Now is the time is now to plan for an autumn getaway

        Plan ahead if you intend to travel and enjoy early fall color. Heading north where fall colors arrive earlier than here at home has the advantage of extending your enjoyment of the fall color season.
        It’s a great bonus for those of us who love fall…a way to savor what many consider to be the very best time of the natural year.
        Even here at home, the first signs that fall is on its way come with the late summer blooming of our meadow and prairie wildflowers. Blazing-star, coneflowers and the various sunflowers are already or soon will be splashing their cheery colors of whites, yellows, and purples all over our open natural spaces. Enjoy the color parade in your local Metroparks Toledo, Wood County Parks, or consider exploring some Black Swamp Conservancy lands that offer public access.
        The list of northern destinations with excellent fall color is long and varied. Michigan’s upper peninsula is an obvious choice that’s within reasonable driving distance. Cross the Mackinac Bridge and explore, or you can hop the ferry – leave your car behind – from Mackinac City or St. Ignace to Mackinac Island.
        North Shore Lake Superior requires more effort – it’s about six hours of driving to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario -- and finding accommodations outside of the Sault can be more challenging, but the rewards can be considerable. Get advance reservations and ride the Agawa Canyon Tour Train. It’s a great 10-hour scenic adventure into wilderness that’s very popular in the fall, so get your tickets soon.
        Not far to the north, on the big lake near Wawa, is Lake Superior Provincial Park. It’s well worth the two-hour drive for wonderfully rugged scenery with the bonus of viewing (until mid-September) the Agawa Rock Pictographs, 35 red ochre pictures on a rock face that served as sort of a message board for lake travelers hundreds of years ago. The highlight is an image of the mythical dragon-like great lynx Mishipeshu. Legend says it’s responsible for conjuring up Lake Superior’s notoriously rough waters.
        Those who are well-prepared and want to face the Canadian wilderness in raw form can don hiking gear, cinch up their backpacks and hit the rugged and wonderfully scenic 35-mile Coastal Hiking Trail at Pukaskwa National Park, another two-and-a-half hours of driving along the lakeshore.
        There’s plenty of great scenery and color all along the south shore of Lake Superior, too. Opportunities are bountiful at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, about two hours of driving north and east out of St Ignace. Three more hours of driving find you at Porcupine Mountains State Wilderness Park.
        Highly recommended for those looking for a spectacular combination of scenery and accommodations is Minnesota’s North Shore. It’s a 12-hour drive from here to Two Harbors, Minnesota, following a route through Chicago and then north through Wisconsin. If you have the time, the trip is richly rewarding. Five extraordinary state parks on the Lake Superior Shore feature roaring rivers and waterfalls that plunge over dramatic cliffs and into chasms that feed Superior.
        If none of these locations inspire an early fall trip, think Bruce Peninsula and Tobermory, Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula, the Adirondacks, Vermont, and New Hampshire’s Northern Kingdom.
        As the calendar progresses, think progressively further south to locations in Michigan’s lower peninsula and right here in Ohio.            
        Even though our daytime temps are still hovering in the 80s and 90s, fall will be here before we know it. Heck, most schools will be getting started soon.