Fall foliage

NEW YORK -- There's nothing prettier than the canopies and carpets of colored leaves of autumn in New England. Connoisseurs of the season fill the region's bed-and-breakfasts; lines form at roadside stands promising hot cider, and crowds jostle at pick-your-own pumpkin fields and apple orchards.

But don't ask someone from the Midwest, South or Southwest if they're headed northeast this time of year. Regional pride aside, many states outside New England -- from New Mexico to Michigan, from Georgia to West Virginia, from Arkansas to North Carolina, and places in between -- have legitimate bragging rights on local foliage.

"If you think the only place you're going to see pretty colors is in New Hampshire, that's just not true," said Dan Kaercher, editor of Midwest Living Magazine.

Here are recommendations for places to experience the colors of fall, all over the map.

South and Mid-Atlantic

The good news is, the South is filled with spectacular autumn scenery. The bad news is, you'll have plenty of company.

"The Blue Ridge Parkway is bumper to bumper," says Karen Lingo, senior writer for Southern Living Magazine. "People head to the mountains for fall color."

Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge in Virginia aren't the only busy spots. Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park gets a million visitors each October.

Slightly less crowded but just as beautiful, Lingo says, are the Gratz Park neighborhood in Lexington, Ky.; and Asheville, N.C. (check out the famed Biltmore Inn). Also popular are the Cherokee National Forest, which stretches from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Bristol along the North Carolina border; and for metro Atlanta residents, Chattahoochee Oconee Forest's Brasstown Bald, which is Georgia's highest peak at 4,784 feet.

In the Mid-Atlantic region, Lingo recommends Wilmington, Del. "I remember walking down a lane at the Hegley Museum there, a lane of gingko trees," she says, "and it was just paved in butter."

West Virginia's byways and B&Bs typically fill with leaf-peepers from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Last year, scenic Highway in Pocahontas County, along Route 39, blazed early in the season, while Interstate 77 from Parkersburg to Charleston was still colorful by late October. The overlook at Coopers Rock State Forest in Monongalia County is breathtaking, and many localities have festivals throughout the fall.

Midwest

Autumn hotspots on Kaercher's list: In Missouri, from Hannibal to St. Louis; the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, including the Keweenaw Peninsula jutting into Lake Superior, the Porcupine Mountains; the rugged woods of Tahquamenon Falls State Park; and the Root River Valley, in Lainesboro, Minn., where you'll find wonderful hiking and biking. Also in Minnesota, just east of St. Paul, is the St. Croix River Valley, near Stillwater. "The most pristine river you'll ever see is there, and the banks are just covered with trees," said Kaercher.

In Indiana, "I've never seen such beautiful hardwood trees as in Brown County State Park and Hoosier National Forest," Kaercher says.

In Ohio's Holmes County, look for picturesque scenes of the harvest. "They have a large Amish population; it's a mix of trees and fields," Kaercher says. "You might see a farmer with a big team of horses." The state's southeast quadrant is more ruggedly beautiful, including portions of Appalachia.

Popular driving routes in Ohio include state Route 303 from Hinckley Township in Medina County, to Shalersville Township in Portage County; Interstate 77 from Canton south to Marietta, and state Route 39 from Loudonville east to Sugarcreek.

Scotty Johnston, who's been organizing fall foliage tours for 40 years for Tauck World Discovery, is also a fan of Michigan's Upper Peninsula; he recommends Mackinac Island, with its famed Grand Hotel.

West and Southwest

Think autumn and you might not think New Mexico. But maybe you should, according to Johnston.

"New Mexico is misunderstood. It's more than desert and cactus," he says. "There is gorgeous fall foliage between Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos."

The Sandia Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains both offer opportunities for leaf-peepers, as do the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Just don't expect to find the red and apricot hues of the Northeast's maples and oaks. "It's more of a homogenous type of foliage color being golds, yellows and a light beige," Johnston said.

The golden aspen, sometimes referred to as the quaking or trembling aspen, along with cottonwoods are responsible for the region's lemony landscapes.

The Ozarks in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, as well as Arkansas' Ouachita Mountains are renowned backdrops for the season's palette.

Lingo, of Southern Living magazine, has two specific recommendations for the area: Beavers Bend Resort Park, on a lake near Broken Bow, Okla., provides "some of the best fall color I've seen," and Eureka Springs, Ark., with its famed Crescent Hotel.

Northeast

Maine's coast is picture-perfect in autumn -- sparkling blue water, rocky cliffs and colorful foliage punctuated by evergreens. Western Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York's Hudson Valley offer gorgeous leaves against a backdrop of funky collegetowns, historic villages, and pick-your-own orchards. New York's Adirondacks are more rustic, while the Finger Lakes are known for wineries as well as natural beauty.

In New Hampshire, a half-million people typically jam the White Mountains and other parts of the state over Columbus Day weekend. Many still head to Franconia Notch even though its granite icon, the Old Man of the Mountain, is gone.

In Connecticut, popular trips include Litchfield County; Route 169 in eastern Connecticut; Mystic Seaport; Stonington Village; Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden, where a tower provides a 360-degree panorama; and the Connecticut River Valley, where foliage cruises are offered.

Yankee Magazine's Web site, which is packed with information on autumn in New England, offers readymade itineraries for driving tours in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Western Massachusetts, Northeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. Among them: Route 302, from Wells River on the Vermont-New Hampshire border, heading towards Barre, Vt. Try the maple cream pie at the P&H Truck Stop in Wells River; spend the night at the Historic Smugglers Notch Inn on Route 108 in Jeffersonville, Vt.

Timing is key

The higher the altitude, the sooner the leaves turn. "When you see foliage turning in the Adirondacks, or Lake Placid, N.Y., or Stowe, Vt., it's usually early in the season -- late September, early October," Johnston says. "Nothing's happened in Boston yet, but by another two weeks, the highlights have moved to a lower altitude and places like Deerfield (in Western Massachusetts) are a blaze of color while Lake Placid and Stowe are now muted. The coast, meanwhile, is yet to come."

Some attractions in the Northeast -- historic homes, small museums, lake lodges -- close for the season by mid-October, so visit early. But many parts of the South and Southwest will be brightly colored to the end of October and into early November. Make hotel reservations before you go; even cheap motels in obscure towns fill up in popular destinations like New York's Hudson Valley.