There’s no other place quite like Chautauqua County during the fall months. With its rolling hills, numerous New York State forests, overlook parks, and 250 miles of shared-use trails, one could spend an entire weekend exploring the county’s natural beauty and still barely scratch the surface. So, where should you begin, and what can you expect?

For hikers, two of the best places to begin leaf peeping are Chautauqua County’s overlook parks.

Luensman Overview Park, located on Thayer Road outside the Village of Brocton, offers stunning views of Lake Erie and the vineyards along the shoreline. Visitors will find viewing stations and a large pavilion where they can take in the scenery and enjoy lunch. The park also features a one-mile hiking trail that winds through old-growth trees and along Walker Creek. After exploring Luensman, it’s a short drive to the College Lodge hiking trails on Stockton Road.

Erlandson Overview Park, located on Oak Hill Road outside the Village of Frewsburg, offers panoramic views of the surrounding landscape shaped by glacial activity. Informational signs at the viewing stations provide visitors with details about the park’s ecological history. The park also features a 1.5-mile hiking trail that crosses numerous bridges and leads to an additional scenic overlook.

For more ambitious hikers, Chautauqua County’s two Overland Trails provide numerous opportunities for exploration and backcountry adventure.

The Fred J. Cusimano Westside Overland Trail begins at Chautauqua Gorge State Forest outside Mayville and ends in Brokenstraw State Forest outside Panama. The 25-mile trail traverses six New York State forests and includes two lean-tos for camping. One of its most popular sections is the 2.62-mile “Gorge Loop” in Chautauqua Gorge State Forest.

The Earl Cardot Eastside Overland Trail begins in the Canadaway Creek Wildlife Management Area near the Town of Arkwright and ends in Harris Hill State Forest just outside Gerry. The 22-mile trail includes one lean-to for camping and gives hikers opportunities to create different loop routes using the recently updated Overland Trail and the Chautauqua County Equestrian Trail System in Boutwell Hill State Forest.

Chautauqua County also offers an abundance of trails for mountain bikers who love exploring the outdoors during the fall. What makes these mountain bike trails especially appealing is that they connect directly to both of the county’s Overland Trails, opening the door to some truly epic adventures.

Harris Hill Extension, located in Harris Hill State Forest, features 19 miles of mountain bike trails for riders of varying skills and abilities. Beginners can explore “Flo’s Frolic” or “Too Tall Paul,” then continue onto the Eastside Overland Trail. More advanced riders can head to “Myrtle’s Romp,” “Lung Buster,” and “Willy Nilly” before making their way down to the picturesque trail aptly named “The Gut,” which winds along the banks of Folsom Creek. Riders looking for the greatest challenge can explore “Bedlam” and “Goat Boy,” both of which traverse a ridgeline and offer breathtaking views of the ravines and fall foliage.

Whalen Memorial State Forest, located just north of Panama, features roughly nine miles of singletrack trails that also connect to the Westside Overland Trail. Beginners can ride “Amish Buggy,” a newer machine-built trail. Advanced riders can rip down “Blue Heron” or test their skills on “Thursday” and “Friday Afternoons.” The trails are excellent in the fall, but riders should watch for rock gardens and roots that can become hidden beneath fallen leaves.

When I’m feeling truly adventurous and have the energy for an epic mountain bike ride, I’ll park my car on Eggleston Hill Road at Whalen Memorial State Forest. I like to begin by riding the singletrack before heading north on the Westside Overland Trail to Sherman, where I’ll connect with Chautauqua Rails to Trails and continue to the “Gorge Loop.” From there, I’ll head south on the Westside Overland Trail, travel across private property where the trail is permitted, arrive at Mount Pleasant State Forest, and stop for lunch at the lean-to. The ride then takes me across a few more miles of private property before I arrive back at Whalen Memorial State Forest.

This roughly 40-mile adventure gives me an excellent workout while also giving me the chance to reconnect with nature and with myself.

Other places to explore during the fall months include the Audubon Community Nature Center, Panama Rocks Scenic Park, Long Point State Park, Lake Erie State Park, Cassadaga Lake Walkway, Dunkirk Waterfront Trail, the Welch Trail, and Chautauqua Rails to Trails, among many others.

You can plan your next Chautauqua County adventure at chqtrails.org, where you’ll find a countywide interactive trails map.

No matter where you go, adventure awaits in Chautauqua County!

Images courtesy of Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth.

I find it often the case that some of the most remarkable aspects of the natural world are things we take for granted. Little details dotted across a landscape that you likely don’t think about all too much, yet are responsible for supporting your very existence.

For example, I doubt you have ever stopped to wonder what lives inside a clump of moss. There is nothing wrong with that, but I can promise that with a little time, I could make that few square inches of plant and soil beneath your feet appear to be an entirely different planet. With a little more time I could show how different our planet would be without their ancestors. Spoiler: we would not exist without them.

