Fabulous Fall! Cross-Canada Color Touring

Golds in the West, brilliant reds in the East – there’s nothing like a sunny fall day.

By Wendy & Rob Lindsay

Spectacular! Vibrant! Invigorating! It’s a clear, sunny fall day in Canada. It’s time to enjoy crisp breezes, new fall sweaters, the fresh crunch of apples, picnics – and to take a drive in the country to see the leaves. From coast to coast, there are fall fairs, farmers’ markets and oodles of scenic drives. We’ve chosen some lesser-known autumn drives and invite you to try those closest to you. And don’t forget your camera!

New Brunswick
Covered bridges of Kings County

The Cabot Trail, along Cape Breton’s shore in Nova Scotia, may be the most popular drive in the Maritime provinces, but another outstanding route offers the grey, weathered wood of covered bridges and autumn colors. New Brunswick has 66 wooden covered bridges, including the Hartland Bridge, billed as the longest in the world (391 metres). But Kings County, in the southern part of the province, has the largest collection of covered wooden bridges – 16 – with most still in use.
The Drive: Leaving the Trans-Canada Highway at Sussex in Kings County, we follow the covered bridge signs to the Salmon River Bridge and the Tranton Bridge, located on Side Road 890. Further along, between Sussex and Peticodiac, 890 winds through lush dairy farm country, the fields a contrast with the flaming colors of the forests.

En route, the Kissing Bridges Gift Shop, located on a farm, is well worth a visit if you are interested in covered wooden bridges. Proprietor Bob Alston knows every bridge in the county, and was instrumental in helping get many of them saved and put on a little touring map – which he hands out for free. Apparently, covered wooden bridges will last for 80 to 100 years, while uncovered bridges begin to rot after only 18 to 20 years. Alston was happy to give directions to nearby Oldfield Bridge, which is featured on Canada’s 125th celebration commemorative quarter. You can circle back to the Trans-Canada or use Alston’s map to hunt down even more covered bridges on a sunny fall afternoon.

Québec
Eastern Townships

The Eastern Townships of Québec encompass approximately 3,100 sq km, hugging the border with Vermont and New Hampshire. In autumn, enjoy a vivid patchwork of green pastures and flaming sugar maple woods nestled in the dazzling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, providing some of the most spectacular fall scenery in Canada. Fortunately, the area also has the densest network of secondary roads in Québec, providing great fall road trips amid dairy farms, lakes, pristine villages, charming country inns, bounteous vineyards and orchards, plus a mix of English and French culture.

The Drive: East of Montréal, we take Highway 104 to Lac-Brome and the elegant Victorian village of Knowlton, which just happened to be holding Duck Days (Le Canard en fête) when we were there, an annual event celebrating the world-famous Brome Lake duck and the area’s cuisine. Scarlet maples contrast with the fine old white houses, and wares from craft and antique shops tumble out onto the street for the festival.

South of Austin, a striking steeple rising above the scarlet foliage turns out to be the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Benoît-du-Lac. Established in 1912 but rebuilt after a fire, the modern buildings look magnificent amid the scarlet and russet of the old maple trees. The modern architecture seems a marked contrast to the age of the ancient order, founded by Saint Benedict before AD 547. Hiking trails on the property give even more views of the magnificent fall colors of this area. Visitors are welcomed at vespers, sung in Gregorian chant that echoes and soars through the abbey church. A basement gift shop sells the Abbey’s famous cheese and cider.
Next, it was on to North Hatley, where we made Manoir Hovey our base for exploring the central townships. Innkeeper Stephen Stafford steers us to the most spectacular view of all! We drive south on Highway 143 to the Dufferin Heights Golf Club. Located on a hilltop, even the view from the parking lot is great, but there’s more. Above the 10th tee, you look out over a vast panorama of undulating scarlet-sprinkled forests and fields, and the blue Appalachian Mountains in the distance. At the club house, we ask for directions to the First and Second World Wars memorial cairn. The road, once visible, is now hidden amidst the trees. Near the cairn is a lookout platform in memory of area pioneers. In the centre of the platform is a marvellous brass map where you simply line up the site with the scenery on the scale model to discover a mountain’s name, its height and the distance away. Even the nearby lakes and rivers are named. It’s a truly unique and useful memorial, with an absolutely splendid view of Quebec’s vibrant fall colors.

Ontario
Wellington and Waterloo Counties

Like Québec and New Brunswick, it is difficult to choose just one location in a large province like Ontario, which has so much gorgeous fall color. But the counties of Wellington and Waterloo offer a cornucopia of fall fairs and festivals, as well as splendid rural scenery.

The fabulous farmers’ markets in Guelph, Kitchener/Waterloo and St. Jacobs offer a great incentive for an early start to a Saturday morning. If you are into antiques, the village of Aberfoyle, just south of Guelph (take exit 299 off Highway 401 west, go north on Highway 46), has the oldest antique/flea market in Canada every Sunday until the end of October. Kitchener/Waterloo (take Highway 85 to 86) also hosts Canada’s Thanksgiving parade as part of its Oktoberfest celebrations, the largest festival of its kind outside of Germany.

It’s fun just to explore the small rural roads with one of the above destinations in mind, passing through picturesque rolling farmland sprinkled with vibrant autumn woodlands, fine old barns and stone buildings. The red maples, russet oaks and yellow poplars that line the country roads invite photo stops. You may even see Old Order Mennonites driving a horse and buggy, just as they did 100 years ago, but respect their wish not to be photographed.

