The science of fall color — and why this high ridge lights up ahead of the valleys below.
Since you've likely come for the color, here's what's happening in those leaves — and why this ridge is such a good place to catch it. All summer the leaves are green with chlorophyll, the stuff that turns sunlight into food for the tree. When the days shorten and the nights turn cold, the tree stops making chlorophyll and starts to shut down for winter — and as the green drains away, it uncovers the other colors that were hiding underneath all along: the yellows and oranges, and in the maples, brand-new reds the tree cooks up in the crisp fall air.
And here's the ridge's trick: up this high, autumn arrives early. It's colder up here, and colder sooner, so the trees on High Point start turning a week or two ahead of the lowlands. So you can drive up and catch peak color on the ridge while the valleys below are still green — and then watch the color pour downhill over the following weeks. High places turn first. That's why the leaf-peepers climb.
Photo: vastateparksstaff · CC BY 2.0
