Fiery Fall Foliage Photos from America's National Parks

SCA members share their best leaf-peeping shots

ABOVE: Mt. Rainier from the Alta Vista Trail by Caroline Meleedy, SCA NPS Centennial Interpretive Media Intern at Mt. Rainier National Park. Credit Caroline Meleedy/NPS

Whether or not you’re rightly placed in time and space to witness it, vibrant yellows, oranges, and reds sweep across America’s deciduous regions every single September and October, briefly and brilliantly laurelling our days with hues too fiery to ignore.

Most people observe fall foliage season from the towns and cities they call home, where it’s certainly visible, but in somewhat muted form. Only a lucky few find their way to the sparsely populated, densely forested areas where it manifests in full technicolor glory.

Some of the best such areas are located within America’s national and state parks, where forests grow freely, and well-kempt trails lead hikers to sweeping scenic overlooks. Many of SCA’s members are fortunate enough to work and even live in the most ideally situated of these parks, and thus get to witness the full seasonal transition from verdant to vibrant to bare and brown. We asked some of them if they’d share that enviable experience by sending us photos, and they generously obliged.

BEHOLD: Photos taken by SCA members of the autumn leaves visible from their “offices” and “backyards” in Adirondack State Park and Mt. Rainier, Shenandoah, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks.