Foliage Daytrip along Route 100 | 7 Wonders of Fall
When you take a foliage daytrip along Route 100, you’ll understand why this stretch of highway has been called the most scenic in New England.
By Michael Blanding|Sep 03 2015|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine Keenan
Route 100 is a restless road. As it salamanders its way through the mountainous middle of Vermont, it seems perpetually on the verge of decision, only to change its mind in a mile. One minute, it’s slaloming along a rocky riverbed through dense cover of birch and maple; the next, it’s soaring up to a sudden vista as though God has suddenly pulled away a curtain. There’s a reason that this stretch of highway—some 200 miles, from Massachusetts to Lake Memphremagog in Vermont—has been called the most scenic in New England. In some circles, it’s known as the “Skiers’ Highway,” since it connects Vermont’s giants—Snow, Okemo, Killington, Sugarbush, Stowe, Jay—like knots on a whip.
But the road really comes into its own in autumn, hitting the peak of fall foliage not once but many times as it traces an up-and-down course along the unspoiled edge of Green Mountain National Forest. When civilization does break through, it’s in the form of some of Vermont’s most quintessential villages.
Leaf peeping, after all, is about more than just leaves. It’s about the foliage experience—farmstands and country stores, craft galleries and hot cider. And Route 100, with its many off-the-beaten-path side trips, offers all of that in one long, winding package. Because the road never makes up its mind, you don’t have to, either.
And when it finally ends, some 10 miles short of Canada, your most difficult decision is the one to turn the car around and head home. The only comfort is that you get to see the whole show over again in reverse.
— “Driver’s Delight,” by Michael Blanding, September/October 2009
We drove Route 100 in late September 2011, from Rochester to Morrisville, not long after Irene had devastated Vermont. Irene’s damage was less visible the further north we traveled. The most awe-inspiring scenery was along the section known as Granville Gulph, between Hancock and Warren. If you can only drive one portion of the highway in autumn, the Granville Gulph is not to be missed.