Touring - A tour of New England in the Fall

Im John from England..Can anyone recommend a good starting point and route for seeing red maples in the fall.I intend to ride about 50 miles a day and have a folder I can take on buses if needs be..also tips on accomodation along the way would be most appreciated ..thanks folks

Hi John, welcome to the site.....New England in the Fall is a tour I always wanted to do. I would suggest doing a search; there's a plethora of information out there. A few links I found after a quick search...

For some great books on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/104-8012312-4863156

Some routes here: http://gorp.away.com/gorp/activity/biking/bik_ne.htm

This site's great. I used it quite a bit when I lived in Boston: http://www.bikemaps.com/

Let us know how it goes! I'd love to see some pics. Good luck!:)

How long would you like to spend? Timing is everything. The leaves hit their peak color for just about 3 weeks. No pix or words can describe their brilliant colors. Expect the car traffic to be increased this time of the year. Your mission: country roads.

Best time of the year to tour New England, check the web pages for the states your going to vist they will list the dates for peak color.

John,
Each of New England's six states has some wonderful riding. You're planning on riding 50 miles a day, but for how long? Montreal, Quebec or Burlington, Vermont could be good starting points. The fall colours peak earlier in the northern areas first.
Wells

Im John from England..Can anyone recommend a good starting point and route for seeing red maples in the fall.I intend to ride about 50 miles a day and have a folder I can take on buses if needs be..also tips on accomodation along the way would be most appreciated ..thanks folks

A couple comments. The EXACT dates the colours are best depends on the year and the weather, so you'll have to be a bit flexible. I can tell you good routes in New Hampshire, Vt and Massachusetts, where I have tour extensively. Try and pick up the foliage up in northern new hampshire at the Connecticut lakes and zig zag your way south between Vermont and New Hampshire using the smaller roads that go east west. You'll do alot of climbing but it will be worth it. The White Mts, the 'northeast kingdom' of vermont are must sees. You are BEST off if you head for an 'area' and leave the final details of your route up the locals who you can ask at breakfast every morning!

Vermont Rt 100: north south from one end of the state to the other, is a classic foliage route. But you'll miss to much if you do rt 100 only, so zig zag as I said.

In massachusetts stay in the rural areas west of worcester and you'll do fine.

In terms of where to stay: I would carefully wild camp in most of the places. NH and VT have large areas of national forest so you should be ok. In other areas you can just ask to camp by rivers or farmers fields.
There is a network of youth hostels; and I often ask at a local bike shop for areas to sneak into. Campgrounds can be expensive because your site may include hookups you do not need or use.

enjoy!

roughstuff

Hi,
1) the most popular places will be mobbed by people in cars not paying a whole lot of attention to where they are going. You will need to pick your routes with great care. I suggest the perimeter road at Acadia National Park as one possibility.
2) Another choice would be a North Conway-Gorham-Evans Notch-Fryeburg loop.
3)A loop that includes the Kancamangus Highway
4) Not sure what you're used to, but most scenic roads have a lot of up in them.
5) It would be nice of you could plan everything well in advance so you can book motels/hotels (if you intend to use them). Problem is there is some variability to when the foliage turns.
6) If you are camping, be aware it will be COLD at nite. Temps around freezing are common in the morning away from the coast.
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