Outside Telluride on a hike toward Mt. Sneffels, the sun filters through a canopy of golden leaves. Already snow shrouds the distant peaks. New England is different, ablaze with reds and purples . Cold night air has trapped sugar in the leaves. Anthocyanins, the red pigments that color plums, form from the sugar, creating the magic of the northeastern autumn.
Sugar maples turn a brilliant orange red.
Sassafras, dogwood, sweetgum, black tupelo, and oak turn scarlet, flushed with anthocyanins. And the carotenoids which turned Colorado gold are also present, in the birch, hickory, poplar and ash. With the varied species, New England offers up natural pyschedilia. Mountain gold in the Rockies and natural pyschedelia in New England. When the days are clear and brilliant and suddenly you've needed a sweater every night, go explore.