Welsh-Dickey Loop: Great Fall Color Hike in New England

Once I read in a book, somebody wrote, "See fall colors in New England" as one of his bucket list. 

I had no idea.

I lived in California at that time and I didn't know what New England meant, since I am not American and I didn't know much about US history. 

Now I know, since I live in the Boston area for 4 years now. Based on 4 year's of hiking in New England, I found that Welsh-Dickey Loop is my favorite spot to see fall colors in New England. 

This loop starts in New Hampshire (Orris Road Waterville Valley, NH03215), 4.5 miles with +/-1800 feet elevation. Parking fee is $5, but if you have National Park Pass, that can cover it. As the loop name indicates, you will hike up to Welsh mountain, then Dickey mountain. I recommend hiking counter clockwise. Even the signage indicates hiking counter clockwise. That way you climb up rocky steep one and you can go down gradually on an easier terrain. 

In 2020 fall, I looked up online which trail has a great fall colors in New England. One of them was this loop. I tried in fall and found great. Usually I don't go hiking in the same place again, but this one, for the first time, made me think want to go back again. Ms.L happened to visit us at the peak of fall colors this year, so we decided to take her there. 

Only down side of this loop is due to many people, you don't get quiet solitude there. I wish this loop was much longer like 10 miles: then it drastically reduces number of people. If you like absolute solitude, this is not the one for you. I love peaceful hike, but for this I compromise it for fall colors.  At the same time, I think this moderate difficulty hikes give more people opportunities to see foliage.

2020

2021

These are representative pictures of this hike in 2020 and 2021.

From the top of the mountain looking down colorful tree is great. It is like a painting. It is pretty as a whole, and interesting to see each dot (tree in fact) has a different color including orange, yellow, red, and so on.

2021

Both 2020 and 2021 we hiked this loop in the mid-October. It is quite difficult to predict when would be a peak of fall color, though. There are many websites reporting the fall color situation real time. A lot of people use it for driving in New England. However, for us, we don't need it, because we hike every weekend. We know better than website. Fall colors start in north in Maine, then northern New Hampshire, then southern, then Mass. So we go hiking along with fall color moving. Finally when fall colors are gone in the mountain, I see foliage on my commute walk here in Boston.