ROUTE 66 Road Trip By Kimber Williams

Your RV is the perfect way to enjoy America’s finest fall drives that showcase the annual turning of the trees In Search Of Fall Color sk an RVer about that begins creeping down from we’ve been busy checking out the — the perfect backdrop for lumi- their favorite spot to Canada as early as September in fall color scene this past year — nous autumn scenery. observe fall foli- northern states and well into mid- scouting for America’s finest fall Follow the Prospect Mountain age and you can November in southerly locations. drives. And what a trek it’s been! Veterans Memorial Highway, off ignite fierce loyalties and passion- With a wide assortment of Our findings? It’s impossible to I-87 at exit 21, for staggering views Aate debate. Geography? Forestry? state-by-state websites that liter- narrow the suggestions down to an of three states: ’s Green Where to begin? ally track the annual march of fall absolute “Best Tours” list. Mountains, New Hampshire’s Some praise New England’s color through our favorite des- With advance apologies that no White Mountains, and New York’s thick maple groves, while others tinations, it’s easier than ever to list of this nature is ever complete, Adirondacks. A “viewmobile” can rave about the resplendent orchards plot an RV adventure to catch we submit a few suggestions for even take you to the summit for of northwestern Michigan. One the autumn explosion at its peak your own fall color adventures: towering views. Try a shoreline person admires Colorado’s gilded performance. drive along Lake George, Brant aspens; another sighs over the And surely there’s no better America’s Top Lake or Loon Lake. Check out buttery glow of big-leaf maple way to absorb it all than through Fall Drives the Pharaoh Wilderness, Dixon and ash trees that thrive along the windshield of your own RV. Adirondack Park, Forest and High Falls Gorge. If Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge. You set your own pace, follow New York you have the time, take the short Throughout the year’s end, your own impulses with intriguing One of the largest wilderness hike up Azure Mountain for a America is alive with fall color, side trips, and end the day envel- areas east of the Mississippi, this panoramic vista. from sea to shining sea — a grad- oped in autumn’s fine amber light. park embraces 6 million acres of While you’re in the area, be uated canopy of leafy pigment To streamline your research, woodlands, mountains and streams sure to catch the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Museum. For information on scenic drives and camping in the area, visit: www.adirondacks.com/autumn- drives.html.

Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia- North Carolina One of America’s longest scenic drives offers just that — scenery, and then some. Rambling through the western edges of Virginia and North Carolina, the trek is capped by national parks on either end — Shenandoah and the Great Smoky Mountains — and crosses some of the highest mountain peaks in the Eastern United States. There is no fee to use this 469-mile roadway, which runs

