MONTPELIER, Vt. – As the foliage colors soften to pastels in the central range of the Green Mountains, full color is emerging across the Champlain Valley and along the river valleys and lakes of central and southern Vermont.
Precipitation on Tuesday morning has caused some leaves to drop, but plenty of bright color remains to be seen. Dry weather conditions for the second-half of the week will extend the quality of viewing.
 Best Bets: Route 116 from Hinesburg to Bristol is showing bright color with a variety of reds, yellows and oranges, as is Route 17 from Starksboro to New Haven. Brilliant mid-stage color can be found on Route 7 between Middlebury and Rutland with splashes of red and orange.
“From both sides of Route 7, there are beautiful views of the lush green rolling hills, farm land and changing colors on both the Green and Taconic Mountains,” says Tom Olson, foliage-spotter for Rutland and southern Addison Counties. “Coming on strong with excellent mid-stage to three-quarter color is Route 3 from Pittsford to West Rutland, and Route 4 west of Route 7 to Route 22A in Fair Haven. Here there is close to peak color on some of the rolling hillsides of the Taconic Mountains east of Castleton.”
Olson also recommends Route 53 around Lake Dunmore, Route 73 near Brandon, Route 4 between Killington and Rutland, and Route 140 from East Wallingford to Poultney.
In southeastern Vermont, from Brattleboro to White River Jct., the Connecticut River Valley and its tributaries will be showing full color throughout the week. In addition to the midland views from
Interstate 91, Routes 5, 30, 103 and 11 all offer colorful viewing along the rivers and through the villages.
“The fluorescent oranges of the sugar maples have faded to orange-yellow, but the red oaks are coming into their red/russet stage,” said Windsor County Forester Jon Bouton. “Mixed with the yellow poplars and the green hemlock and pine, the contrast is quite lovely.”
To the west in the Bennington and Manchester region, Routes 7 and 30 in the lower valleys are adorned with beautiful fall color with peak or near peak conditions.
These additional roads offer beautiful views of foliage: Route 78 between Swanton and East Highgate, Route 12 from Woodstock to Bethel, Route 15 between Jericho and Cambridge, and Route 131 from Ascutney to Ludlow.
The Vermont Hospitality Council 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.
Vermont tourism officials encourage visitors to take advantage of midweek specials during the foliage season as part of its statewide “Midweek Peek” promotion. Deals range from discounted lodging to free Vermont products.
This section of our Web site has several tools for planning your 2009 Vermont Fall Foliage tour including:
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