Vermont Foliage - Northeast Kingdom - 2010

I was to get up at 4:30AM, wake Kevin, and be on the road by 5:00AM.  I wanted to drive through Franconia Notch as the sun came up.  My alarm didn't go off.  I woke up at 5:30AM to a bit of daylight and quickly woke Kevin up.  We were on the road just before 6:00AM. I hoped to spot some nice barns and great foliage.

Vermont had several inches of rain the day before.  The forecast said the clouds would be pushed out with a nice sunny day.  This turned out to be TRUE ... SOUTH OF THE NOTCH!!  It was overcast north of the notch pretty much all day.  The colors were nice but I was looking forward to the sunlight.  I thought it would be cool.  The temperature peaked at 53 degrees with the wind blowing so it felt cold.

The rivers were really moving, water brown, and overflowing their banks in many areas.  We drove to the Canadian boarder and drove the power lines south toward Island Pond.  This would keep us near other trails we could 4 wheel on if we wanted to continue off road.  Kevin wanted to shoot the .308 so we stopped at a clearing when we were 4 wheeling.  He liked it and will use it for Youth Weekend in a few weeks.  After 30 miles or so Kevin was more interested in lunch than continuing so we headed toward Derby.

I thought Kevin might enjoy seeing some elk.  I would like to say we saw these elk while hunting in Montana like Mike and Ray did last year.  Oh well ... We ate at  "Derby Cow Palace" where they raise elk in the field behind the restaurant.  (Yes ... Elk is on the menu)  We watched the elk for some time.  It must be the start of the rut as the bulls were bugling at each other and chasing several of the cows around the field.  We watched 2 bulls sparring but didn't amount to much. 

From there we headed south to Lake Willoughby.  I drove the right side of the lake thinking I could cut down to the water.  I couldn't find a road that would do that so we turned around and continued on the left side.  It's a beautiful glacier lake! 

We continued toward home stopping briefly at the bridge in Franconia Notch.  It was just after 7:00PM when we arrived home.  Even with the clouds and cold weather we had a great father/son time.  Another spectacular foliage experience in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

Search Blog Archive: October 2011 & September 2009 - for more Fall Foliage.

The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont

I decided to have “Boys Time” with Kevin and go to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont on Saturday. For Kevin, “Boys Time” means father-son time away from his 3 sisters. The girls went to Camp Shiloh in Jefferson, NH Friday night with the Senior high. Pam wanted to go to Kennebunkport and relax for the day by herself. Our plan was to go 4 wheeling, do some shooting, and take foliage pictures.

I woke Kevin at 4:30AM (he wanted to get up at 4AM) and we were driving by 5AM. The local Wal-Mart was out of 30-30 cartridges and a big box of .22’s so I told Kevin we would stop in Tilton on the drive north. We pulled in right around 6:00AM. That Wal-Mart didn’t open until 7AM so we kept going.

It was quite foggy on the ride up. My plan was to take the back roads from Lyndonville north to the Canadian border. Because we left so early the sun didn’t come up and start to burn off the fog until we got to Lake Willoughby. It’s such a pretty lake but tough to take pictures with the fog. We continued on the back roads north to Derby. News Flash … there is no Wal-Mart in Derby. Mr. O’s is the only sporting goods store I know of in Derby so we stopped there. I bought what we needed so Kevin could shoot. Before we continued someone pulled up with a 150lb black bear in the back of their truck. It’s bow season.

Kevin wanted to shoot first so I thought we would head to Morgan and shoot at the old bus. Someone locked the gate on the trail to the top of Beachnut Ridge so we couldn't continue driving. Instead of walking I decided to shoot somewhere off the power line road. Kevin was disappointed as that meant waiting a bit longer. I stopped in Island Pond to gas up before we went off road.

We started driving the power lines towards the Canadian Boarder. I stopped so Kevin could shoot the 30-30 about 2/3 of the way to Brousseau Mountain. He enjoyed shooting. We continued with Kevin in the back of the truck. The next stop was to look at the cliff of Brousseau. We could also see Little Averell Pond. This winter picture is of Doug and Pam
at the top of the cliff. We hiked in 2 feet of snow years ago. We weren't prepared for the depth of the snow.

We reached the end of the power line road at the Canadian boarder and headed to the Hurricane Brook area for more 4 wheeling, etc. I went down many trails. I turned around on 2 of them because of deep mud. I wasn’t interested in getting stuck with no other trucks with me. I had a come along and a tow rope but it wasn’t worth the risk being so deep in the woods.

We heard shooting on the way out and decided to check it out. We came upon 10 guys shooting. They were shooting into a big open area on the side of a hill that made the perfect backdrop for shooting. They invited Kevin and I to join them.

You can never be to careful so I parked and watched them for a couple minutes to make sure they were safe. We took out the .22 pistol and the 30-30. They watched Kevin and I for a couple minutes to make sure we were safe.

All was good and everybody relaxed at that point. It was evident the group was very much aware of and practiced gun safety. It turns out Steve, one of the men we met, is an NRA Instructor, owns a gun shop in Vermont, etc. He helped Kevin with his shooting.

Before you know it they offered Kevin and I the opportunity to shoot all sorts of guns. Kevin ended up shooting an AK-47 (150 rounds), an AR-15 (100 rounds) a Cowboy Colt .45, and another .22 pistol, etc. I shot the AK-47, AR-15, and a 12 gauge at some clays. We had a great time. They were a great group of guys.

On a sad note, I wish Katelyn could have been there. She really likes to shoot too.

I talked to Kevin about his shooting experience. We both observed and appreciated the safety aspect of how these guys handled themselves. He loved it.

We started our drive home at 4:30PM taking the back roads looking at the foliage. The colors were good but we were really a week early for peak foliage. We stopped in Littleton, NH for dinner and arrived home at 9:20PM.

I know Kevin will remember this “Boys Time” weekend.

Search Blog Archive: October 2011 & October 2010 - for more Fall Foliage.