New England Fall Color

New England is reputed to have the best fall color is the US. After seeing the fall color in the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and the Eastern Sierra in California, it was time to visit New England, specifically New Hampshire and Vermont. The biggest advantage that New England has over the West Coast when it comes to fall color is its abundance of big leaf maples which under the right weather conditions turn a vibrant red.

When making the trip from somewhere far away, the economic necessity of booking airline tickets in advance means the traveler is gambling on weather conditions. Unfortunately for me, I lost weather gamble. The weather had been quite warm in the advance of my trip over Columbus Day Weekend 2011 which meant there weren't a lot reds to seen. The sub-par conditions were a surprise to me on arrival because foliage reports by the state tourism bureaus always says the foliage is spectacular. Even in a bad year, there's still a good amount of color but I didn't see the spectacular color the region is renowned for. As a result, I'm still mixed on whether it's worth the trip from West Coast.