Scenic drives are a peaceful pastime

As summer turns into fall, the northwoods region shows nature at its most magnificent. The Heartland Lakes area includes several routes for a leisurely drive to watch the changing colors.

The Lake Country Scenic Byway is a stretch of State Hwy. 34 from Detroit Lakes to Walker. The 88-mile route includes a spur on U.S. Hwy. 71 north to Itasca State Park.

Traveling east, hardwoods give way to conifers near Snellman, with birches and aspens showing their fall colors first. At the right time of the season, visitors will see warm yellows, oranges and reds mixed with tall evergreen spires.

Detroit Lakes promotes a Fall Color Tour whose northern route travels through Park Rapids and up to Itasca State Park before looping back.

Another “Fall in the Prairie” route loops through the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, passing by blue lakes cruised by trumpeter swans.

Forest roads and trails

David Schotzko with DNR Parks and Trails in Bemidji recommends taking a scenic drive through either the Paul Bunyan or Two Inlets State Forest.

The forest roads there are “narrow and winding,” he said, “and very, very colorful, when the colors start turning.”

While trucks or Jeeps may be needed for the minimum-maintenance roads, Schotzko said the system forest roads can be traveled by any highway-licensed vehicle.

There are also non-car routes for taking in the scenery, such as the Round River ATV Trail and the Martineau Motorcycle Trail in the Paul Bunyan State Forest, the Forest Riders ATV Trail in the Two Inlets State Forest, an equestrian trail in the Huntersville State Forest and canoeing the Crow Wing River State Water Trail, starting on 11th Crow Wing Lake in Akeley.

For sheer beauty, there’s the Thorpe Tower overlook, north of Nevis. “You can see forever,” Schotzko said.

Meanwhile, the Smoky Hills State Forest has drivable trails showing ridges and swales vibrant with maple and pine.

Itasca and beyond

At Itasca State Park, interpretive naturalist Connie Cox said the time to start seeing fall colors is mid- to late August, close to the ground with bracken ferns turning camel-tan and red maples starting to change color early.

Scenic routes through the park include a 16-mile loop, including Wilderness Drive and Main Park Drive, that can take 40 minutes to an hour to travel. Cox also suggested climbing to Aiton Heights Fire Tower for a panoramic view.

Moving into September, Cox said, basswoods turn a soft lemon yellow, red maples bright red, sugar maples yellow-orange and ironwoods add yellow hues to the forested hills, while in the wetlands and along the ponds and lakes, ash trees turn a lovely shade of yellow.

Later waves of color

For those sticking around later in the fall, Cox said, a second wave of color begins from late September into early October.

“We’ll start seeing the paper birches turning a rich, deep, gold color,” she said. “You might start seeing some of the aspens changing, with the trembling aspens throwing in a few hints of yellow. Bigtooth aspens have kind of an orangish yellow.”

The third color stage features the tamaracks in late October, Cox said, while the beauties of fall go far beyond the trees.

“The beautiful asters will be purple,” she said. “You’ll have the lovely goldenrods with their bright yellow flowers. You’ll see the wild rice ripening in late August on Lake Itasca, and with that, you can also enjoy the waterfowl that are moving through” – such as blue-winged teal, wood ducks, mallards and Canada geese, paying in their migration to feed on the wild rice.