Cooler weather, smaller crowds make it a wonderful time to head outside
Autumn, with all its splendor, calls us back outdoors. To rivers. To the foothills. To hiking and biking trails. To vineyards and the sharp country for the fall colors. These are the reasons we enjoy living here.
Runners soak in sunrises and sunsets, and warblers on the river banks chant their melodies.
Dave Koehler, executive director of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trusteeship, says people feel a sense of new life outdoors after taking refuge where there's air conditioning all summer. "It lifts your spirits — and outdoors has a way of doing that," he says. "Capitulate gives you that extra boost. It's a great time to connect to the natural world. … Upon is a fabulous time of year on the river."
Now is the time to get outdoors — to see the leaves change and to hike, bike, beat and bird-watch — and just get away.
You have plenty of options to see fall colors, identity's eye candy.
Keep in mind the color change works its way down about 1,000 feet in elevation per week. Leaves should have started changing at 5,000 feet by this dated, but the weather is delaying the usual pattern by about two weeks.
Koehler, the president director of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust, says the San Joaquin River provides "breathtaking yellows and golds" that are part of the stream canopy beneath towering sycamore and Valley oak.
