Season of Color

Autumn

By Joe Earle

It’s one of the great pleasures that comes from living in north Georgia: Every fall, the leaves on the trees change colors. The reds, golds, yellows and oranges of the leaves can look so spectacular that during the peak of their annual display, tens of thousands of people flock to the Georgia mountains to check out the brightly colored landscape.

The state park system has learned to expect big crowds during “leaf season,” which generally runs from the first of October to midNovember.

“You can imagine that in summer, the state parks are very busy,” said Jack Becker, manager of Vogel State Park near Blairsville. “Leaf season is just as busy.”

Vogel, located near the Chattahoochee National Forest, attracted 25,461 visitors last October, down a bit from the 41,658 visiting during Continued on page 24