KILLINGTON, Vt. – While Vermont remains about a week behind normal in terms of color progression, weather conditions for the upcoming Columbus Day holiday weekend will be ideal for fall foliage viewing.
Across Vermont, higher elevations and swampy, marshy areas remain the best bets to see the best color. Overall, we’re still looking for some colder nights to accelerate the seasonal change in earnest, but more yellows and oranges continue to emerge each day.
 Best Bets: Route 4 over Sherburne Pass to Rutland is close to full color, as is the Killington access road with dazzling shades of orange and burnt gold. Route 73 from Rochester west over Brandon Gap is near peak and at peak in the higher elevations and along the eastern slopes.
Although Route 7 south of Middlebury through Danby is early to mid-stage, there are scattered pockets of near peak color in the wetter areas and mountain ridges. Route 140 from Wallingford west to Poultney and south to Dorset offers beautiful views of the lush green meadows and brown freshly cut corn fields, contrasting with the changing foliage in the Taconic foothills.
Full color has emerged along Route 103 from Rutland south to Mount Holly and Ludlow. Near the New York border, there is mid to late-stage color along Route 4 from Rutland to Fair Haven, while Route 22A in Fair Haven to Shoreham is showing mid-stage color.
In northern Vermont, areas of Route 15 in Underhill are showing bright shades of red, orange and yellow. Continue east into Lamoille County to view beautiful foliage on Belvidere Mountain, Elmore Mountain, Mount Norris, Butternut Mountain and Mount Mansfield.
There are pockets of color in Franklin and Grand Isle Counties with spots of bright red, orange and yellow along the hillsides and wetland areas.
Dozens of continuing and special events—from farmers’ markets to craft fairs—are listed for the coming week and weekend
in the Vermont Travel Planner, check the Events Calendar in the Travel Planner for interests from foot races to corn mazes, and farmer’s markets to crafts fairs.
Also available on this Web site are several tools for planning a Vermont Fall Foliage tour:
The Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing advises making advance reservations because the most popular lodgings may fill early on busy weekends in late September and the first two weekends in October. Some innkeepers may require a minimum two-night stay, especially on busy weekends. Foliage viewers can avoid the reservations’ squeeze by visiting mid-week. |
