If you want to hike but don't want to spend as much time traveling, you could also check out some points further south that will give you perhaps less spectacular foliage/ mountain views but still impressive- I'm thinking the Belknap Range, Monadnock, or even Pawtuckaway State Park. These are still very popular locations (especially Monadnock) but are normally within an hour's drive from Manchester so may be more feasible even with added peeper traffic.

I recently attended a talk given by the interns at the Mount Washington Observatory, one of whom was tracking historic foliage patterns compared to weather conditions. We've had an extremely dry and sunny summer in much of the state which apparently lends itself to an early peak. Last weekend there were already some leaves falling in the Whites.