The cool fire of autumn foliage is blazing through New York’s timber, sweeping down the slopes of the Adirondack Mountains in the north and fanning south to Long Island and west to Lake Erie.
The annual march of gold and crimson takes about six to seven weeks in New York, with the trek ending in the first days of November. A New Yorker can always sit tight and wait for the flaming leaves to rush by his home, as long as his window looks out on trees instead of brick walls. But the Adirondacker surrounded by bare limbs and the Long Islander still seeing green can travel to wherever the trees are glowing at peak brilliance.
The State Commerce Department has a toll-free number to call to find out where the foliage flames are burning bright on a given day. The department will also supply routes for the car traveler. During business hours, a department staffer will answer your call. At other times a recorded Foliage report is available. The information is about New York State only. You can also call the department for mailings of autumn event schedules. The leaves of hardwood in the Adirondack peaks have faded to brown and floated to the forest floor, but southerly and lowland woods are generally peeking or pre-peak.
Sunny skies and night temperatures above freezing bring out the most striking colors. An area’s peak foliage period is three or four days. There are three pigments in foliage—green chlorophyll, yellow carotenoids, and red anthocyanins. Chlorophyll dominates during summer, but decomposes in the fall, allowing the yellows in birch and tulip trees and reds and purples in oaks and maples to emerge.
The commerce department points to the Hudson River Valley as an excellent area for the foliage-seeking motorist. Route 9 on the eastern shore of the river and Route 9W on the western bank are suggested. A loop trip along the two tree-lined roads can be made by using the bridges over the river. Eastbound bridge crossers pay tolls. Orchards in the scenic valley will be selling apples, cider and pumpkins. The Taconic State Parkway, which bans trucks, is another fine foliage route in the Hudson River area. Foliage routes in the Catskills include Route 17, the Southern Tier Expressway, through Orange, Sullivan and Delaware counties. Another popular route is 23, called “The Mohegan Trail” from Catskill to Oneonta and the “Rip Van Winkle Trail” from Catskill to Prattsville. You can leave your car and hike along various Department of Environmental Conservation trails near Phoenicia, including one up 4200-foot Slide Mountain.
Moving west, travelers can find a double dose of color amid the foliage-mirroring Finger Lakes. Depending on whether you favor geology or Indian legend, the lakes were either carved by glaciers or are the handprnt of a Great Spirit who marked the region as a chosen spot. You can make your decision on their origin during a lake boat cruise passing a golden shoreline vineyard.
The central and western state parks—Niagara, Allegany, Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls, Letchworth, and Watkins Glen—are all likely destinations for fall outings. Allegany, running from Salamanca to the Pennsylvania border, has 100 miles of wooded roadways winding through it’s 65,000 acres.
Route 5 between Utica and the state’s western border and parallel route 20 from Cherry Valley to Buffalo offer hundreds of miles of foliage.
(Plattsburgh Press Republicans 10-13-1984)