Stowe Hollow Road. YES !!

[pwt54]

After getting my new tires I drove down to Ctyanky's inn to return some of her stuff. I had drove through Stowe to get to Waitsfield. The traffic was crazy and the road work south of Stowe was a pain. So I decided to take the Stowe Hollow Road. It's was a good thing I did. The colors up there are the best in the area.
Driving by Ben & Jerry's I turned right onto the Guptil Road about 1/4 of a mile past Ben & Jerry's. I drove into Waterbury Center Village and turned right onto Maple Street, by the little village green. Maple Street turns into the Stowe Hollow Road in Stowe. This road is paved for a couple of miles and then turns to gravel at the top of the hill. You will hit pavement again in Stowe Hollow.
After you leave the pavement you come to a farm with a big red barn and a full view of Hunger Mountain. The were cars parked all along the road, so I stopped. The slopes of the mountain were full of color with a lot of red. The barn gleamed. Photo-op!
After taking a few photos I continued toward Stowe Hollow. When I hit the pavement again I slowed down for another photo-op. At the Junction of the Upper Hollow Road is a smaller red barn with Pinnacle Mountain to the right of it. The colors were great. Ctyanky. Abby, BM, and I were here 3 years ago taking photos, and I believe the colors today were better.
I drove down the hill to a 4 way intersection. The left road is the Gold Brook Road, the Right road is the Stowe Hollow Road, and straight ahead, going through a covered bridge, is the Bridge Road. If you want to do the covered bridge, drive through the bridge and park in the parking lot on the left.
You could drive the Bridge Road to the Stowe Hollow Road, but I recommend that you drive back through the bridge and turn left to continue the Stowe Hollow Road to Stowe. Driving through the community you come to a "T" intersection. Turn left to continue the Stowe Hollow Road. The road ends at School Street, Turn left and drive to Main Street In Stowe, across from the big white Church.
If you plan to do Stowe or are staying there, turn left. If you are driving route 100 north, turn right. This road is worth the ride and could be the best way to bypass the traffic in Stowe this weekend.
I sent Abby some photos to post, hopefully she will have time. Hopefully this will be the last time. I'm going to try and figure out how to post photos.
Just got the news that Route 100 in Readsboro is now open.

[pwt54]

Those barn photos brought back fond memories of yesterday afternoon. I was at the little barn at 10:30am. I took some photos from the Upper Valley Road, down by the fancy-dancy grey house, and the colors on the small hill in back were great. The small barn is a 10am to 2pm photo-op. The big barn is best between noon and 2pm for shots of both the barn and the west views.

[Andy]

MM: Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt that rail fence a new addition to the Grandview Barn!

With all due respect to the "Foliage King", from a photographer's perspective, the The 10 - 2 slot is probably not going to yield the best quality image (at least if shot from where mmvt shot it. Actually, any time from about 2 pm on will probably give the best October light for this subject. Not sure when mmvt's shot is but according to the pos, "late," and you can se much of the photo is in shadow. My own shot, posted in another thread, was after 4:00, and you can just see the shadows starting

[pwt54]

When I took the photo of Grandview Farm the shadows were just touching the fence. I'm guessing about 3pm. This morning I took photos from the Stowe Hollow Road and from the Upper Hollow Road, down at the bottom of the hill in front of the barn. There is a colorful little hill behind the barn. You can't do this after 2pm because the hill is in the shadows. There is a stand of young maples in a wet spot beside the grey house. Yesterday they looked nice. This morning at 10:00am they sparkled. However you won't have the shadows and the mountain to the right of the barn didn't look as good. If you want to take photos from both roads you have to do it between 10am and 2pm. OR if you can come back, do the shot from the Upper Hollow Road at 10am and the shot from the Stowe Hollow Road after 3pm.
I took my photo of the big barn at 2:30pm. The colors behind the barn were great. I checked the views to the west and the colors were not good. This morning at about 10:30 am the colors behind the barn were only so-so but the colors to the west were great. Once again if you can come back, do the west shots in the morning and the big barn after 1pm.
I guess what I'm trying to say in a long winded way is, if you want to do the Grandview Barn from both roads and both the big barn and the awesome west views, the the middle of the day is the only time.
This long winded dissertation is for all you wonderful leafpeepers, with limited time and money,and who want to make the most of both. I know that andy, being an oldtime Vermonter and a serious photographer willt ake his photos anywhere and any damn time he wants.

[Rockwall Tim]

Thank you so much for telling us about this area! We spent about an hour on Stowe Hollow Rd. This afternoon and it knocked our socks off. Anyone with no plans should hit it on Monday!

[ctyanky]

Tim!!! So happy for you that you found such radiant colors. I am hoping you make a nice report on your four days in VT with your wife and sister-in-law!!!! Have a wonderful trip!

[Andy]

LOL, PWT!! Good point though. If the shot we keep showing is an afternoon shot, then is makes sense that a shot from the bottom of the hill back up would be lit in the morning. And, as PWT points out, it would have to be late enough that the hillside would be lit (hence his "10:00" time frame). OTOH, from the top of the hill down, it would need to be afternoon, but not so late that the shadows fall on the image (in mmvt's shot, there is a fair amount of shadow; on mine just a bit of shadow, which I actually waited a bit for - well actually, came back later for). So I stand properly rebuked and corrected by the foliage king

If it were me, from what PWT is saying, if I wanted the shot from the bottom of the hill, I would hit it around 10:00 a.m. Then I drive around a bit, go into Stowe (there is a grocery store on 100 South of the intersection of 100/108 that has a fantastic deli), get a sandwich), drive around some more, and go back to the Grand View Farm (but that would be a dedicated photo shoot -- not a foliage viewing ride). And, YES, its worth spending a whole day to photograph, when it is in full foliage!

And, yeah, PWT, you are right. I shoot at all times everywhere, in good light and bad, when I am in Vermont, because I get there so seldom. I just don't display a lot of my results

[pwt54]

Poor Andy. He's missing the best time of the year. The hay and corn are harvested and the manure spreaders are full. You folks driving route 15 between Johnson and Hyde park this week may want to put an extra coat of wax on your car. Whew !!

[orenphotography]

Thanks for the suggestion on Stowe Hollow Road. Just got home from a trip up there. Hit the barns around 3 and light was perfect.
Also, the reservoir in Stowe is looking really nice.