Autumn is a great season to visit Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.  The roads are quiet and the days are still warm and sunny, making the Region perfect for a relaxed “leaf peeping” driving tour to see the gradually changing colours of trees.   With national parks, mountains and many harvest festival events to visit, the Capital Region USA is the ideal destination for an October holiday.

Maryland Mountain Experience

The Catoctin Mountains of western Maryland form a 50 mile long section of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the hardwood trees that grow on their flanks create a wonderful array of stunning colours every autumn as the temperatures cool.  Catoctin Mountain Park and Cunningham Falls State Park are the perfect places to walk amongst the trees and experience the change of season first hand.

25 miles of hiking trails wind though both Catoctin Mountain Park and Cunningham Falls State Park, offering a variety of experiences ranging from easy to strenuous, many leading to outstanding scenic vistas and the roads of Catoctin Mountain Park offer scenic drives under the tree canopy.

During October each year, National Park Service Rangers conduct guided ½ mile walks, teaching the secrets of autumn colour in the eastern hardwood forest.  The walks take one hour and are appropriate for all ages.  For more details of dates and times of the guided walks go to www.nps.gov/cato .

Cunningham Falls State Park is 32 miles from Catoctin Mountain Park, linked by the “Journey Though Hallowed Ground Byway” which takes visitors past verdant farmland and historic sites.  Here the Cunningham Falls, known locally as McAffee Falls, are well worth a visit as at 78 feet they are the longest cascade in the state.  www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/cunningham.asp  

As well as hiking, both the parks offer great opportunities for wildlife watching, fly-fishing, canoeing, picnicking and even swimming in the lakes and rivers.  It is also possible to stay in the parks, either in a tent, a mobile home or by renting one of the cabins at Camp Misty Mount that are available until the end of October each year.

Blue Ridge Parkway Celebrates 75^th Anniversary

The famous Blue Ridge Mountains, a chain within the Appalachian Mountain range, continues south from Maryland down into Virginia.  This is the home of the Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile route known as “America’s Favourite Drive”.  While always beautiful, the Parkway, which celebrates its 75^th anniversary this year, is most vibrant in the autumn, when “leaf peepers” can marvel at the foliage’s flaming hues of scarlet, gold and orange.

Just 75 miles from Washington, DC, exploration of Shenandoah starts with the Skyline Drive which leads to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The roads take visitors along the crest of the mountains, through woods and past spectacular vistas, where eagles hang in the air so close that you feel you could reach out and touch them.

The Blue Ridge Mountains were so-named because the airborne water generated by the trees creates a faint haze, giving the mountains a blue tinge when seen from a distance.   Tens of thousands of creatures make their homes in the park, from black bear to tiny aquatic insects in the mountain streams.  Hardwood forests dominate the park and remnants of boreal forests prove that continental glaciers were once close by.

During the autumn, the deciduous forest becomes a blaze of brilliant colour that changes on almost a daily basis – the cooler the night, the deeper the colours become, until the leaves fall from the trees in late October/November. 

The Park is also a wonderful place to view another of nature’s wonders – the night sky.  Being so elevated and away from the light and air pollution of cities, means there is a great chance to see many of the 2,500 stars visible to the unaided eye on a dark, moonless and cloudless night.

 www.nps.gov/shen  www.blueridgeparkway75.org

 Harvest-Time at Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon, originally the home of George Washington, is just a 30 minute drive from the centre of Washington, DC and is a “must see” destination for all visitors to the USA’s capital city.  During the autumn each year, a variety of events and festivals are staged including the Fall Wine Festival & Sunset Tours and Fall Harvest Family Days.

The farm where Washington and his family lived was called the “Mansion House Farm”. This is the part of the plantation that visitors see today. Washington developed the property’s 500 acres to create a fitting setting for a country gentleman. He designed the grounds to include a deep border of woods, rolling meadows, serpentine walkways, a pleasure garden, a kitchen garden, and groves of trees. Between the Mansion and the shores of the Potomac River lay an extensive park. 

Today, Mount Vernon, as the house is now called, hosts a rain-or-shine celebration of the history of the Virginia wine industry on the east lawn, overlooking that same river.  The Fall Wine Festival & Sunset Tour is held this year from 1 to 3 October from 6 to 9pm.  At the adult-only event, participants sample wines from award-winning Virginia wineries, learned about the successes and failures of early wine endeavours in the State, enjoy live music and meet “George Washington” on the Mansion’s Piazza.

Guests can also experience an evening tour of the house and the rarely-open basement cellar vaults where George Washington stored his wine.   Picnics can be ordered in advance, to be enjoyed whilst listening to music and sampling the wine.  Tickets go on sale on 1^st September, costing $30 each. www.mountvernon.org

Later in October Fall Harvest Family Days takes place: as the name suggests a great occasion for the whole family.   Held at the four acre George Washington: Pioneer Famer sit,  Autumn activities on offer include wagon rides, wheat-treading in the 16-sided barn, 18^th century dancing displays, a straw bale maze, blacksmith demonstrations, bee keeping demonstrations, apple-roasting, corn husk doll demonstrations and early-American games and music.   All these great experiences are included in the admission ticket for the Estate at $15 per adult and $7 per child (7 – 11 years).  Children under 5 are admitted free.

Potomac River sightseeing cruises are half-price for festival goers courtesy of Spirit Cruises and Potomac Riverboat Company. www.entertainmentcruises.com