New England is famous for its fall colors. I’ve been there a few times and enjoyed the scene. I’m wondering what other parts of the country have a reputation for a fall season to be appreciated by leaf peepers.
The floor is open for your suggestions.
Northern Michigan always puts on a great show, usually in early October.
Central Indiana has areas famous for leaf color also. There’s a county that makes a big deal out of it. Madison County?
Southeast Ohio (where you start getting into the foothills of the Appalachians) is pretty good, too.
Northwest Arkansas…Ozark mountains
California has some decent fall colors up in the Gold Country and all along the Eastern Sierra.
The area around Gatlinburg, TN has nice fall color, probably a bit later in the season than the northern places.
Skyline Drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains is a good bet.
Much of the Appalachian mountains can be great - I’ve been everywhere from North Carolina through Tennessee, and into Kentucky and enjoyed beautiful fall hikes.
I go to Red River Gorge in Kentucky every year, because I currently live only an hour away.
For me, I’d be hesitant to plan a trip based on foliage… never know what the timing of the leaves is going to be, and some years, dry weather can lead to some pretty un-spectacular views (Although, with this likely to be an El Nino year, there should be enough summer rain to make for good foliage). I’d say, go for somewhere where there’s other good hiking and things to do in case the trees aren’t cooperative - Ashville or Gatlinburg, for example.
Arrowtown, New Zealand is famous for the autumn colours which are turning out right now.
What is interesting is that the colourful leaf changes are from introduced European trees which have seeded freely throughout the area. Predominantly Lombardy poplars, sycamore, cottonwoods, rowans and oaks, this town which the 49ers came to is a glorious spectacle.
http://www.arrowtown.com/files/atown/resources/showcase/liblarge/Police_Hut_with_autumn_colours.jpg
The Aspen forests in CO are pretty amazing, too.
Outside the US, Japan is known of spectacular fall foliage. And although I’ve been to Japan many times, I don’t recall seeing any. Maybe I wasn’t out in the countryside enough at the right time of year.
I live in the mountains of Vermont, ground zero for fall foliage.
Two years ago, I took an October trip to the Finger Lakes region of New York, and the foliage put ours to shame.
I’ve enjoyed some pretty breathtaking autumn views driving west on I-70 from Baltimore.
I grew up in northeastern Ohio and the foliage is breathtaking. Although I moved to New York in September, the fall colors here were amazing, especially atop the mountains.
Not in the US, but South Korea has amazing fall foliage.
Seconding northern Michigan, especially the Upper Peninsula. A couple spots in particular are the view from the Cut River Bridge (about a 1/2 hour north of the bridge on highway 2). And from the Escarpment trail/ Lake of the Clouds overlook in Porcupine Mountains State Park.
Once I drove through Pennsylvania on a business trip that happened to be mid/late october, and all the rolling hills in full fall color was quite a sight.
I’ve lived in New England now longer than I’ve lived elsewhere, and it definitely has gorgeous fall colors.
But the various canyons in Utah do, too. Go up Big or Little Cottonwood in the fall, and you’ll see plenty of multicolored hillsides. Down I the Salt Lake Valley, too, now that it’d been irrigated for a century and a half.
Growing up in New Jersey, we had plenty of colors, sas well, but New England in New Hampshire and Vermont has the advantage of those colored-leave-covered hillsides. But you can get that in the Finger Lakes district of upstate New York, as well.
Also farther north in the Missouri Ozarks.
I’d recommend a long, leisurly drive on U.S. 63 from Hardy in Arkansas all the way north to the Missouri River at Jefferson City.
In the north-east of Victoria, nestled at the foot of the Alpine region is a town called Bright. And every year it hosts a festival to celebrate the autumnal foliage that colours the town.
North Cascades Highway in Washington State draws people in the fall to look at trees. I’ve never done it, but I’m sure it’s nice. (I can appreciate a nice looking tree, or even a forest full of them, but it’s not destination event for me personally.)
It’s Brown County in Indiana, the town of Nashville to be exact. It’s beautiful down there. Very hilly, lots of forests and quaint small towns. As the trees start to turn, people come from all over to see it. Traffic sucks but if you can ignore that then it’s worthwhile.
