USA Today Names the Laurel Highlands a Top Fall Foliage Destination, Again
USA Today ranked the Laurel Highlands sixth in the country for fall colors, the seventh straight year the region has cracked the top 10.
USA Today has gone and told the country what we already knew: the Laurel Highlands is one of the best places in America to watch the leaves turn.
The paper’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards ranked the region sixth in the country for fall colors, and the photo they ran to prove it was taken looking down Ohiopyle Road, trees lit up on both sides like the mountain was showing off on purpose. USA Today pointed to the Great Allegheny Passage itself as part of the draw, noting that autumn colors peak in this region of the Allegheny Mountains around mid-October, with the trail network giving visitors a reason to actually get out and look instead of just driving past with the windows up.
This is not a fluke. It is the seventh year running that the Laurel Highlands or a spot inside it has cracked the top 10 in a USA Today fall foliage contest. Whatever the judges are looking for, Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland counties keep finding a way to have it.
The timing does not hurt either. USA Today’s own writeup namechecks Confluence PumpkinFest, running October 2 through 4 with the Queen Contest, craft and food vendors, a 5K, and the Sunday parade that closes it out. A little farther up the road, Seven Springs’ Autumnfest is up for USA Today’s Best Fall Festival award on its own, and Delmont’s Apple ‘n Arts Festival and Fort Ligonier Days round out the region’s October calendar.
For anyone planning a leaf-peeping trip along the GAP, the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources publishes a weekly fall foliage report starting late September, and the smart money says mornings are best, when river fog still hangs low around Ohiopyle and Confluence and the light comes in soft and low across the water.
None of this is news to anyone who has already lived through a few Octobers up here. It is just nice, once in a while, for the rest of the country to notice what we get to see out the kitchen window.