The Road Less Trammeled

Autumn is a glorious time of the year. The days are crisp, the nights clear, the air fresh and invigorating.

At night the stars of the Milky Way fill the sky away from the sense-numbing lights of the city and suburbia.

By now the only leaves left on the trees are the deep gold, the yellows, and the burnt oranges, the dying embers of the annual autumn conflagration. Soon to weather to an ashen gray, the landscape ignites in the late afternoon to once again blaze in fury before nightfall and our eventual plunge into the dark, dreary days of winter.

The Northeast and Upper Midwest are the only places in the country that sport such a variety of color and texture with timing that sets them all ablaze together.

As a general rule, the more varied the terrain, the more varied the species composition, and consequently the more varied the colors. Poison Ivy even participates with scarlet red leaves that climb the trunks of trees and the sides of abandoned silos.

Get up into the hills and valleys and away from the flat Piedmont. Instead of seeking out the grand views that blur and soften the edges, look to the small and intimate views of a pasture or pond shore that dramatize the contrasting colors of oak and birch, of maple and hemlock.

Pack a lunch. The bugs are all but gone with the first frost or hard freeze.

Take your time.

Leave early enough to arrive in a sheltered river valley to watch the mist rise as the water sheds heat to the surrounding air. Plan on getting home late so as not to hurry through these still easy days. Linger on a hillside as the sun fades across the sky and watch the shadows overtake the landscape.

This is the stuff of which dreams and lasting memories are made.

While State and County Parks are usually the destinations of choice, the breathtaking colors may well be in your own back yard. Better still, take a scenic drive. Try, just once, to get lost on purpose for a change.

Take the back roads to a place you've never been. Make it an adventure. Rediscover the thrill of discovery.

Whether it is a unique little restaurant or an antique shop brimming with great old stuff, you'll be glad you took the road less trammeled.