Page 88 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2023 SPECIAL CRUISE EDTION

PAINTEDFORESTS,PASTORALLANDSCAPES,ANDHISTORICTREASURESOF

STORY&PHOTOGRAPHYBYPRISCILLALISTER
Hiking in forests painted yellow, orange and red;
wandering down rural roads where goats and
horses greet me; and touring historic homes where
the past comes alive are the stuff of my travel
dreams. They came true in October.
Vermont fulfilled every fantasy. Its bright yellow
birches and beeches, scarlet sugar and red maples
and orange oak and cherry trees reveal peak colors
in October. The state’s plentiful forest trails,
pastoral rural landscapes, and charming towns and
villages make for a picture- perfect destination.
Sprinkle in two local longtime friends who showed
me remarkable cultural treasures and my sojourn
was simply splendid.
I had planned my journey precisely to view the
leaves, a bucket-list desire for decades. The Foliage
Forecaster on the official Vermont tourism website,
vermontvacation.com, displays a map of the state
with color codes that show when to expect peak
leaf peeping from late September through October.
While the forecast is always guesswork, I studied
the map and made my plan for Oct. 9-14. It worked.
Many of the prized bright red sugar maples had
already dropped their leaves by the time I arrived,
but some were hanging on in full glory. The yellows
of the birches and beeches literally lighted the
forests. Even the red sumac bushes brightened the
lower landscape.

The river trail in East End Park
follows the Ottauquechee River in
Woodstock. Right: Hiking the trails
of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller
National Historic Park.

88 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SPRING 2023