Autumn in the Midwest is indeed truly something to behold, as crisp days and striking fall foliage bring us the peace and tranquility to deal with that interminable season that precedes spring.
But instead of lining up chairs on your back porch for your family to gaze with envy at the melange of colors bursting forth from your neighbor’s yard, maybe this year it’s time to hit the road in search of the reddest reds and most brilliant oranges.
Lucky for you, the World Wide Web has largely supplanted that somewhat intuitive science passed down over the years of driving north when you first feel the chill in your bones in hopes of uncovering that undiscovered forest just as the fall colors reach their most fevered pitch. What follows is your one-stop shop for harnessing the power of the Internet and making sense of the hundreds of Web sites that profess to be trusted fall guides.
General foliage sites
www.foliagenetwork.com The name says it all. The folks behind this Web site have brought together a group of 567 “spotters” situated hither and yon across the country, all of whom have agreed to submit foliage reports from the field twice per week during the months of September, October and November. The end result is a comprehensive Foliage Report that is periodically submitted to various news agencies, although you can cut out the middleman by accessing this source behind the source directly at the Web site. If you’re a true fall aficionado, you can elect to bring the rich and vibrant hues of the season to your e-mail in-box a couple of times per week by subscribing to the foliage newsletter. This no-nonsense Web site is a good jumping off point in planning your autumn adventure.
www.intellicast.com/FallFoliage The creators of this Web site probably say it best in explaining that “we tell you the best times and locations for leaf peeking and the driving conditions for the scenic highways and byways that will get you there.” Sort of makes you want to do something nice for them in return. Click on the “Where’s the Color” link for a nifty map of the United States shaded to suggest the best times to view the fall colors. Just as important, avoid driving down barren Highway X to the disappointment of your spouse and kids (when Highway Y is lined with magnificent trees exhibiting every color of the rainbow) by clicking on the “Scenic Drives” button before loading up the family truckster. For those looking to feed the left brain as well, read up in the “Why Leaves Change Color” portion of the site for enlightenment on both the scientific explanation of this annual phenomenon as well as the view (which involves heavenly hunters and a celestial caldron).
www.weather.com/activities/recreation/fallfoliage/ Yes, Weather.com–it’s not just for checking on the weather for the kids’ baseball games anymore. Options are limited here, but the leaf-peeping drop-down menu is definitely worth a look, as localized maps are broken down into categories such as Patchy, Near Peak, Early Peak, Peak and Past Peak. Sort of like a weather forecast for leaves. Click on the “Details” link, and instead of reading about barometric pressure in the Northeast you can dabble in autumn esoterica, including such helpful tidbits as “throughout September and October, one strong rain or snowstorm in any of the northern tier or mountain states can bring a sudden end to the foliage season.” Maybe worth jumping over to the weather portion of the site to make sure storms aren’t in the offing for your foliage viewing trip to northern Minnesota. If you’re the type who isn’t satisfied until you’ve cross-checked weather forecasts at multiple Web sites, you can perform similar fact-checking in the leaf arena by clicking over to wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/seasonal.asp eason=fall8 to review AccuWeather.com’s take on fall color conditions.
www.earthcam.com/features/fallcams/2002/midwest.html#WI So you’d rather not trust your precious autumn escape to online maps and anecdotal evidence? Fair enough. Seeing is, after all, believing, so check out the Earthcam compilation of fall Webcams to peruse live shots of various foliage vantage points. Sort of takes the fun out of it, but then again, there’s little joy in driving 10 hours to see trees already bereft of their leaves. I particularly liked the Webcams aimed across Moose Lake in Minnesota and Mayville in the Horicon Marsh area of Wisconsin as both places appear to be idyllic settings to get away from it all–changing leaves or not.
www.railtrails.org/info/foliage03.asp If you’re itching to escape the confines of your car (and impatient kids), the Rails to Trails Conservancy has been so good as to provide a list of its 12 favorite hiking/biking trails from which to view the fall colors. Recommendations include the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway in Ohio, which is a 16.4-mile trail that connects Hocking College in Nelsonville and Ohio University in Athens in the hills of southeast Ohio. Also recommended is the 29-mile Fred Meijer Heartland Trail in Michigan from Greenville to Alma, which winds through countless acres of Michigan Department of Natural Resources property and over rivers and creeks, including a covered bridge across the Pine River in Gratiot County.
www.nyip.com/tips/topic-landscapes1099.html If a tree exhibits an impossible combination of burnt orange glow and streaks of cherry red cascading down its canopy, but there’s no camera on hand to photograph it, did it ever really exist? Avoid fish-story type accusations upon returning from your autumn excursion by ensuring that you’re properly equipped and trained to photograph vistas that can’t easily be captured on film. The New York Institute of Photography plays the role of the friend who’s really into photographing nature by posting an online “how-to” for capturing the complexities of the colors of fall. For example, “watch out for trees that have started to lose leaves. There may still be bright colors, but if the tree looks a bit sparse to the eye, it will look worse in your photograph.”
