Projo Fitness Blog

Sunday on the Burdickville stretch of the Pawcatuck River

Quality leaf peeping doesn't require a long drive to the Berkshires.

For outdoor enthusiasts like Jim Cole, the author of Paddling Connecticut and Rhode Island, southern New England offers some spectacular foliage with little adventures close to home.

"It's supposed to be an excellent color year," said Scott Ruhren, a botanist and the senior director of conservation at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island. "That's usually true when you have a year with plenty of rainfall. The plants need the water to make the pigments.When you have a drought, the leaves will fall early."

Those vivid colors serve a purpose in photosynthesis, a plant's ability to produce nourishing sugar using carbon dioxide, water, and light energy. "Green leaves absorb red and blue out of the visible spectrum," Ruhren said. "The other colors collect other wave lengths of light to add to the photosynthetic productivity of the plant."

Jim Cole, a Charlestown resident, has canoed many of southern New England's great rivers for his book, published earlier this year. Last weekend, he paddled the Pawcatuck from Bradford to Potter Hill. This week, he may canoe the Blackstone, his autumn favorite, especially the stretch between Cumberland and Central Falls.

"It's really colorful," he said, "with a big variety of trees."

"My first time down this river on a mid-October day in the late 1980s surprised me because it was so scenic and rustic looking," he wrote. "The fall display of colors is spectacular."

Cole rates the stretch as easy to moderate with mostly smooth water, and two portages.

"I haven't been there yet this season," he said. "I think I'll go this weekend."

 Tags  foliage outdoors paddling RI

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