This is what Leef Peeping is all about.
In New England, the locals called the hordes of visitors who come each fall to witness nature’s spectacle of color “Leef Peepers”. In Vermont, Highway 100 runs north and south right through the heart of the state and the spectacle. It’s a great scenic drive on its own, let alone the added color benefit of fall.
We started in south, near Wilmington, and spent the day working our way north. A large portion of the highway skirts the edge of the Green Mountain National Forest. Absolutely beautiful. The scenery does not disappoint. There are mountains, valleys, waterfalls, forests, covered bridges, lakes, and streams. There are many small farms, shops, eateries, road side stands and other places to stop all along the way. We stopped at many country stores along the way. We bought some cheese, some wine, some cider, and some maple syrup. We visited a cheese farm, a maple syrup farm, and a cider mill.
The cheese farm had just finished up for the day. They were cleaning the equipment when we arrived. Too late, we missed it. Kathy had a couple samples and we moved on. We skipped a couple of wineries, distilleries and breweries. We just can’t visit them all, right?
Scenery along VT 100
Apples at Cold Hollow Cider Mill
The maple syrup farm deserves its own post. You can read it here.
Towards the end of our day we ended up at the Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury, near Ben & Jerry’s factory. We watched the apples being squished by the giant hydraulic press, with the juice running out. Just a short pasteurizing step away the cider was available to drink from a spigot on the holding tank. We grabbed a cup, filled it up and enjoyed the freshest tasting cider! We bought a couple jugs of cider. Then we bought a couple of apple cider donuts after watching an automated machine make them (see the video below). They sell about 20,000 donuts a day at this place. We sat down and enjoyed our donuts over a game of checkers. It was a really, really, long game. We proved it had been years since either of us played.
VT 100 is the highway, October is the month, and color is the prize.
Scenery along the VT 100
VT 100 Water Fall
VIDEO: Apple Cider Donuts Being Made