Bike touring through the fall colors
 

I have never seen the fall colors in New England and I am planning my bike tours for next year (2010) and thought that a bike tour though the area might be the best way to do it.

But, as a lifelong Californian, I have no idea where to go, when to be there, or what route to take. I see that the ACA has a route through Vermont, the Green Mountain Loop and wonder if that would be one to take. I have family in New Jersey (Lambertville). It would be much easier to bike around there. Are the fall colors worth seeing that far south?

I'm aware of this website: http://fallgetaways.iloveny.com/foliage_report.html but it only covers New York and has nothing about bike touring.

I assume that hotels are at a premium at this time of the year. Is that only the weekends that are busy or is every day sold out?

Any other information would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ray

One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of people ("leaf watchers") are driving around the backroads that time of year, and they're probably paying even less attention to the road than normal.

The fall colors are lovely well south of New Jersey, even though New England and Quebec are better known. Eastern North American has the world's great deciduous forest. Obscure fact: There are more species of plants native to Smoky Mountain National Park in the southern Appalachians, than on the entire continent of Europe.

I would think that the GAP Trail would be magnificent for fall colors. There's an active maple syrup industry near Meyersdale (Somerset County?) along the trail. Sugar maple trees typically have the most vivid leaf coloring of all the trees. The C&O Canal would be nice, too, if it's not too muddy.

i dont know about the leaves in the east, but in the midwest it can be a sight to behold. i know for a fact that the leaves in the ozarks, specificly around the osage branch are absolutely beautifull. in iowa they can also be quite nice, but seem to lack the intensity they did in missouri as a kid. maybe thats a bias.

Well, living here in Vermont I can say that we have the best fall foliage :-)

Lodging is at a premium (hotels/BB) this time of year. I'm leaving Sat (Oct 10) for a 3 day tour and staying at state campgrounds and they have plenty of openings (just checked). As for traffic, the best color and sites & sights are along the back roads that most visitors in cars do not take. They tend to drive on Rt 100 and other main state roads. The big question is always when will the leaves change. The ACA route takes you north to the Canadian border (and into Canada) and up there the foliage has changed a couple of weeks ago. Along the NH border, foliage is changing big time now, as it is along with Lake Champlain area. The ACA route is very nice and it really exposes you to all the different areas of Vermont. Another option would be to look at the Lake Champlain bikeway (lakechamplainbikeways.org) site for their route around the lake.

Any other questions, be happy to answer for you,
Brian

hi, just to remind you maine has pretty awesome fall foliage as well. if you were planning your own loop i would definatly consider riding the maine coast, it's really spectacular. there will be some traffic due to the tourists but nothing like what the summer time is like here. also: check out including the kangamangus highway in new hampshire. i've never riden it, but i bet it's worth it.

Well I live in NH and our foliage is raging right now. Columbus Day weekend is usually the peak of the color change and then the leaves start falling off the trees after that. Keep in mind if you do decide to tour at this time of year that most campgrounds close after Columbus Day, stealth camping is hard to come by around here and the nights are usually very cold (in the 30's this week). So you may have to go for hotels or B&B's or do the warmshowers.org thing. But touring anywhere in New England at this time of year is incredible especially if you run into a sunny 60 degree day, just stunning.

I rode across PA and NJ this time of year in 2004, the leaves were outstanding. The C&O was especially nice - tunnel of trees!

I am just waiting for the colors to change in Michigan. I ride in a lot of forest area, and it will be pretty.

Since no one mentioned riding near Lambertville... Despite it's poor reputation, New Jersey is actually very nice and can be quite scenic. I have done a fall century (Pumpkin Patch Pedal) there a couple times and it was beautiful and the roads are nice. The Fall colors were good too.

Depending on how much time you have you could just ride a loop including some of the flatter part of the state and also the Delaware Water Gap. Or if you have a bit more time ride into upstate New York. Upstate New York's scenery can be absolutely stunning.

The other options already mentioned by others are lovely, but I wouldn't rule out NJ and upstate NY either.

Adventure Cycling has a route for the Adirondacks, a huge park in NY State: http://www.adventurecycling.org/rout...ckparkloop.cfm

You may also want to look up some Foliage Reports to get a decent idea of when a specific region will change colors and hit the peak. As a rule of thumb, the northern areas change first, e.g.:

must.........resist........responding.............:crash:

Canada is not done with fall colours, yet. Here on Ontario, Algonquin (a large provincial park) is at peak now, further North is past peak, most of cottage country is at 60% and here in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) we are at 30%, wife and I were going to ride around looking at some of the parks over the weekend, but her left crank fell off, went back and couldn't find the bolt, our local bike shop is now closed until Tuesday for the Canadian Thanksgiving. :notamused:

Both sides of the Delaware River are quite nice around Lambertville, and the riding is excellent. You've got all kinds of terrain there and there is plenty of foliage. The leaves are at their best a week or two after Southern New England.

The White Mountains in NH and the Green Mountains in VT are the best for foliage. Western MA can be nice as well. You want to plan for mid October for peak leaf season.

The foliage does change in NJ as well, but it just does not have the same atmosphere as New England.