Connecticut Fall Foliage 2021

[loafer89]

Some very early foliage color here in Northeastern Connecticut, but also alot of rust and dry leaves.

Hurds Pond, Somers with some early color

[bobbav]

I live in Woodbury, and much of RT 67 and RT 6 through Oxford is about 45% peak. I live on 35 acres of deep woods at the top of a very high elevation (it is often 3-5 degrees cooler at our home versus center of town), and the leaves are at about 5-10% turning as of today.

[ctyanky]

Hi Bob, thanks for the update. I'm planning my tour for the NH boys from this forum and am taking into account all your advice from a previous post. I want to take them on Judd's Bridge Road and Battleswamp Road in Roxbury off 199. It's still so green yet but I am touring up the NW hilltowns the end of next week to judge the foliage a bit better.

When one of them came down last week (in his shiny new vette) I promised him no dirt roads at his insistance. Unfortunately, I forgot that Canaan Mountain Road and Undermountain Road out of Norfolk were dirt. It didn't go well but we survived! Then we met up with some major road repair with LOTS of trucks on Undermountain Road. The dirt road was a mess. UGH. How would I have known? Until we were cleared for a go ahead, I was pretty worried we would bottom out. Well, he did go right to the car wash when he got back to NH.

They are coming in a Jeep next time!!!

Aren't you headed to Warren soon????

[loafer89]

A few locations in Somers and Enfield that had good foliage color last year are brown/rust and going bare. I'll check out Northeastern Connecticut sometime next week. Hopefully better than last year, which had no color at all.

[ctyanky]

Hi Kevin, seeing that we are in for 70s next week, there probably won't be much change. But cool nights and sunshiny days are forecasted. I think the leaves that are falling or brownish are a natural shedding for the trees. We got a lot of rain around Connecticut this past summer. It should be better in NE CT than last year because of the prolonged drought at that time up there. NW CT was amazing last year so I am hopeful our state will shine again for foliage. It still has a summer look around here but on Avon Mountain the colors are gorgeous. I will go up next weekend to Canaan and Salisbury and see what it looks like. The CRV (Connecticut River Valley) will be slower than the corners of the state. Let me know what you find.

I have some great loops that I will post for those folks who want to experience CT foliage. Stay tuned!

(Meanwhile, I'm still tooling around Vermont!)

[loafer89]

Approaching peak foliage here in Northern Connecticut, probably later this upcoming week or early next week.

Sodom Pond, Somers Connecticut

[ctyanky]

I just saw that it is going to be 77 here Thursday and 80 on Friday so that may extend the season. Maybe I'll go to the beach then.

[loafer89]

I drove into Northeastern Connecticut today and the foliage is mostly at peak and better than last year. It's a tough area to take foliage pictures of because of limited scenic vista's, private land and busy roads. I drove on Route 190, Route 89, Route 44, Route 31 and home.

Upper Bolton Pond:

[loafer89]

I visited Granby, Barkhamstead Reservoir and Colebrook. Peak foliage color on Route 20 between Granby and Riverton.

[ctyanky]

Kevin, I'm doing a prerun to northern CT and NW CT Friday. I'll start out on Lost Acres Road in Granby and hook on to 20 there. I really want to see how it is in Salisbury and Norfolk on the 44 run. The NH forum guys are probably coming next week. There is still alot of green in the valley and it's going to be in the high 70s tomorrow. I expect color to pop fast after the weekend.

If you get up near Norfolk, check out Woodcreek Pond north of town on 232. The road is on the right and it will say boat launch. It looked like a promising site this summer. Need an SUV or a car with some clearance.....

CT

[loafer89]

I just returned from a trip to Northwestern Connecticut. It's mixed with good foliage color along Route 20 before Barkhamstead Reservoir and then Route 44 to Route 8. After that it's going bare on the way to Colebrook and Canann at the higher elevations.
Route 7 is still mostly green along the Housatonic River, working back towards home, it's at peak, but bland. Also 75F + outside, the foliage just seems confused. Better quality foliage in this region last year.

