Maples are Turning...

As I've hiked all over the Gore Mountain region in recent days, my eyes have been studying the foliage of deciduous trees. I can't help myself, I'm a leaf nut. Some trees are already changing color, and each day there are more leaves showing signs of losing their deep green hues. Does this mean that the peak foliage season will arrive early this year?

Predicting the peak--that approximately 10-12 day period of time when a region's foliage is its most colorful--is impossible to achieve with any accuracy this early. Too many variables influence the timing--wet or dry conditions in September, windstorms, air temperatures, not to mention the overall weather picture of the entire growing season, to name only a few.

Nevertheless, it is possible to say that because there is scattered color already as we enter the second week of September, the red maples and sugar maples will be progressively turning in the days and weeks ahead. Consequently, there will be a fair number of trees brightening up the forest for hikers to gawk at by the weekend of the 16th-17th of September, and a splendid array by the next weekend, the 23rd-24th (although not peak). That's as far out as I'll stick my neck today.