Conversely, there are plenty of things that we as a species observe and notice with such specificity it seems absurd to say that they are taken for granted. The changing of the days, a more frequent cool breeze interrupting summer’s progress, chilly nights announcing the beginning of fall, and certainly the seasonal show stopper—when the leaves begin to change.

Perhaps it was a bit obvious where I was heading there. Yet, I maintain that the changes happening outside your door right now are far more fascinating than you are likely aware and, once you are aware, they are even more wonderful. To prove this, however, we will have to take a step back and look more broadly at the process.

The leaves changing colors is colloquially what people assume trees do when they are preparing for winter, but this is actually one of the last steps in the process.

Long before you have even noticed autumn’s arrival, the trees around you have already built the infrastructure they need for spring next year. Preparation for the coming winter and the following spring begins towards the end of summer and beginning of fall in many species, well before the leaves change color. One step in this process is to make new leaves before the old ones fall off.

Yes, the trees outside your door have all of the leaves that they will have next spring, right now. The buds grown along their branches shield and protect their delicate yet fully formed leaves (flowers sometimes too!). Under a microscope you could gently open up the buds and count the number of leaves that will come out of that exact spot on the branch. They are just very tiny and dormant, waiting to be filled up with water as the sap starts to flow in the spring time.

From roughly this point forward the tree does not grow much. They are still active, but the energy they harness from the sun is being used to close up shop for the winter. Leaves, relatively speaking, are fairly cheap to produce for the tree. Yet they are filled up with incredibly important molecular machines and nutrients—resources far too valuable to let fall to the forest floor. So, the tree packs them up in a way and moves them out of the old leaves. If they did not, then the materials would be inaccessible until the leaves decompose and become part of the soil again.

What you are watching happen every fall is the slow and deliberate closing of the factories that provide you oxygen to breathe, shade to sit beneath, or food to eat. There is an innate beauty in the process and almost a sense of forethought if you think about it. The photosynthetic apparatus of the plant—a most precious of resources to our species and theirs—is methodically moved out of tired leaves and stowed for the winter. New buildings ready to receive them are already built and in position, waiting to be redeployed in the spring. Trees are hardly wasteful organisms.

This is what happens as the green fades. As you probably know, the green comes from a group of molecules called chlorophylls and is what the plant uses to begin capturing energy from the sun. However, it is hardly the only compound giving the leaf its color. Other molecules called carotenoids, the same group that makes carrots orange, start to become visible to us and generally have a yellowish color. The carotenoids were there all year and actually take part in many functions across the leaf, you just couldn’t see them with the chlorophyll in the way. There is, however, a neat at home experiment you can do to see the colors inside the leaf before fall, but I will save that for a different time.

But what about the red hues? The reds and purples of fall are not present during the growing season and are actually being produced as part of the whole process in some species. The color comes from a group of molecules called the anthocyanins. Making this molecule requires the tree to spend energy which certainly begs the questions of why bother if the leaves are just going to fall off? What, if any, advantage does infusing the leaves with a red pigment give the tree?

There are quite a few competing hypotheses out there and we cannot say for certain which is true. Some researchers think this is a sun screen of sorts, others think it is a signal to insects or other organisms to stay away, and more hypotheses exist beyond those too.

Perhaps that is frustrating to you, but as a scientist this is normal. It is immensely powerful to be able to explain any process in the natural world as a result of scientific exploration. That same power, gained from intentional and methodical research and study, also defines the limits of our knowledge.

So, now you know what makes up the color of the leaves in the fall, and can continue to be curious about what good it does for the tree and why only some species turn red. I have yet to tell you how the trees perceive the environment and ‘know’ to start the process, what the evergreens do during this time, or even how the leaves fall off the trees. Stories for another time.

As you drive past forests appearing to glow on the hillside during this spectacular time of year I want you to remember that there is so much more going on than meets the eye, far more than I can fit in this short article. These are organisms that you and I depend on for our everyday existence, and that we know both so much and so little about. I can promise that outside of autumn, the stories of our local plants and ecosystems are just as fascinating and worth spending your time studying. Hopefully, in a small way, I have piqued your curiosity enough to care about plants just a little more. If I have, you are more than welcome to reach out via email or drop by campus and I will try my best to answer your questions. If I haven’t I will hopefully try again, but for now, just don’t take the trees for granted.

Dr. Lanning is a professor of geology and environmental science at SUNY Fredonia. His research bridges the biological (plant ecology) and physical (hydrology) sciences, focusing primarily on understanding the way plants respond to environmental stressors like drought and where their water resources come from. He is involved in many projects across the county that leverage his professional expertise in both fields to help make a difference in the communities SUNY Fredonia serves. A warm invitation is extended to community members and leaders interested in exploring future partnerships.