The 6-step process to leaf peeping in New England
To begin with, when I refer to it as a 6-step process to leaf peeping, you might be wondering what I mean. Each year, I feel that we “all” go through these “phases.” For all of you “leaf peepers,” this process may start just before you arrive and continues until you leave. For me, it typically begins between December and January, and ends in late November. There’s no rest for the wicked! 🤣.
Sometimes this process starts with an opportunity, and inspiration follows to turn it into a fall foliage trip. For others, they are more like the swallows returning to Capistrano; they follow a rhythmic, annual calling to return to their favorite New England haunts at the exact same time, year after year, to witness the magic of the changing leaves.
The six-step process for a leaf peeper
- Anticipation
- Color Awareness
- First Color Break test
- The Joy of Finding Peak
- Disbelief and Denial
- Acceptance
The following steps occur at different times for different people. They can even overlap or regress to an earlier stage and combine two steps into one.
See if any of these steps apply to you during your fall foliage travels.
1-Anticipation
Anticipation is key. It usually sets in around mid to late summer, as back-to-school advertisements arrive. We may see on social media some loony bird (like Jeff Foliage) posting on his New England Fall Foliage page that he found a few leaves or even a branch of red leaves, and we start thinking about cooler temps, apple picking, harvest festivals, and Halloween.
Early autumn colors often result from stressed trees. Factors such as overly wet roots, drought, or insect damage can lead to these premature colors. Inevitably, the questions start coming in, “Should I be changing my reservations?”
I anticipate autumn colors every year, starting in February with my fall foliage forecast. I check climate predictions for what NOAA says their data says that September and October will look like. I also look at spring and summer temperatures, last winter’s snowfall, and insect activity. All of these factors contribute to or detract from the beautiful autumn colors.
Once August arrives, I find myself moving into the second step in the 6-step process to leaf peeping.
2-Color Awareness (alertness, or panic)
For lack of a better term, I’m calling this second step color awareness. Whenever I leave the house, I tend to go into a heightened state of alertness starting in August. I’ll be driving down the road, and I might see a bit of red color, which might only be a stop sign peeking through the green foliage.
This heightened state usually leads to a sub-step that I call – neck pain! This sub-step is caused by my head whipping back and forth as I catch a bit of color in my peripheral vision. It doesn’t usually cause the third step until mid-September, depending on where I’m driving at the time.
3-First (real) Color – Brake Test
Real color, meaning an entire row of trees, or maybe a combination of underbrush, some birch trees, and some maple saplings. I’m NOT talking about a scenic view, but just C4SC (Color For(4) the Sake of Color).
As you can guess, with this third step, millions of other leaf peepers and I should have bumper stickers that say “Beware! I brake for fall foliage“. This is not for amusement; it is a serious warning to the locals who are tailgating us. (Note* You should ALWAYS pull over and let them by) [Read my Do’s and Don’ts of leaf peeping.]
This is our attempt to warn them to be careful or even go around us because sooner or later a leaf peeper will see a sugar maple (insert your favorite tree here) and slam their foot so hard on the brake that the rear end of the car will leap into the air. If the tailgating offender isn’t careful, they will neatly slide to a stop underneath the leaf peeper’s bumper.
Let’s move on to everyone’s favorite part of the 6-step process to leaf peeping, Peak!
4-The Joy of Finding Peak, my favorite step of the 6-step process to leaf peeping
First off, Peak is a myth; for millions each year, they won’t be happy unless they see a complete hillside or valley dappled in fall colors. To me, what is important is sharing the journey with someone special. Am I disappointed if I don’t find Peak?
Sure, (Lisa has seen me pout), but I try to think about what we did find. Sometimes it’s a new covered bridge, or a scenic village green, or a maple creemee stand… Read about Maple creemee here.
Most everybody has a limited time frame to visit New England, and depending on the year, you may need more time. But one thing is true: “Peak is in the eye of the beholder”. What is peak for you may not be peak for me.
For the more jaded of us (like myself), it isn’t until I can turn 360 degrees that everywhere I turn, all I can see are trees of various hues of red, orange, brown, and gold (with green as a counterpoint). At this point, I will usually succumb to the same heart skipping beat and the simple joy known only to children on Christmas day. (pick your holiday of choice)
I won’t say it takes peak fall foliage for me to feel this way. Sometimes it’s nothing more than a tough day, not finding any fall foliage to blog about or photograph, when I suddenly come upon an incredibly Red Maple. A maple that’s so red, against an impossibly blue sky, that it takes my breath away. Moments like these bring such joy that I honestly can’t describe the feeling. (But I’ll keep trying)
As we move into late October, I start moving into the next step…
5-Disbelief and Denial
Denial [-noun] refusal to recognize or acknowledge, disbelief in facing the reality of a fact.
For me, denial takes a while to set in since I live in New England and I’m able to continue the search far into November. As I age, though, I start to come to terms with my denial in early November.
I will usually tell all of you to “Enjoy what you found” because it won’t last. When it comes right down to it, I’m just like you. There are days when I wish the joy of finding all this beautiful color would continue, but I know it can’t.
This is when disbelief and denial slap me in the face… The realization that my words are coming back to haunt me. It forces me to accept or at least acknowledge that the season is fading and soon I’ll be at the final step…
6-Acceptance, the final step of the 6-step process to leaf peeping
The only way I can survive my denial is by realizing that I’ve taken a lot of beautiful images that I now have to go through and catalog. Yankee Magazine did an article on me a few years back, saying, “Jeff foliage memorializes fall one leaf at a time”. It’s in this way that I deal with the sadness and denial with the knowledge that in a little over 300 days it will return for another first day of Autumn.
Jeff Foliage Folger
Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage
Enjoyable and humorous…..nice one, Jeff…..
Thanks, what can I say… It’s my season of denial… I’m heading out to macro shoot the remaining fall colors…