Two of our favorite fall destinations are within an hour of Toronto: Hockley Valley (Airport Rd. north, southwest on Highway 9 to County Road 18) and the narrow country roads near the Forks of the Credit River (Highway 10 north, southwest on Highway 24 or west on Highway 136). Another beautiful drive is the one to the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg (Highway 400 north, west on Highway 25), which displays the largest collection of works by the Group of Seven. Partly situated atop a cliff, the McMichael is artfully designed so you can gaze at paintings and, a few feet away, look out huge windows at vibrant valleys of fall color much like the paintings inside.

Manitoba
Elk and moose bugling

One of the most spectacular autumn drives in Manitoba is through Riding Mountain National Park, north of Brandon. North of Neepawa Regional Road 357 and Highway 10, there is a panoramic view of the prairies as you climb the height of land leading to the park’s southern gate. Within the park, the boreal forest, aspen parkland, deciduous forest, and open grasslands and meadows are part of a 2,978 sq km biosphere reserve. It is also home to a herd of buffalo and numerous other wildlife, large and small, often glimpsed from the road during the fall months (after most of the summer tourists have left).
Each autumn, the park rangers organize a car cavalcade and lead visitors deep into the forests, frequently on roads not normally accessible to the public, to hear rutting moose and elk bellowing. However, you must pre-register since there are a limited number of cars allowed per trip.
Closer to Winnipeg, Oak Hammock Marsh is a popular birding spot in the fall. Hundreds of thousands of migrating birds stop by the award-winning nature centre on their way south. At times, it seems like a grey mist hangs in the air over the fields, but it’s just a huge flock coming in to land in the marsh.

Saskatchewan
History by the river

Between the city of North Battleford and the town of Battleford, the North Saskatchewan River valley is broad and majestic. One of the best fall scenes in Saskatchewan is from the north looking south. The optimum vantage point is from the old stone wall on the Saskatchewan Regional Hospital grounds looking down across the valley to the arched bridges. The silvery bridges used to be the only highway connection between North Battleford and Battleford on the south bank. A new concrete bridge now spans the valley further west, but the view just isn’t the same. And the frail, old bridge will soon be closed to all but hikers and cyclists.
The sun breaks through the clouds and the valley is bathed with color – the yellow of the poplars, red and oranges of the saskatoon, pincherry and chokecherry bushes, and silver highlights of the wolf willow and green spruce. Little wonder that, in 1878, Battleford was chosen as the seat of government for all of the Northwest Territories (then encompassing part of Manitoba, all of Saskatchewan, most of Alberta and all of the Canadian North). However, the confluence of the Battle and North Saskatchewan Rivers, the telegraph lines coming through in 1874 and the North West Mounted Police establishing Fort Battleford in 1877 likely had more to do with the choice than the splendid prairie scenery.

After touring Fort Battleford, the gallery of local Cree artist Allen Sapp and the fascinating Western Development Museum, we head for our lodging at Harvelle House B&B, located on a Clydesdale horse farm south of Battleford. To our delight, it is nestled in the Eagle Hills, affording an impressive panoramic view of the surrounding countryside, with the Battlefords in the distance across the colorful fall patchwork of fields and bluffs.

Alberta
The beaconing foothills

One of many beautiful fall drives in Alberta lies south of Calgary. Take Highway 2 out of the city to 22, driving south through Turner Valley and Back Diamond. At Longview, head west on Highway 541 into Kananaskis Country until you reach Highway 40. From here, you can drive north to the Trans-Canada Highway, then loop back to Calgary.

En route, the prairie becomes rolling foothills and, finally, the Rocky Mountains. The yellow of aspen, poplar and birch mingles with dark green pine, spruce, balsam and cedar. Until a puff of wind carries away its needles, the vibrant orange/yellow tamaracks accent the fabulous fall colors. And, in the distance, the blue mountains beckon until you are surrounded by their grandeur.

British Columbia
Awesome Okanagan Valley

The red, gold and russets that attract fall visitors to the Okanagan Valley are apples, not leaves. Although the foliage may lack the flaming red of the sugar maples of Eastern Canada, the valley compensates with a much longer summer. The senses are rewarded with acres of orchards and more than 50 wineries bringing in the harvest.

The Drive: Many drivers prefer the faster Trans-Canada or the Coquihalla highways, but the most spectacular drive from Vancouver is still the winding Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton through Manning Park. It will bring you into the southern end of the Okanagan Valley, where the lure of gold first brought people to the Princeton and Hedley area. A gold seeker with a different method was outlaw train robber Billy Miner, whose exploits are displayed at the Princeton Museum. Next is the town of Keremeos, the fruit stand capital of Canada.

A little further north, the Okanagan Valley opens out before you, a green ribbon stretching 161 km on either side of Lake Okanagan. Here, fall scenery is unusual. Brown, parched rolling hills are scattered with sagebrush and cactus, but below, where irrigation is plentiful, all is green, with the burnished trees of the orchards and rows of vineyards adding contrast.

Since the introduction of irrigation in the 1800s, fruit-growing flourished. Now, one-half of Canada’s pear and cherry crop, one-third of its apples and one-fifth of its peaches are produced in the valley between Osoyoos and Vernon. More recently, the wine industry has been thriving, and the valley celebrates with seasonal wine festivals. The Fall Wine Festival, with more than 100 events throughout the Okanagan, runs every year for 10 days leading up to the Thanksgiving weekend in October.

To complete the autumn tour, drive north toward Vernon. On a sunny day, the roadside lookout as you approach the city gives a spectacular view of Vernon surrounded by three beautiful lakes – Kalamalka, Swan and Okanagan.