I did go to Woodcreek Pond, nice color along the pond, but going bare elsewhere.

[ctyanky]

I drove 4 hours straight today into northern CT and the extreme NW corner. We are a good week behind in foliage progression and the high 70s didn't help it much. I got home and it was 81.

I started in Granby and went west on 20 to Winsted. Route 20 along the top of CT was a mixed bag. I didn't see consistent peak except a few patches. The mountains south of 20 at the higher elevations are all green. I didn't go up to Colebrook or Barkhamsted. I continued on 44 to Norfolk where the colors were only starting out. In Norfolk I traveled west on 44 to North Canaan. The mountains south of 44 are all green with a few flares starting to pop. Another week here. I then went to the town of Salisbury on 44 and turned west on Taconic Road to Hammertown Road. Some bare trees and maples have already gone by, but when I got to Hammertown Road the mountains that were peak when calguy from NH from our forum came down last fall on this date, were all green!!!! So that solidified my theory about the late foliage. The extreme west side of CT is going to be excellent towards the end of next week. I continued on Beaver Dam Road to get a better view of the mountain and still green. Went to Sharon on route 41 south to view the mountains near the hike I took last year with peak foliage and it was summer green all the way down to route 4. I stayed on route 4 until I hit Goshen and took 63 south into Litchfield center and made it there before the crowds entered for the weekend. It is a hotspot for tourists! The best color I had so far was on route 118 from Litchfield center into Harwinton and Burlington. By the time I got to 179 in Collinsville it was summer again and 80.

So if you are heading to CT after Vermont or NH, wait a week, but go to the western side of CT near the NY border and head up or down route 7 or west on 44 into Salisbury, Sharon, Kent and so on. I didn't have time to stop at the West Cornwall covered bridge because it was getting too hot. Hard to believe. I do agree, the trees must be getting confused.

We need a few good cold nights to jumpstart the color here in northern and north western CT. I think things will pop next week and we are going to be in for a great color show.

Meanwhile, I'm probably heading north into Williamstown and southern VT to Manchester and loop around back to route 9.

[ctyanky]

Just an FYI, it has gotten quite breezy here in the last couple of hours. I'm thankful we are still "green" in most of CT, but the leaves that are fragile are blowing off and around. Not sure what is happening up north but our rain forecasted here will be light. It is mid 70s but several cool nights are on the way!!! We are in good shape down in Connecticut!

[ctyanky]

UPDATE: We are experiencing some very cold temps at night and along with these gorgeous sunshiny days, I expect the foliage to pop here in northern CT and west central CT this week and weekend. Much of the state remains at this point in early to mid stages of color with isolated areas of past peak and leaf drop. The rain that came recently was light. Although the winds were picking up today, the leaves on the changing trees are still intact for the most part!

I am preparing a lengthy tour mostly in Norfolk, Canaan, Salisbury, Lakeville, Kent, Cornwalls and Sharon, with covered bridges, ponds, waterfalls, farms, churches and long views for the two NH photogs whom I met in Peacham one fall a couple of years ago. This will be season two, part two! Calguy was here last fall for a glorious tour in the above area when we experienced an excellent foliage season in CT. Calguy came here a couple of weeks ago for a pre tour and now his partner in crime, Bogey, is joining us! I can't wait for the 3 of us to be tooling around my neck of the woods in the "Jeep" and not the "Corvette" so we can do some dirt road adventures! I hope we can pack it all in as we will be on the road from 9-4 and they still have the drive back to NH.

I hope we find nice color and places for them to haul out the cameras and tripods and shoot while I bury my head in my map to keep us on track for the day. It is going to be gorgeous and in the low 70s with white puffy clouds. Needless to say, I am quite excited and most of all to be with my new found friends from Scenes of Vermont!

Stay tuned! CT

[loafer89]

Not much foliage color here in Enfield, much worse than last year. Way too much rain and very warm weather. The usual sports with Fall foliage color are brown/rust. There is some nice color, but it's in urban areas and hard to photograph. The cool weather is coming too late.