Off the beaten track
For those not fulfilled unless there’s at least a touch of danger mixed in with the beautiful colors, the Web can help you satisfy this fix. Spend a few minutes at Outside Online’s Web site (outside.away.com/outside/places/feature s/fall/index.html), which is affiliated with the respected online adventure travel resource Away.com. Outside Online has assembled a list of unique opportunities to take the road less traveled in pursuing the festival of fall colors, including a blurb by their online correspondent describing the sensation of floating in the Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area in early fall: “In crisp sunshine, the gold, green and red of the Boundary Waters is often vivid enough to bring on a rush of adrenaline” (that adrenaline may also have something to do with the sizable portages often required to traverse from lake to lake in this rugged area).
OutdoorPlaces, at its site (www.outdoorplaces.com/Destination/state parks/special/fall-foliage/) has also put together a “Fall/Roughing It Top 10” of sorts, which includes recommended visits to Starved Rock State Park in Illinois, Ozark National Scenic Riverway in Missouri and Bald Mountain State Recreation Area in Michigan. Finally, GORP.com (another Away.com site), at gorp.away.com/gorp/features/fall/fall-99-2.htm, recommends a visit to the Wind River range in Wyoming, where you’ll “find unexpected fall color in the least expected place of all: above the treeline. The fall grasses are burnished to a bright copper color and golden-hued willows line the streams.” You don’t see that every day.
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Midwest Web bests: The when, the where
For the time-strapped among you looking to plan your Midwestern quest for leaves lacking sufficient chlorophyll pigments (a.k.a. changing colors), the following are the consensus recommendations, both as to timing for the perfect colors and scenic drives from which to view them. They have been gathered from a wide variety of fall foliage Web sites. Driving times shown allow for leisurely viewing.
Illinois
Prime viewing: first week of October in most of the state to late October in southern Illinois.
Recommended scenic drive: The Ohio River Scenic Byway in southern Illinois. Begin the drive in New Haven near the river border with Indiana/Kentucky and head west and then southwest along Illinois Highway 1, which morphs into Illinois Highway 146 and again into Illinois Highway 37, until you reach Cairo. The most rugged part of the byway features rock outcroppings, forested hills, caves and scenic waterways. Drive between limestone bluffs and, in addition to the fall colors, watch for cave entrances and landscapes abundant with wildlife. (Driving time: 4 hours)
Indiana
Prime viewing: second and third weeks of October.
Recommended scenic drive: Mix fall colors with a bit of history on Indiana’s Historic National Road. Get your bearings at the Old National Road Welcome Center near Richmond at the eastern edge of the state, and make your way west on U.S. Highway 40 until you reach Terre Haute. In addition to the dense forest lining both sides of the road for much of this route, the drive wends its way through four National Register Historic Districts where you can take a break from your foliage fanaticism at the Hayes Regional Arboretum, Gaar Mansion, the Indiana Football Hall of Fame and Huddleston Farmhouse Inn Museum in Cambridge City, which depicts lives of early westward travelers and Hoosier families. (Driving time: 3 hours)
Iowa
Prime viewing: second and third weeks of October.
Recommended scenic drive: Try the Loess Hills Scenic Byway. In order to best appreciate this picturesque route, begin in Akron in the northwest part of the state and head south on Iowa Highway 12 to Iowa Highway 982 south of Sioux City) until you reach the Riverton Wildlife Area near the Iowa/Missouri border. The route numbers change periodically as you make your way south, but the byway is clearly marked with signs throughout. By way of background, thousands of years ago active glaciers that covered much of what is now the northern United States began to melt, and fine silt particles were exposed. Eventually, strong windstorms blew these silt particles, or loess (pronounced luss), into mounds several hundred feet thick on both sides of the river valley. This natural phenomenon occurs in only two places in the world–the Yellow River Valley of China and western Iowa–and to boot you’ll be treated to a symphony of browns, reds and yellows along the way. (Driving time: 5 hours)
Michigan
Prime viewing: late September through mid-October.
Recommended scenic drive: A drive around Sylvania Recreation Area in the Upper Peninsula is a must for fall color buffs. Start at Watersmeet near the northern border of Wisconsin and head south on U.S. Highway 45 for 6 miles to County Road 210. Follow 210 west to Forest Road 6320, which will take you north to County Road 535. Follow 535 south around the perimeter of Sylvania to the Wisconsin state line. Continue southward to County Trunk B, then east to U.S. 45, which will return you to Watersmeet. (Driving time: 1 hour)
Minnesota
Prime viewing: early to mid-October.
Recommended scenic drive: The North Shore Scenic Drive takes you on a 122-mile journey along Lake Superior. The route runs from Two Harbors, about 20 miles northeast of Duluth, up to the Canadian border at Grand Portage on Minnesota Highway 61, taking you through eight state parks and the Superior National Forest. This particular drive is unique in the Midwest because of its combination of mountain scenery on one side and ocean-like scenery and rugged coastlines on the other. (Driving time: 6 hours)
Missouri
Prime viewing: second week of October in most parts of the state to late October in south.
