New Hampshire, Vermont in early October

My wife and I will be staying in Concord, New Hampshire the first week of October.  I want to photograph Fall color, if any, landscapes, covered bridges, etc in the NH, Vermont and possibly Maine area.  I have a rental car and will drive to locations near and not too far, 150+ miles if necessary.  I researched the Kancamgus Hwy and White Mountains.  Any other areas to discover?   Thanks for your input.

calvin1calvin wrote:My wife and I will be staying in Concord, New Hampshire the first week of October.  I want to photograph Fall color, if any, landscapes, covered bridges, etc in the NH, Vermont and possibly Maine area.  I have a rental car and will drive to locations near and not too far, 150+ miles if necessary.  I researched the Kancamgus Hwy and White Mountains.  Any other areas to discover?   Thanks for your input.

Hi

I live in Vermont. There are some lovely covered bridges around here-the most famous (longest, anyway) probably being the Windsor -Cornish bridge. However,many bridges are hard to get a good angle on, depending on what kind of views you want- i.e. interior, the whole span, etc.

http://www.coveredbridgesite.com/index.html
https://www.coveredbridgemap.com/vt/

Woodstock, Vermont is a classic town with a nice little covered bridge where you can get pretty interior views. As for foliage, I think there are sites where you can scout out where peak foliage is evident. Not quite sure what the source is, but feel free to contact me before you leave for Concord, and I can probably help you find places in Vermont or N.H. Foliage has become a lot more unpredictable in the past 5 years or so, with the maples now turning earlier than some of the other trees. However, there are always awesome views practically anywhere you go. I should think the White Mountains would be ideal for vistas, but perhaps a bit gone by in October....For a less extensive trip, there are scenic roads that go through the Green Mountains of Vermont, notably trt. 125 through the "Middlebury Gap".

https://www.go-vermont.com/Route-125-Th ... nic-Route/
http://idigvt.com/play/drives/middlebur ... nic-drive/

The Middlebury Inn is a nice place for refreshment.

If you go on to Burlington and along the coast of Lake Champlain, you will see wonderful views of the Adirondacks and other great lake views.  If  you are interested in Wildlife/birds, this is the time to visit Dead Creek Wildlife Area. Snow Goose migration will likely have just begun, but the area itself is lovely for all kinds of viewing.

http://www.hforcier.com/articles/DCWMA.htm

Looks like Heather's article isn't available on NSN any more....

Here's a typical scene from Dead Creek-a bit later in October.



Here's one reference site:

http://www.foliage-vermont.com/


One other classic site (perhaps a bit TOO popular), is the Jenne farm.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenne_Farm

Well, that's a start!

Cynthia

The local weather forecasts on TV usually include a peak foliage map that time of year.

Thanks, will check those out. Looking forward to a fall visit, never been there at that time.

https://www.jeff-foliage.com/

Another site for info. 

I spent two weeks during the autumn of 2016 photographing in northern New England, the latter 2/3 of it in Vermont and New Hampshire.  I had been told, after I'd made reservations (etc.) that the first week of October would likely be too late for the Kanc and most other areas of the White Mountains.  It turned out to be perfect--absolutely peak color and, I'm told, one of the best years for fall color in New England in decades--but I have reason to believe that I got quite lucky.

I spent most of my time in Vermont in the Northeast Kingdom part of the state--which isn't all that close to Concord, but since you'll have direct access to I-93, you could get up there without too much trouble.  (If you're not already aware of it, north-south travel in VT and NH is fairly rapid, but east-west is another matter entirely.)  I spent my time in New Hampshire based on the eastern end of the Kancamagus Highway and photographed in a broad loop, along the Kanc, Bear Notch Road, Crawford Notch, Pinkham Notch and Franconia Notch and the area around Sugar Hill.

Here are a few links to some blog entries covering my experiences in VT and NH:

https://lightscapesphotography.wordpres ... ngest-day/

https://lightscapesphotography.wordpres ... mountains/

https://lightscapesphotography.wordpres ... nia-notch/

https://lightscapesphotography.wordpres ... continued/

There are plenty of other VT and NH posts on the blog, if you're interested.

Finally, a really good resource for location planning--particularly for Vermont but New Hampshire as well--is the Scenes of Vermont website/forum.  There are regulars on the message boards who have forgotten much more about this area than I'll ever know and they were extremely helpful to me with my planning:

https://lightscapesphotography.wordpres ... f-vermont/

http://www.scenesofvermont.com/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=1

Do not trust the "local" TV foliage reports. Only one station in NH and it is really a Boston station based in Manchester, NH. They will tell you it is still peak in your area as you finish raking the last of your leaves up.
First week of Oct may be early but the colors should be out up north. Follow this photographers website, https://www.jeff-foliage.com/, he follows the leaves year round and will give you some great ideas on where to go. Avoid the Kan on a weekend, but if you have to, go early. Living in the Lakes Region, I usually go to the Whites for a day, put spent most of my time shooting around Newfound Lake. (My Home) Do you hike, even a little, a lot of places to shoot if you get off the road. Put look into the Lakes Region also. If you decide to try shooting around Newfound, get a hold of me, I access to some great private property with some of the best views of this lake. My info can be found on my website. Either or you won't go wrong with what ever you do.
Dave Redman

I believe this might be the article from Heather mentioned above. http://www.hforcier.com/articles/fallinvermont.htm

She has a number of Vermont scenics on her site. I'll just repeat what somebody else said, weekend traffic during foliage seasons can be a real mess. A lot of the mountain roads are curvy and two lanes. Add a lot of leaf peepers with cell phones and it can be jammed. So go on weekdays if you can. Also don't think you have to get to all the well known locations or routes to have beautiful foliage. Feel free to wander off the beaten path. Oh, and about cell phones, a lot of the less populated areas of New England might not have reliable cell service. Best to use a gps that does not require cell service to function. And don't be hesitant to photograph tighter scenes in the rain. Use your polarizer filter.

Have fun.

Richard B.

Agree with Richard B.'s comments! No cell service where I live...and GPS will sometimes lead you astray. (Maybe you'll find that perfect back road....!) . I had forgotten about potential traffic jams during leaf-peeping season. For non-GPS use, the DeLorme Vermont and New Hampshire Atlas is a good resource. (egad-printed maps!). https://tinyurl.com/y7vwr639. They were once published as separate books, back in the day. Still available, but expensive!

Glad to see Heather's article.

In my next life, I want to be a tour guide. So I'll practice in this one. The old, old, film photographer in me remembers a guide to Vermont photography by Arnold Kaplan. It was originally published in the 70's but has been updated by his daughter I believe. Some of the locations are no longer viable - fires, obstructed views, sat dishes, etc. But I believe his daughter has noted some of the changes. Beware that this old book is still popular and you may find other photographers at your location with the book in their back pocket.Amazon has a link to the book. There is also a somewhat more recent guide by David Middleton, also available from Amazon.

I know you are staying in N.H. but some of the Vt. locations are not that far away. And in my "humble" opinion, Vermont beats the heck out of N.H. any day, with the exception of the White Mountains. OK, flame suit on, and calling Ma Bell for an unlisted number.

Hope this helps.

Richard

There's also an e-book for photographing in Vermont in the fall:

https://www.amazon.com/Photographing-Ve ... onic+shots

Full disclosure:  I'm acquainted with the authors, but I have nothing to do with the publication of the book and don't profit from sales.