Autumn Fire on the Green Mountains
Near Killington, Vermont
Winter may be Killington's fame, but autumn may be its most beautiful season. When the K One Gondola stops carrying skiers, it keeps turning to lift leaf peepers to the summit of Killington Peak, where the view opens across a rolling ocean of color that can stretch across several states. The show comes from the way these mountains are layered by elevation.
Down in the valleys and across the lower slopes grow northern hardwood forests thick with sugar maple, birch, and beech, the trees that ignite into brilliant reds, oranges, and golds as the nights turn cold. Climb higher and the hardwoods give way to dark green spruce and fir. That banding is why a single glance from the peak takes in flaming maple below and evergreen crown above, all at once.
Vermont's foliage typically peaks in the mountains in late September and early October, drawing travelers from around the world onto the roads and gondolas of the Green Mountains. To ride to the top of the Beast in October, with the whole range on fire beneath you, is to see why people fall in love with this state.