Recommended scenic drive: The Missouri portion of Crowley’s Ridge Parkway is a short, 14-mile route in the “boot heel” on county roads between Malden and the St. Francis River (across from St. Francis, Ark.). Some of the more popular sites along the way, in addition to the continuous fall foliage, are an active cotton gin, a Civil War cemetery and peach orchids. (Driving time: 1/2 hour.)
Ohio
Prime viewing: first two weeks October.
Recommended scenic drive: The Canal Way Ohio Scenic Byway is a 110-mile route that takes you along the Ohio and Erie Canal, all the while offering up magnificent autumn views. To get to the byway in Cleveland, catch Interstate Highway 71 north to the Innerbelt, exiting at Ontario Street and traveling approximately 1/4 mile west to the intersection of Carter Road, where the scenic byway begins. From there follow the byway signs all the way south to Dover. Popular destinations along the route include historical sites that explain the development and usage of the canal. (Driving time: 4 hours)
Wisconsin
Prime viewing: late September through early October in most northern parts of state; early October through mid-November in central and southern Wisconsin.
Recommended scenic drive: The Great River Road in Wisconsin stretches for 249 miles along the Mississippi, across from both Minnesota and Iowa. This route runs right next to the majestic river most of the way, giving spectacular views of the vast waters on one side and bluffs on the other. It runs from the southwest corner of the state, across from Dubuque, Iowa, to Prescott, a few miles east of Minnesota’s Twin Cities; most of the route is on Wisconsin Highway 35. (Driving time: 10 hours)
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Midwest color: It’s just a click–or phone call–away
For those seeking more details on scenic autumn drives–or anything else fall-related–in the Midwest, there are wonderful options.
And yes, non-Web users, that includes the phone. Some states have a number that plays recorded updates on foliage conditions throughout the state; keep in mind that these numbers typically don’t “go live” until mid-September (when the leaves begin to change). But most states now include fall color information through their general tourism numbers–though you may need to navigate your way through a recorded options menu to get to the right place.
And most states have separate Web sites with updates on the colors.
Here are both Web sites and phone numbers for general tourism and–in parentheses–fall color information in eight Midwestern states:
Illinois: 800-826-6632 (no separate fall color line); www.enjoyillinois.com (www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/fallcolor/index.html).
Indiana: 888-ENJOYIN (no separate fall color line); www.state.in.us/tourism (no separate fall color Web site).
Iowa: 888-472-6035 (515-233-4110); www.traveliowa.com (www.ag.iastate.edu/departments/forestry/ext/color.html).
Michigan: 800-644-3255 (no separate fall color line); www.travel.michigan.org (www.ring.com/travel/color.htm).
Minnesota: 800-657-3700 (no separate fall color line); www.exploreminnesota.com (www.dnr.state.mn.us/fall(underscore)col ors/index.html and, for the Lake Superior North Shore, www.northshoreinfo.com/fall/).
Missouri: 800-810-5500 (no separate fall color line); www.missouritourism.org (www.conservation.state.mo.us/nathis/seasons/fall/ or, for the Ozark Mountains region, www.ozarkmtns.com/foliage/index.htm).
Ohio: 800-282-5393 (no separate fall color line); www.discoverohio.com (www.dnr.state.oh.us/fallcolor/).
Wisconsin: 800-432-TRIP (no separate fall color line); www.travelwisconsin.com (no separate fall color Web site).
And for fall conditions around the United States, call the USDA Forest Service at 800-345-4595.
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A continent of color
Fall foliage isn’t limited to the Midwest, of course. Those who’ve marveled at New England greenery in October know why it’s often referred to as the “fall Mecca,” and even such sleepers as Texas and California have developed a bit of an underground foliage following. The Web sites below are worthwhile first stops before embarking on the real journey.
New England: www.yankeefoliage.com; www.newenglandexplorer.com/Foliage.htm;g onewengland.about.com/cs/fallfoliage/l/blfoliagecentrl.htm
Vermont (a fall empire unto itself, with a number of Web sites devoted solely to its changing leaves): www.vermontfallfoliage.com; www.foliage-vermont.com/
Southern Appalachia (Quick fact: The most varied fall color, as well as the longest lasting, is reputed to occur in the southern Appalachians, where a dozen or more kinds of trees may change color at slightly different times over the longer fall season.): www.virginia.org/site/features.asp eatureID=123; www.exploreasheville.com/falldrives.asp; ncnatural.com/wildflwr/fall/idguide.html (helps you identify the leaves you are viewing).
Great Smoky Mountains: www.rodsguide.com/FOLIAGE.HTM
Rocky Mountains: www.fs.fed.us/r2/colors/
Pacific Northwest: www.fs.fed.us/r6/fall-colors/
Texas: gotexas.about.com/library/weekly/aa102198.htm
California: www.calphoto.com/fall.htm
Eastern Canada: www.tourisme.gouv.qc.ca/anglais/ (toll free updates for Quebec also available at 800-363-7777); www.novascotia.com/leaf/
–Darren M. Green