14 Scenic Route Vol. 3 / No. 6 ROUTE 66 Road Trip Photos: Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism

through the Blue Ridge Mountains and celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. You can catch the two- lane roadway off I-64 west of Charlottesville, Va., or just south- west of Waynesville, N.C. October weekends tend to Feel like an adventure? Take For fall color reports in Eastern www.arkansas.com/things-to- be among the busiest along the exit 35 west of Bonneville and Region National Forests, see do/scenic-drives/arkansas-sce- parkway. However, leaves ripen explore the twisting journey along www.fs.fed.us/r9/conditions/fall_ nic-7.asp. into autumnal hues deep into the Historic Columbia River color/report/. November, especially around Highway (Oregon Highway 30), Skyline Drive, Roanoke, Va., and Asheville, N.C. a route that will take you deep into Arkansas Scenic Central Utah Overlooks along the way provide the heart of fall color. 7 Byway For a more rustic, less-tra- great views of rusty locust and For more information on the Arkansas’ most popular scenic ditional experience, try Skyline flaming dogwood trees, as well as Columbia River Gorge National byway passes through a kaleido- Drive, a rocky, unsurfaced dirt maple, tulip-poplar and sourwood. Scenic Area, visit www.fs.fed.us/ scope of dramatic geography. And road that winds across the scenic In North Carolina, visit Linville r6/columbia. fall catches the region in all its summit of the Wasatch Plateau Falls for a valley view of white blazing glory. in central Utah’s Manti-LaSal pine, hemlock, tulip trees and Green Mountain From the West Gulf Coastal National Forest. fraser magnolias. Trails lead to Highway, Vermont Plain through rolling pine forests Granted, this road is rough in canyon overlooks — a lovely Cool fall days bring a flurry and stream valleys carpeted with places; some sections should be view over a patchwork of rich of leaf-peepers to Vermont, along bottomland hardwood forests tackled by high-clearance four- fall color. with an explosion of fall fairs, har- around Camden and Arkadelphia, wheel drive vehicles. You may You’ll find online fall color vest suppers, and craft, food and into the , a not wish to take a 45-foot diesel reports posted weekly at farm festivals. natural hot springs, and ultimately, pusher up this gritty grade. But www.virtualblueridge.com. When it comes to fall color, the Ozark Mountains. visitors rave about the open pan- Vermont is considered by many Often cited as one of America’s oramic views, including the Great Columbia River to be the heart of autumn action top 10 scenic byways, this 320-mile Basin, forested mountains and val- Gorge, Oregon — an abundance of brilliant New trek spins through two national leys, mile-deep canyons, and gentle The Columbia River is a liq- England hardwoods regularly forests and one national park, slid- alpine meadows. If attempting it in uid wonder, a massive byway that draws visitors from around the ing past nature preserves, water- an RV sounds daunting, consider slides past famed forests littered world to glimpse a forest tapestry falls, forested mountain peaks and checking out the autumn scenery with towering conifer and lacy woven in scarlet, saffron, russet, lakes that glow with the reflection on an Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV), ferns. But you may be surprised pumpkin and burnt umber hues. of autumnal color. horseback or mountain bike, to stumble across vast stands of The progression of color is Pick up Arkansas Highway Skyline Drive is said to be among deciduous trees that hug the river, meticulously tracked (www.foli- 7 at historic Hot Springs to the America’s highest roads, with ele- including big-leaf maples, Oregon age-vermont.com/). And a drive south or nostalgic Harrrison to the vations that stretch 9,000 to 11,000 ash and cottonwood groves. along Green Mountain Highway is north. The journey cuts through feet above sea level. In the autumn, Just east of Portland, I-84 paral- considered The Classic Fall Tour, a rolling carpet of short-leaf it will take you spinning past gam- lels the massive Columbia Gorge, slicing vertically through the cen- pines and hardwood trees in the bel oak and maple in the Wasatch lending fine views of damp for- ter of the state along Vermont , where Front foothills, past billion-year-old ests, tumbling waterfalls and gutsy Route 100, past dense woodlands you can also find campsites. Veer rock formations, and into forests of windsurfers, battling the mighty and scenic mountain loops. off onto Arkansas Route 154 to fir and golden aspen. Columbia. Catch the highway and Drink in the beauty of the take a driving tour through Holla Know that roads between the amble east past the Mount Hood 350,000-acre Green Mountain Bend , or communities in Sanpete and Castle National Forest. Take time to stop National Forest. About halfway continue to valleys intersect the drive often, at Crown Point State Park for a through the trip, take a detour for panoramic views. Return to lending good access and egress. breathtaking overview of the Gorge, into , a Arkansas Highway 7 and check From the north, you can reach or stretch your legs at Multnomah rolling forest knitting hardwoods out State Park, off Skyline Drive by way of Utah Falls, which pounds down the side and conifers. Further north, be Arkansas Route 155. Hike to the Highway 50-6; enter the drive at of Larch Mountain. Continue east sure and experience Elmore State 1,800-foot summit to drink in the Tucker Rest Stop, heading south past rich farmland rolling with Park, where you can hike up Mt. views, or stop at Sunrise Point to into Fairview Canyon. orchards of apple, pear and cher- Elmore and climb an abandoned watch the hang gliders on a golden For more information, check ries. On a clear day, you can catch fire tower at the summit to study fall day. www.go-utah.com. d a glimpse of Mount Hood. the fall spectacle. For more information, visit

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