Is it just me, or is it something that happens to everyone in the fall? We exhale.
The mornings get cooler. The light turns golden. Leaves start to change at the highest elevations, and before long, color is spilling down the mountainsides. Fall doesn’t arrive here all at once. It ripples across our mountains, ridge by ridge, creating a fleeting show that never seems to last quite long enough.
Which is precisely why we leaf peepers chase it.
In this issue of Highland Outdoors, we follow the fall line across some of our favorite corners of Appalachia. Our photography feature on page 26 takes us from Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands down to Pendleton County, West Virginia. Then we head east along the C&O Canal near Cumberland, Maryland, south to the mountains of Bath and Highland counties, Virginia, and finally to the heights of Canaan Valley.. Different landscapes and elevations—but they are all reminders that, when autumn puts on a show around here, you’d better pay attention.
Of course, looking at the scenery is only one way to experience it. In this issue, on page 42, we also head into the Mon Forest Towns, where a growing network of mountain gravel routes offers one of the best ways to explore the Monongahela National Forest. These are the kinds of trails that make you want to keep going just to see what’s around the next bend. Add crisp air, changing leaves, and a little mud on your tires, and you’ve got a pretty good argument for experiencing fall on two wheels.
But if four wheels are more your speed, we head south to the Hatfield–McCoy Trails, where hundreds of miles of trails wind through some of West Virginia’s most rugged terrain. There’s something about seeing these mountains from an ATV that changes your perspective. You’ll discover places you’d probably never find from the highway. It’s a different kind of fall drive, and one that proves the best scenic routes don’t always come with pavement.
We also turn our attention to vultures. I admit, I’ve probably done my fair share of hating on them. They definitely have a reputation problem. But our story on page 36 makes a pretty good case for giving these misunderstood birds a little more respect. And then there are pawpaws, a fruit that tastes surprisingly tropical for something growing wild in these hills. Both have been part of this landscape far longer than we have, and both deserve a closer look.
That may be what I love most about fall. It makes us slow down and notice things. It makes us pull off the side of the road to take a photograph. It turns an ordinary drive into a treasure hunt.
So consider this issue your invitation to get outside and follow the fall line wherever it takes you. Just don’t wait too long. The leaves, as always, are on their own schedule.
Meet you in the mountains,
