Things to do / Travel Guide
The New Hampshire and Vermont region is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna that live across the Green and White Mountain forests as well as in the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Champlain. It's interesting to note that more than 70% of the New Hampshire and Vermont region is covered by trees, both deciduous and evergreen. The most common species of deciduous trees include birch, beech, hickory, oak, and maple. White pine is the most common type of evergreen tree in the southern part of the region, while hemlock, balsam fir, and spruce are more common in the north.
Though all four seasons in Vermont abound with natural beauty, there is perhaps no time more truly spectacular than autumn. Crisp mountain air, the gorgeous New England fall foliage, apples falling from the trees in preparation for the cider presses, pumpkins, and other seasonal bounties beckon from roadside stands. Tourists flock to the region to see the fall foliage, which is, quite frankly, beautiful beyond words. All the hiking trails and scenic routes are at their colorful best at this time of the year.
Flora in New Hampshire and Vermont
Sugar maples are one of the more popular trees in the region's forested areas and it is from them that the sap flows in the early spring. If you are driving through any of the forests in the region in early spring you cannot help noticing the buckets attached to many sugar maples to collect the sap, which will be boiled down and turned into maple syrup and maple candies.
Marshes and bogs are another common feature of the New Hampshire and Vermont region. In Vermont, the marshes and bogs can be found in the moist areas around Lake Champlain, while in New Hampshire they can be found around Lake Winnipesaukee. You can recognize the swampy soil by the long grasses and tall reeds growing there. Because of the dampness of the soil, certain wild plants thrive better here, like sedges, heaths, and orchids, which are well-suited to these soil conditions. Labrador tea, different kinds of moss, and cranberries, on the other hand, grow well close to New Hampshire's low, coastal sandy lands, particularly around Portsmouth.
Due to the hearty amount of snow and rain that falls on Vermont and New Hampshire during the winter and spring seasons, the region's soil is thick, lush, rich and well-suited to growing beautiful wildflowers, such as rhododendron and laurel bushes. The lovely colors of the flowers complement the dense green background of the forestland. Other wildflowers such as Turk's cap-lily, goldenrod, asters, and lupine grow in wild abundance throughout both states.
Fauna in New Hampshire and Vermont
This region is definitely the place to be if you want to see moose, black bears, porcupines, snowshoe hares, and white-tailed deer. Other species typical to the New Hampshire and Vermont forests include raccoons, porcupines, skunks, chipmunks, and squirrels. Nearer to the coast in New Hampshire, the animal population changes as seagulls, seals, and cormorants become much more common. For avid bird watchers, the seashore in the fall is an excellent place to watch the Northern bird species like the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon, and the osprey migrating south for the winter. Whale watching is popular too, as migrating humpback and finback whales can be seen frolicking in the Atlantic Ocean near New Hampshire's Rye Harbor.
Nature Spots in Burlington, Stowe, Rutland and the New Hampshire and Vermont mountains
Nature-Wildlife
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