With fall the best days are here

By Dave Churchill (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, September 29, 2007

There is absolutely no better time of year than autumn. Except maybe spring or winter.

OK, the truth is I enjoy every season except summer which I simply endure. No fan of sun, hot weather, golf or water-related activities, the core summer months of June, July and August are just something that has to be lived through as well as possible, waiting for better days.

Now the better days are here. The mornings are cool and crisp, the afternoons are beautiful and the countryside has never looked better. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, yet I have always thought that the tan and golden hues of the fields are a beautiful counterpoint to blue fall skies – cool, restful tones that I could enjoy looking at for hours.

By contrast, the woodlands offer a blaze of contrariness, with hot red and yellow leaves defying the cool weather. Like a fireworks display, every tree – especially the maples – has the potential to thrill us with a brief burst of color.

Looking at the fall colors is nearly as much fun as watching fireworks, and one of the main opportunities hereabouts has always been at Maplewood Park. I headed up to the park last weekend with my son to get a read on how the colors were coming. We had heard it was not going to be a particularly good year and, unfortunately, that seems to be true.

The drive along the paved road from the park entrance to the picnic area that projects out into Lake Lida always reveals some beautiful trees, although this year they seem more like lone sentinels of color, surrounded by fading, drab greens.

The debate about why some years have great leaf color and others do not is almost as much fun as looking at the trees. Was it the drought conditions that persisted through most of the growing season? Was it the spells of unusually hot weather? Or perhaps it was some combination of the two.

Still, even in years like this one when the woods are not a continuous riot of color, the leaves are worth seeing, and you might consider a drive up to Maplewood this weekend or next, during the park’s Leaf Days. Beyond the usual hiking and viewing opportunities, friends of the park will be selling food and t-shirts in the picnic area.

If you go, please consider getting out of the car for a walk. Block at least an hour to just get out on one of the trails and enjoy being outdoors.

Still not 100 percent recovered from my recent surgery, I only hiked for 10 minutes or so last weekend, but they were the best 10 minutes of the trip. The rest of the time, I lounged in the passenger seat as my student-driver son toured us around the park. (It is interesting that things ordinarily classified as totally boring become totally interesting when one is learning to drive.)

At every bend in the road, I’d see a trail that jutted off, promising a beautiful ramble through the fall scenery. If you, too, spot those jumping off places, I hope you will test out the trails. As at every park, if you get just a short ways from the car, you will discover a whole different world.

Fall is a great time of year, and now before it gets too cold, we are in the midst of the best of it. I hope you have time to enjoy Maplewood or nearby Glendalough State Park this weekend.

Journal publisher Dave Churchill’s column runs on Fridays.