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Pursuing the hues

Here's how to squeeze six weeks of color out of fall.

As anyone who’s ever planned a fall trip knows, peak leaf color can be elusive.

Betting on a burst of spectacular color is like plugging nickels into a slot machine. To win, all of the figures have to line up: the right number of warm days and cool nights, the right levels of sugar produced, the right amounts of moisture.

“When I was less experienced at this, I would make bold predictions, and invariably I was wrong,’’ says Bob Sprague, naturalist at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. “So now I stick to saying, ‘It’ll be the same as it ever was.’ ’’

For tips, subscribe to weekly color reports from Minnesota and Wisconsin; Michigan sends out a fall-color report, but you can get it only by first signing up for the monthly newsletter on its poky site. The Minnesota state parks also post handy fall-color information.

The only other way to increase your odds of seeing great color is by placing more bets — that is, by moving around.

In this region, we’ve got at least six weeks of color. Late September is peak in the inland forests — Chippewa and Superior national forests in Minnesota, Chequamegon and Nicolet in Wisconsin, Ottawa and Hiawatha in the Upper Peninsula — and it comes a week later along the shores of Lake Superior.

Leaves turn later the farther south you go, except on such peninsulas as Door County, where peak may come as late as the third weekend in October, and other areas wrapped by the heat-retaining waters of Lake Michigan.

In Milwaukee, trees can remain a glowing yellow into the second weekend of November. In southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, oaks turn warm shades of gold and brown and often keep their leaves well into November; I’ve seen pleasing pockets of late color on the ridges around Galena and along the Wisconsin River valley.

State and national forests have the largest diversity of species, so their display of color lasts longer. Around Cable, Wis., in the middle of Chequamegon National Forest, I’ve seen solid color from late September to the middle of October, when the tamaracks stage their last hurrah.

Even if you’re too early, you’ll see lots of scarlet sumac, and you'll catch prairie grasses and wildflowers at peak — blazing star, aster, blue vervain, goldenrod. If you're too late, you still might see lots of vivid red in the forest, if it’s been a good year for mountain-ash berries.

Here's a week-by-week guide to travel during the fall-color season:

Third week of September: Expect peak color in north-central Minnesota. Many people think the North Shore has Minnesota's best color, but it's actually better in the hardwood forests of lakes country, around Brainerd, Park Rapids, Bemidji and Grand Rapids.

See it from one of Minnesota's scenic byways, such as the 54-mile Paul Bunyan north of Brainerd or the 47-mile Edge of the Wilderness out of Grand Rapids. Wisconsin's Rustic Roads also are fun to explore; for fall color, try the 12-mile RR 60 between Boulder Junction and Star Lake.

In northeast Minnesota, drive the Gunflint Trail and the inland forests of the North Shore, especially between Caribou and Sawbill trails around Lutsen, where there are many sugar maples.

Fourth week of September: This is when serious color starts showing up in northern inland forests. It’ll be a good time to go waterfall-hunting in Nicolet National Forest in northeast Wisconsin, around Florence and Marinette.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan has perhaps the best color of all; the inland trees should be vivid in the Porcupines and in Ottawa National Forest east of Ironwood. Color is a good bet on Minnesota’s North Shore; go along on one of the Superior Hiking Trail Association’s guided hikes.

First week of October: The marquee spots for fall color should hit peak this week. In the northwestern Wisconsin town of Cable, stop by the chamber of commerce to pick up a map of three fall-color driving routes on marked roads. It’s also a great place to hike; try the Forest Lodge Nature Trail, the North Country National Scenic Trail past Rainbow and Porcupine lakes and the trail to Morgan Falls and St. Peter’s Dome.

In Michigan's Porcupines, the Escarpment Trail from Lake of the Clouds should be gorgeous. Along the Presque Isle River on the other side of the park, old-growth hemlocks will provide a dark-green counterpoint to turning trees around Manabezho, Manido and Nawadaha falls.

Second week of October: Door County should hit peak this week, with the most color along the Green Bay side of the peninsula and along inland roads. Minnesota state parks along the St. Croix River — Wild River, Interstate, William O’Brien — should still look bright.

Along the Mississippi, Great River Bluffs State Park near Winona, Minn., has five overlooks; try a hike to Kings Bluff on Kings Bluff Nature Trail. On the Wisconsin side, bird-watchers should get an eyeful by going bicycling on the Great River State Trail, which starts in Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge and heads south to Onalaska through the the bottomlands of the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

And northeast Iowa should be beautiful, as usual. Climb the bluffs above Marquette to Effigy Mounds National Monument, where 11 miles of hiking trails wind through oak and aspen forest on the rim of the bluff, affording spectacular views of the Mississippi River Valley. The wheelchair-accessible Boardwalk Trail goes to the Yellow River bridge and has good views of fall color to the north and south.

Not far south, past McGregor, Guttenberg has a mile-long city park lined with maples that turn a brilliant orange.

Third week October: For nice displays, try Door County and the Mississippi River valley between Iowa and southwest Wisconsin.

On hiking trails, color will be on the forest floor instead of overhead. That makes one trail in particular even more scenic when leaves fall: the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, which winds 1,000 miles through Wisconsin. Without the full forest canopy and underbrush, hikers can see what the Wisconsin Glacier left when it retreated: a lumpy quilt of conical hills, high ridges and long hillocks called kames, drumlins and eskers.

Stretches go through some of Wisconsin’s most scenic areas: the Blue Hills near Rice Lake, Chequamegon National Forest in Taylor County (see Tracing the Ice Age Trail), the Baraboo Hills near Wisconsin Dells and the Kettle Moraine east of Madison.

By now, the colors will be mostly yellows. But one year on the third weekend in October, I found fantastic color at Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin that included a blanket of reds and oranges, and the northern entrance was enveloped in yellows so bright I needed sunglasses.

Fourth week of October: Color is iffy this week, though it’s my favorite time to go hiking: Views are better when leaves are down, the crowds are gone and the rifle season for deer hasn’t yet started. Try hiking along the North Shore, where mountain-ash berries often provide bright dots of color, or go bicycling on the Oak Leaf Trail along Milwaukee's river and lakefront, where willows turn golden two weeks later than other trees.

It’s also a good time to get in an early shopping trip to scenic areas. Try the Amana Colonies in southeast Iowa, Galena in northwest Illinois or Cedarburg, just north of Milwaukee.

And in the Wisconsin Dells, Dells Boat Tours take passengers past the famous sandstone formations until the end of October.

Last updated on December 28, 2008