Color show: State forests, lakes, cabins offer access to changing leaves

By Jen Thomas
Special to the Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE October 04, 2008 09:55 pm

— After riding the rails in Southern Indiana for 46 years, Alan Barnett says there’s no place he’d rather be when the leaves change color.
“There are lots of maple, tulip poplar and red and white oak,” said Barnett, a conductor and tour guide on the French Lick Scenic Railway. “And one of my favorites is the sumac, which turns a brilliant red.”
Passengers on Barnett’s route find themselves surrounded by color. The rails curve through and around woodlands, into ravines and along rolling terrain to deliver spectacular views of distant hills and up-close encounters with multicolored forests. At one point, the line literally bores through the landscape with a tunnel that’s seven football fields long.
All along the way, you can glimpse wild turkeys strutting across yellow-brown pastureland, deer emerging from the bonfire-colored tree line and other birds and wildlife enjoying the brisk air. As the bright-blue sky accentuates the reds, oranges and yellows, you’ll understand why people come from across the nation to witness autumn in Southern Indiana.
Of course, rail isn’t your only leaf-gazing option in Indiana. You also can take in the fall grandeur by car, foot, horseback, bike and even boat.
That’s right: Head a few miles south of French Lick, to Patoka Lake, and you just might find floating to be the best way to view the leaves. Just off Indiana 145, Patoka Lake offers 8,800 acres of water that locals claim is so clean you can drink from it.
With a shoreline that’s protected from development and dozens of fingers of water reaching into the woods, you’ll find countless and continuous quiet spots to enjoy a kaleidoscope of color.
“Most people think of the lake in the summertime, but a houseboat is a great place to check out the fall color,” said Jeff Dukes, owner of Hoosier Hills Marina. Hoosier Hills has Indiana’s largest fleet of luxury rental houseboats with boats that sleep up to 14 people.
For those who aren’t comfortable piloting a large houseboat, the floating cabins at Patoka Lake Marina offer a more stationary front-row seat. Bring your own boat or rent a fishing boat or pontoon, and you can dock just a few feet from your cabin’s front door. And then you’ve got full access to the lake’s color show.
“You can beach the bow of a pontoon just about anywhere and see nothing but bright yellow, orange, red and violet along with the white and pink of the dogwoods,” says Kerry Lane, President of Gilligan’s Boats. “It’s great because you get the added bonus of bald eagles, turkey and deer.”
Even floating in the middle of the lake puts plenty of critters within reach. Lane says fishermen have great luck angling for crappie, small- and largemouth bass and stripers that can weigh as much as 20 pounds.
For more water and wildlife, head east on Indiana 64 to Marengo Cave. Along the way, you’ll pass walls of Beech Maple. You can then paddle your way down the Blue River in a canoe and check out the Sycamores along the shore.
“It’s incredible because you’re sitting low and the trees tower above, arching gracefully over you and the river,” says Carol Groves, member of the Crawford County Tourism Board.
While the leaves are turning various vibrant colors, visitors are usually surprised to notice the Blue River actually turns an interesting green in the fall.
“As the temperatures drop, you lose the algae content and you see more of the minerals in the spring-fed water and the limestone subsurface takes on that opaque jade tone,” says Bob Sautelle, property manager of O’Bannon Woods State Park.
He suggests cruising south on Indiana 66 to Leavenworth. That’s where you’ll find the starting point of most Ohio River excursions and his personal favorite way to view fall foliage.
“I love to go out in a power boat because that stretch of the Ohio River is one of the most remote and undeveloped,” says Sautelle. “We have bluffs, true cliff faces, natural stone escarpments covered with forest and very little development. There are eagle nests, osprey, great fishing and a lot of neat towns you can access by boat like Derby, Magnet and Rome.”
And for the grand leaf-looking buffet, head east on Indiana 62 through the Harrison-Crawford State Forest and O’Bannon Woods State Park. Turn south on Indiana 462 to find the main entrance of the park. There, you’ll discover spectacular bluffs and horseback vistas looking over the Ohio River Valley, the Blue River Valley and Indian Creek.
Hikers will love the 30-mile adventure hikes that have three-sided Adirondack style shelters along the way overlooking the river valleys. Bicyclists will find plenty of on-road and off-road options, as many of the parks, wilderness areas and communities throughout Southern Indiana offer scenic roads, paved trails and rugged paths for their enjoyment. And serious shutterbugs won’t be able to resist the picture-perfect vistas scattered among the brilliant colors of all the trees.
Regardless of how they get there, Barnett bets most people will find not only color but also a little relaxation among the hills of Southern Indiana. “I leave the fast-paced world behind and look out the window and appreciate beautiful limestone rock cuts made by workers 100 years ago as they built the railroad,” he says, “It’s like taking a step back in time.”
Fall color in Southern Indiana is expected to peak this year in mid-October. For those who might like a little drama with their color, Barnett recommends choosing the French Lick Scenic Railway’s “train robbery” excursion. On special weekends in the fall, a gang of outlaws invades with the hope of robbing the train, sparking a simulated gunfight between the bandits and local marshal and his men. This year, the robbery train ventures out during the weekend of Oct. 25 and 26.

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