your Stowe loop is, but if it involves Rte. 108 over Smugglers' Notch, you will once again be slowed down considerably. If the climbing is similar, I would guess a similar amount of time as the Addison County trip (however, it could potentially be a bit less). They both sound great! Have a wonderful time.
Daniel
Re: Foliage routes/Speed Limits
The speed limit is 50 mph, but if you looking at the colors you'll be doing less than that. Colors should be good up in Stowe and in the highlands of Addison County. Routes 125 and 73 are good rides and easy to drive. Route 17 between route 100 and route 116 is switchbacks going up and down the pass. Slow but nice. You RV'ers reading this, stay off this route!! You motorcyclists, strap down and get horizontal. Same goes for route 108 through Smuggler's Notch. If you are taking route 125, I assume you are going to do Texas Falls. If you don't mind dirt roads, after you do the falls, continue the up road until the end. You will come to an old field near the end. Should be good colors on that road and good views at the end.