Travel pros (and a plant expert) pick the foliage
The fall foliage trip is almost a national rite of passage—a quintessentially American combination of the outdoors and the automobile. For many, losing oneself in a landscape of riotous reds, profound purples, and outrageous oranges can be a quasi-religious experience.
New England, of course, is the classic mecca for fall-foliage pilgrims. Kevin Smith, Ph.D., a plant physiologist with the USDA Forest Service in Durham, N.H., explains that “the vibrancy of color in New England is a function of the mix of tree species that we have—the reds from maples, oranges from sugar maples, yellows from birches, purple from beeches, all mixed in with the dark green of conifers like pine and hemlock.”
Jamie Jensen
Author of "Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America’s Two-Lane Highways"
Kevin Smith, Ph.D.
Plant Physiologist and Project Leader, USDA Forest Service, Durham, N.H.
Robert J. Dolezal, Jerry Bates, Barbara Dolezal, and George McKeon
Authors of "The Most Scenic Drives in America"
Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak and Alice Zeytz
Travel writers and co-editors of "RV Traveling Tales: Women's Journeys on the Open Road"
Magazine Editors
American Road
Mary Sequoia Hamilton, Editor
“Road Trip! Magazine”
But as Smith and others point out, there are beautiful autumnal landscapes to be found almost anywhere in the country. To help you search out the most spectacular drives of the season, we’ve assembled a group of road-travel experts and asked them to name their favorite routes in the U.S. Our panelists have traveled on a wide range of remarkable highways and byways, from North to South and coast to coast, so while New England’s classic journeys are among their picks, their suggestions also include some less legendary but equally stunning fall touring terrain.
See our slideshow of 10 Most Awesome Autumn Drives.
Jamie Jensen, author of "Road Trip USA," says Route 100, in Vermont’s Green Mountains, offers “the quintessential New England experience,” with “the classic combinations of rolling pastures, rustic red barns, white clapboard churches, quaint villages and covered bridges—all backed by spectacular hardwood forest whose maple, birch and other trees blaze with fall color.”
But Jensen adds that a different seasonal shade can be found out West—namely, “the golden leaves of the quaking aspen, usually seen against an evergreen backdrop of pines and fir trees.” To savor this scene from the road, Jensen suggests driving over California’s Sierra Nevada mountains just south of Lake Tahoe. In this part of the country, he says, Gold Rush-era ghost towns and mining-camp remnants add another layer of atmosphere to summer’s end.
For grand vistas, American Road magazine's executive editor, Thomas Repp, recommends a fall drive along Pennsylvania Route 120 between Ridgway and Lock Haven. “The colorful landscapes along the route overwhelm,” he says, “as you make your way to one of the grandest views in the United States at Hyner View State Park… looking over the valley floor, across the Allegheny Plateau, the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, and onward to the edge of the sky.”
Timing is the key—and elusive—ingredient in the fall drive. Kevin Smith explains that the annual turning of the leaves is triggered by a combination of day length and temperature, but he allows that scientists “still don’t entirely understand what the timing is all about.”
For help with predictions, there are several excellent resources, including the Forest Service’s fall foliage hotline (800-354-4595) which offers region by region information, including predictions of leaf colors, foliage peaks and tips for scenic drives.
But Smith cautions not to get too fixated on projections about how good this particular season going to be. He says it’s important to keep in mind that “so much of the intensity of the experience is on a very specific basis—this hillside or that, this valley or that mountain.”
“The main thing is to take your time and enjoy what’s in front of you,” Smith adds. “Being able to see off in the distance is great. But having a solid, beautiful, individual tree right in front of you can be every bit as moving.”
Large regional foliage maps can point you in the right direction, but for help with the smaller picture, try The Foliage Network, which collects data from an army of volunteer foliage spotters twice a week during the fall, ensuring an up-to-date and very specific report for “leaf peepers.”
Planning ahead is also crucial for those looking for accommodations along the drive, especially in the more well-known leaf-viewing areas of New England.
Alternatively, you can take your accommodations with you, like Hall-Bruzenak, who prefers traveling by RV for a more leisurely paced journey. “If you want to stick around and enjoy an area or wait a few days for the best time,” she says, you can simply “find a campground right in the forest.”
And Jensen has another important piece of advice for car travelers. “Get out of the car!” he advises. “Keep a lookout for ‘scenic viewpoints’ and trailheads and soak it up with all of your senses: Smell the pines, listen to the winds and the water flowing past, feel and hear the crackling of leaves as you tread over them.”
And as for what to drive? According to Dale Fox of Spin Automotive Group, a luxury car club based in Los Angeles, "There are few thrills in the world like weaving down a back road in a vintage Alfa Romeo Giulietta, with the autumn leaves dancing in the roadster's wake. Never mind the chill in the air. This season demands a top-down approach—convertibles are a must. And turn off the stereo, too. This is a time to listen to the voice of the engine and the song of the wind flowing past your ears."
Finally, don’t neglect those grander, metaphysical sensations. As Smith puts it, “Autumn is a time for reflection, or a certain nostalgia for things that are over—intimations of mortality. We see such real gloriousness in nature, and know that that gloriousness is a prelude or harbinger of winter to come.”