Fall Colors off the Beaten Track

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Arizona

Everybody knows that autumn brings flaming foliage colors to New England sugar maples, oaks, beeches and more in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts. But there are many other worthy spots around the world to admire autumn finery and appreciate the seasonal flow of time in nature. Here are a dozen of the best.
Arizona’s Sonoran Desert is known to aficionados as a desert with trees some of them deciduous hardwoods in the stream-fed canyons at the edge of the Sonoran. Oak Creek Canyon, north of Phoenix, is lined with oaks, maples and sycamores that fire up brilliant fall colors in October and November, especially along some of the side canyons that invite hikers welcoming the cooler temperatures of autumn. Unlike most other fall-color venues, from Oak Creek you can head back down to Phoenix and return to summer, polishing off your fall foliage tour with a day by the pool. Phoenix weather in October and November

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Arkansas

The landscape in northwest Arkansas' Ozark Mountains is very similar to New England. The best place to view the colors is Buffalo National River (actually a national park), where towering ridges shine in maroon, bronze, butterscotch and apricot. The ideal visitor gateway is the charming historic town of Eureka Springs; mid-October is the time to visit.

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Eastern Canada

Not far from New England, but far less famous (and less crowded) are the forests of Eastern Canada. Maples, birches and aspens start turning as early as mid-September in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. This is one of the few places travelers can enjoy superb, leisurely viewing without driving themselves: Canada’s VIA Rail runs multiday fall-color train journeys eastward out of Montreal. Through mid-October, Holland America Line offers week or longer sailings from Quebec City that visit the beautiful Gaspe Peninsula and Saguenay Fjord, whose forests are seen by relatively few travelers. Fall foliage train trips, Fall foliage cruises

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Oregon

Though they are much less imposing than the towering trees most associate with fall color, the 5- to 10-foot vine maples of the Pacific Northwest’s Cascade Range in Oregon may yield the most intense color found in any fall foliage, a palette of vermilion, salmon and magenta that seems magically more vivid on cloudy days (which come often enough after Labor Day). Oregon has the two best drives for vine maple color, the Mount Hood Highway (U.S. 26) heading southeast out of Portland, and the Santiam Highway (U.S. 20) between Corvallis and Sisters. Bend and Portland are the gateways; the best viewing starts in mid-September, or even earlier in dry years.

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: British Columbia

Though larches range up into southern Canada, south-central British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley holds an entirely different natural venue for fall color: fruit orchards and vineyards. Stretching almost 200 miles north to south and framed by burly mountains and long, azure lakes, the apple, peach, pear, apricot and wine-grape farms that line the valley offer every conceivable hue throughout October, often into November. Their hues are complemented by the glowing gold of native cottonwoods. The launching point is Kelowna; a day trip either north or south from there is ideal, and the most scenic and colorful route is the short drive to Naramata from Penticton, overlooking Okanagan Lake. Okanagan Valley fruit

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Colorado

One of Earth’s most widespread trees is the aspen, found worldwide in the northern temperate zone, from Alaska to Siberia. Many aspen fanciers believe they reach their zenith in the Colorado Rockies, and one of the world’s biggest aspen stands is at the north end of the Elk River Valley, north of Steamboat Springs. One can drive for hours in the mountains near Steamboat Lake and see few trees other than aspens. A similar experience is found along the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway, which circles the mountains southwest of Crested Butte. Go early in autumn; few experiences match the aural, visual and aromatic pleasures of an aspen forest after the first fall rains have dampened the fallen leaves.

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Alaska

While most people envision Alaska as a landscape of conifers, its river valleys are lined with birches and tall, sometimes quite massive cottonwoods. These majestic trees turn a glowing gold in September; the smaller birches that dot the landscape add a lighter shade of lemon-yellow. The best viewing is in and around the quaint log-cabin village of Talkeetna, which lies along the banks of the Susitna River. It’s a pleasant and easy three-hour drive from Anchorage, but those who’d like to view at leisure can hop on the delightful Alaska Railroad, which winds north from the Anchorage airport to Talkeetna and beyond; from mid-September on, the trains run weekends only.

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Wisconsin

While travelers may think of Door County, Wisconsin, for its cherry orchards in July, the same trees create a rolling, pastoral landscape of burnished bronze, carmine and butterscotch in October as the leaves turn. This serene peninsula in Lake Michigan, three hours north of Milwaukee, also has apple orchards, though these don’t offer colors quite as vivid, and quiet country lanes through native birch and hardwood forests. While the cherry season is long past by fall, Door County is the fourth-largest producer in the United States, so there’s still plenty of jam, cider and other fruit products to enjoy not to mention fresh apple pie.

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Sweden

The beautiful countryside of Sweden is at its best in the birch forests of the Dolarna lakes district, in the middle of the country four hours northwest of Stockholm. Tidy pastures dotted with horses are framed by blocks of birches dappled by fall’s slanted light, with a hundred lakes shining between the hills and the quintessential Swedish iron-red-painted homes tucked into farmsteads. The two towns bookending huge Lake Siljan, Mora at the north and Rattvik at the southeast, are both excellent visitor centers, with numerous hostels, small inns and B&Bs mostly geared toward the summer music festival season. Trains from Stockholm to Rattvik make reaching the area easy, though Sweden is also delightful for driving.

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Germany

While northern continental Europe has many hardwood forests, a particularly impressive autumn experience is on offer in Germany’s Rhine River Valley, whose vineyards turn an array of colors from saffron to amber. The hillsides here hold maples, oaks and beeches that also change; innumerable tour boats and cruise boats ply the Rhine on day-trip or multiday outings. The 40-mile stretch of the Middle Rhine from Koblenz to Bingen was declared a World Heritage Site in 2002; scenic highways follow both sides of the river and are a delight to drive in late September and October.

Fall Colors off the Beaten Track: Japan

Japanese maples are a staple of landscaping around the world, largely for their graceful shape and autumn colors — sometimes so vivid it’s hard to believe. The original home range of these trees centers on Japan’s island of Hokkaido, the northernmost main island in the chain. Sapporo, the island’s capital, is better known for skiing (“Blessed by Snow” is the city’s slogan), but its trees blaze in late September and October; nearby Chitose has an October festival devoted to fall foliage. A uniquely Japanese experience is a visit to a ryokan (hot springs guesthouse) with fall leaves scenting the air and coloring the scene.