Thursday marked the start of autumn, a singular season during which Pennsylvania and our corner of Penn’s Woods become the envy of much of the planet, boasting a rare mix of hardwood trees soon to paint a pallet of oranges, reds, yellows and other hues unseen anywhere else. The fall foliage feast for the eyes will soon be upon us.
And we do not exaggerate in describing the uniqueness of what we’ve got. As State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn pointed out in a recent media release offering tips for leaf peepers this year, “it is important to remember that Pennsylvania is a large state with more than 130 native tree species. This gives residents and tourists plentiful opportunities to see a wide array of colors.”
Natives take it for granted, but being able to travel a very short distance — if at all — to see vast swaths of mixed deciduous and conifer forest remains a great blessing to our state and area. We think its the norm to see trees from here to the horizon, but it’s not.
And it’s even rarer to see the varied colors those trees become. You can go the western parts of the nation and see miles of fir trees, often in stately rows like towering sentinels along the highways, but they will never offer the panoply of pigmentation in our backyards.
To quote DCNR again, from a perennial reminder: “Pennsylvania has a longer and more varied fall foliage season than any other state in the nation — or anywhere in the world. Only three regions of the world support deciduous forests that display fall autumn color: eastern North America; the British Isles and parts of northwestern Europe; northeastern China and northern Japan. Forests in other regions are either tropical or dominated by conifers.”
Admittedly, it’s a bit early for foliage viewing. Technically, the fall equinox didn’t officially occur until 9:04 p.m. Thursday, so Friday served as the first full day of fall — and mother nature certainly marked the change with an appropriate shift to crisp cool air courtesy of an pronounced cold front coming into our turf. But peak leaf peeping is a week or three away, depending on how much you are willing to travel.
For an idea of when and where to consider going, visit the DCNR website (dcnr.pa.gov) and navigate to the Pennsylvania Fall Foliage Reports page. The weekly reports don’t officially begin until Sept. 29, but you can find early versions predicting that peak color is only a week or two away in McKean, Potter, Susquehanna and Wayne counties, and another week or two from occurring in Luzerne County.
Fall, of course, offers more than just the changing of the leaves, as spectacular as that can be. Fall with or without peak foliage can be refreshing, even bracing, in any of the state’s 121 state parks and 2.2 million acres of state forests. After a particularly hot summer, the autumn air can truly rejuvenate on even a short hike or leisurely visit.
And it’s also the season for festivals, pick-your-own farms (pumpkins are prime these days), corn mazes and of course the Halloween haunts.
So check our pages in upcoming weeks, check the state’s tourism office website (visitpa.com), or just check your favorite source for seasonal activities, and start planning a few outings to really enjoy this autumn. We get four pretty terrific seasons each year, but among them autumn can, for a few weeks, be truly breathtaking.
— Times Leader