Find fall’s veins of gold by leafing through the Internet

William Cullen Bryant, the 18th Century poet and longtime editor of the New York Evening Post, once called autumn “the year’s last, loveliest smile.” Hard to argue with that sentiment, as the colors of fall seem to bring one last weather-related happy place before winter forces many of us indoors.

Catching the leaves at their peak brilliance used to require skill, luck and a fair bit of instinct, but now a high-speed Internet connection and a few targeted Web sites will do the trick. Peruse some or all of the following Web sites before deciding when and where to chase the colors this season.

www.tripadvisor.com--It’s no surprise that one of the premier travel-research destinations on the Web also offers a potpourri of useful information regarding the changing of the leaves. Start by entering “autumn” or “fall foliage” in the TripAdvisor search box. From there you can slice and dice the results to get information on everything from viewing leaves and places to stay in Michigan to fall colors in Austria. If you can’t find what you’re after with a simple search, head over to the Forums portion of the site and post a query there. Of course, if you’re also looking for a place to stay amid the splendor, few sites can rival TripAdvisor’s thorough and unbiased hotel reviews.

www.autumn-pic

tures.com--For those short on time or motivation to hit the road in search of foliage this year, Autumn-Pictures provides a next-best option (albeit far less striking than the real thing). The photographs posted at the site are magnificent and may just inspire you to take a peek outside before the leaves are all on the ground. You can even pick up a few pointers on capturing the deep reds and bright oranges with your digital camera in the Autumn-Pictures forum.

www.superiortrails.com/fall-foliage-tour.html--Midwesterners, particularly those based in Illinois, often head north into Wisconsin to see the changing colors. Greater Lake Superior serves as an ideal region from which to enjoy the season, and SuperiorTrails

.com is the place to go to plan a fall getaway to this part of the country. Start by scanning the list of scenic drives in the middle of the home page. Once you’ve decided on a drive, scroll down a bit farther on the home page to review the 2008 Fall Foliage Report and decide when to begin your trip.

www.yankeefoliage.com--If the Eastern U.S. is in your plans at any point this autumn, a half-hour or so at YankeeFoliage is worth your time. A logical starting point at the site is the Peak Map link, which pulls up an interactive map tied to a clickable calendar. Simply click on one or more dates that you expect to be in New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, etc., and a color-coded map appears highlighting the historical state of fall colors across New England during that period. And for those skeptics who assume the colors at any given time are similar across an entire region, a recent search using Oct. 18 as the visit date shows that southern Maine is typically at its peak on that date while the curtains have long since closed on the leaf show in the northern part of the state.

Now that you’ve placed the odds in your favor, don’t blow it at the last minute by failing to ensure that all is going according to plan during your intended viewing dates--click on the Daily Color link and study the continuously updated conditions that are overlaid against an interactive map of the area.

YankeeFoliage “Ambassadors,” a volunteer network of leaf-peepers stationed strategically across the Northeast, report back to headquarters regularly on the conditions out their front door. The Foliage Forum and Scenic Drives portions of the site also merit at least a bit of attention.

www.foliagenetwork

.com--As the name suggests, the FoliageNetwork has amassed a team of more than 500 leaf spotters across the nation, all of whom regularly submit reports in September, October and early November. Reports are compiled, analyzed and posted at the site every Wednesday and Saturday during the viewing season.

dmgreen11@yahoo.com