Autumn in the Adirondack Mountains 2023
If you haven't experienced autumn colors in the Northeastern United States, I encourage you to do so. It's simply spectacular as the landscape explodes into reds, oranges, yellows, browns and purples. It's one of the reasons autumn is my favorite season here.
Autumn starts creeping up on us here in Upstate NY around the middle to end of September. Depending on where you are, and the weather/temperature during the summer and autumn, peak fall colors happen at various times, and it's difficult to predict exactly when they will be each year. The mountainous regions like the Adirondacks and Catskills may reach their full explosion of colors around the end of September through the first or maybe second week of October. Most of upstate reaches peak around the second to third week of October, and the downstate regions after that.
Upstate NY, especially where I live in the central part of the state, is infamous for its harsh, snow-filled and long winters. But autumn brings an abundance of beautiful weather, with comfortably warm and sunny days and crisp nights, that transition to cooler, often rainy, days and chilly nights. It's our transition to sweater weather and warm beverages, apple picking and yes, pumpkin everything. Regardless of the weather, the fall colors are warm and vibrant, and you can't help but feel a sense of coziness and wonder amid their brilliance.
As I've gotten older I appreciate this season more and more. I remember as a kid my parents would rake leaves (and then I would as a teenager), and this was considered a chore. The reward was raking them into a big pile and then jumping into it. I never used to marvel at the fall colors as I went busily about my life. Now I drink up as much of this season as I can.
I take my leaf peeping pretty seriously, and you know when fall is coming. The landscape starts to change its hue to a warmer tone, as the bright greens and colors of summer begin to disappear and the warm autumn colors unfold. I see purples and yellows emerge in the weeds along the edge of the our yard or the roadsides. Longer grasses and bushes begin to transition to browns and yellows, oranges and reds. On the trees a few leaves or branches will start to turn colors. As the days pass, more branches are filled with color, and before you know it, entire trees. This happens over the course of days to a couple weeks. If you look at the landscape, particularly the hillsides, a blanket of color slowly emerges. Reds, oranges, yellows, browns and purples appear. Sometimes the entire hillside is a mix of these colors, and sometimes there are patches or pops of green. Once the full vibrance and color change has occurred (which is often referred to as "peak"), the period of past-peak happens, where leaves start to lose their vibrancy but still remain colorful, and start to drop from trees. I wish I could bottle the smell of fallen leaves because there's nothing in the world like it. Dry leaves smell different than wet leaves. The crunch of dry leaves as you step on them, and the sweeping sound as you walk through a layer of them on the ground is a classic part of fall. I often gather some to press in wax paper to keep as a reminder of the season. As we move beyond this point, the rest of the leaves fall, branches appear bare, and often the first snowfall occurs, which is also a mesmerizing experience, as the snow blankets bare branches and wet leaves on the ground. It doesn't always occur storybook-style like this, as a swift storm with rain and wind can knock leaves off the trees at any time, or the preceding summer weather may lead to less vibrant colors than usual. But it's a magical time of year no matter what.
Each season has its unique beauty here, and I'm learning to live in and relish each one. Autumn is also a reminder to be your own kind of beautiful - it's different here each year, but no less beautiful. It's a time of harvest, transition, togetherness and coziness. It's a reminder to pause, experience the miracles of Nature, and be grateful for every moment. Autumn colors are here and gone in the blink of an eye if you don't take time to appreciate them, and before you know it, winter's here. So don't let this season slip by - get out and be part of it!
Jeannette
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