Autumn adventure
Once upon a time, enjoying fall meant taking a drive down a country road to look at all the pretty leaves.
But with travelers increasingly interested in unusual experiences and adventures (as opposed to mere vacations), the story of autumn unfolds a little differently these days.
“People are more and more looking at the foliage as a backdrop for other activities, rather than as the main attraction,” said Alice DeSouza, New Hampshire’s tourism director. “They’re doing all kinds of fun things.”
Here’s a twist on the old drive down a country road: the ATV Historical Color Tour in Buena Vista, Colo., a rally and festival for all-terrain vehicle riders, scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday. Participants will enjoy the golden aspens and cottonwoods while exploring trails through old mining sites and ghost towns.
For a bird’s-eye view of the foliage, consider a balloon ride or even hang-gliding. Mount Pisgah Adventures offers flights over the mountains of Western North Carolina, while New England Aerosports of Charlestown, N.H., offers tandem flights in which novices can ride over the trees with an instructor.
In Pennsylvania, near the Delaware Water Gap, colorful balloons fill the skies over the red and gold trees of the 21st annual Shawnee Autumn Balloon Festival, Oct. 14-16.
The Appalachian Mountain Club invites hikers in New Hampshire’s White Mountains to go on a tree hunt as part of a “citizen science” program called Mountain Watch.
Hikers are given maps and field guides to find specific birch, maple and ash trees tagged along family-friendly trails, and are then asked to record their observations about foliage color and other data. The information will be used to track any long-term changes in the environment.
If you’re intrigued by unusual natural phenomena, check out the golden tamarack. Tamaracks are conifers, but unlike evergreens, they shed their needles after turning golden-yellow in the fall.
You can see a ring of them on the Twin Lakes inside Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge, near McGregor, Minn., or head to the Lolo National Forest in Seeley Lake, Mont. Here the Seeley Lake Giant, 162 feet tall, believed to be the largest tamarack tree in the country, is the centerpiece of the Seeley Lake Tamarack Festival Saturday and next Sunday.
Agritourism is booming, and that means that even if you live in a big city, you can find a farm or orchard within a couple hours’ drive to pick your own apples and pumpkins or take a hay ride. Kids are notoriously bored by the concept of leaf-peeping, but they will happily navigate a maze of haystacks or cornstalks, or brave a “haunted walk.”
The biggest fall festival in New Hampshire is the Keene Pumpkin Festival, scheduled for Oct. 22, which claims to have the largest number of carved pumpkins of any place in the country. Anybody – including kids – can show up and carve one to add to the display, which included more than 27,000 pumpkins last year.
Scenic railroads are another interesting way to enjoy fall. The Verde Canyon Railroad in Arizona offers a scenic trip through a canyon lined with cottonwood, sycamore, mulberry and oak trees, where you may spot wildlife like elk and javelina.
In Colorado, options for seeing the leaves by train include the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which runs an annual fall photographer’s special; and Pikes Peak Cog Railway, the highest railroad in the country.