Amber, Auburn and Gold

A summer getaway? Sure, the Blue Ridge mountains are ideal for that, for Southwest Floridians – a way to beat the heat and escape to cool evenings and twisty roads.  

But around October, the Blue Ridge undergoes a color shift, and the green tree leaves take on a vivid riot of variegated hues. Some of the blue haze that gave the mountain range its name dissipates in the clear autumn air and the light sparkles on distant hilltops. When the changing of the leaves is in full swing, each individual tree stands out, and vistas that in the summer had been just a solid, undifferentiated blanket of green become a pointillist canvas of red, orange, and yellow, with lighter green from the as yet unturned deciduous trees, and darker green from the conifers.  

A fall trip to the Blue Ridge is a great way to get out of Southwest Florida in that trying time, those October weeks when it seems like the summer must have ended by now, but the days and even the nights are still steamy. 

This is when you can go to the southern Appalachians and, with a little luck, enjoy shirtsleeve weather for days of blue skies and ecstatic “leaf peeping,” followed by evenings when it feels good outside to don that bomber jacket that has been gathering dust in your Florida closet and warm your bones by a roaring fire.  

You can see far-ranging scenic vistas from the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP), which follows the spine of the mountain range for nearly 500 miles between Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and Great Smoky National Park. There are numerous pullouts with overlooks at the most breathtakingly scenic points, so even the driver can take in the surroundings without risking a collision on the winding two-lane road. Just be aware that when driving the Parkway, you will not be alone. Fall leaf season is “peak” time for traffic on the BRP, and patience is required.  

With cooler temperatures and generally dry weather, this is also a great time to get out and hike in the woods and the hills. Whether you take an extended traipse into the backcountry of the national forests or national parks or just clamber up one of the trails that loops away from the Parkway, you can quickly leave the crowds behind and enjoy your “private” piece of the public lands.  

The leaves turn all over the temperate zone of the country, flatlands as well as mountains, but heading for the hills does offer some distinct advantages. Leaves change color in a weeks or months-long parade, moving down from north to south, but also varying locally by elevation, northern or southern exposure, rainfall, and warmer or cooler weather. So, there’s no guarantee of what days will bring optimum color at any one specific location. But a key determinant of when the change happens is elevation, so to have the best shot at seeing some peak leaf color, an area with a lot of ups and downs offers a real upside.  

The leaves change first on the mountaintops, such as Mt. Mitchell outside Asheville, then along the summit-hugging BRP, and finally at the lower elevations, so you can ascend or descend to follow the color. We have driven along the roads in north Georgia and western North Carolina, waiting until each turn in the road brought “oohs” and “aahs” to then find a camping area for our base of operations.  

If you are in need of a hotel room, be forewarned: this is peak season for innkeepers as well, and the available accommodations tend to fill up, so don’t count on breezing into a motel at nightfall and finding a stay for the night.  

Leaf season is a natural phenomenon, and just like with wine-producing regions, some years produce superior results, with spectacular color the equivalent of a noteworthy vintage year. And with any autumn, an untimely bout of windy, rainy weather can largely strip the gold or red leaves from the trees. The season is “fall,” after all, and that is what the leaves do, sooner or later. But even lying on the ground, the leaves are a thing of beauty, with designs that display Mother Nature as the greatest of artists and inspire us lesser mortals to capture the patterns they create, framing the scenes with our cameras.  

In one of the rarest of leaf-change phenomena – I’ve seen it once in the south – the gold and red-bedecked trees are garnished by a coverlet of snow, and the already spectacular color scheme is enhanced by a layer of pristine white. Each leaf, and the many flowers still in bloom in the late season, gains an overlay of delicate snow crystals.  

The changing of the leaves is irresistible to photographers and tends to turn even non-shutterbugs into avid lensmen and women for the duration. Just remember, pretty as the leaves are, for the most memorable photos, the rules of composition and aesthetics still apply. Consider your shot carefully, and remember sometimes, less is more.  

Leaves can glow with color whether the sunlight is reflecting from them or backlighting them. The still water of a pond or lake can provide a mirror image of the fall colors. Also, a technical note: if your camera will accommodate it, a polarizing filter is helpful to make the colors of leaves and blue sky “pop” on a sunny day.  

A great feature of the autumnal show is that it is everywhere, all around you, not confined just to the grounds of a tourist attraction or a museum. For a few weeks, the entire area is an art gallery. While picturesque scenes look even better with fall colors, beauty is where you find it. One of the most spectacular trees we ever saw was in the parking lot of a neighborhood Piggly Wiggly.  

But even after the peak week, late autumn comes with its own austere beauty as the bare trees hibernate and prepare for the next spring’s rebirth, with purplish buds sprouting into the new season’s flowering. To paraphrase Sting, inside every turning leaf is the pattern of a whole new tree. Being a part of this cycle may be why, especially for those of us who grew up with the annual rhythm of the seasons, whether in New England or anywhere in the temperate zone, witnessing the leaves turning fulfills some fundamental need and helps ground us, letting us feel ourselves as part of the natural world.  

Southwest Florida has its own colorful leaves, along with a profusion of flowers. The coleus, crotons, and caladiums – to touch on only the “c” names – provide splashes of vibrant hues year ’round in our landscapes. Mostly, the leaves here don’t change in the fall, although one exception, one of the earliest and most colorful, is Toxicodendron radicans or, more commonly, poison ivy, so be cautious about collecting some of those pretty triple leaves.  

But there’s something special about every autumn’s changing of the leaves. If it’s been too many years since you have experienced it, maybe this is your chance to “head for the hills” and reconnect with the rhythm of the seasons.