October splendor
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
ABOVE: Mingo Creek County Park is known for its covered bridges, which this time of year look stunning set against fall foliage. The leaves put on a show earlier this week, and peak colors are expected in Washington County in the next couple weeks. RIGHT: Colorful leaves float peacefully in Mingo Creek Tuesday afternoon, while the colors of fall reflect in the serene waters.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The leaves in Washington Park are beginning to turn warm shades of yellow and orange. Washington County’s fall foliage is starting to change, and will peak within the next couple weeks.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Bella Bella rolls on the ground – the better to see the changing leaves – during a walk through Washington Park Tuesday afternoon while her fur mom, Marlene Wilson, looks on laughing. “She wanted out, so what better place?” said Wilson, of Washington.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Just beyond the railroad tracks in Eighty Four, leaves fade from green to pretty shades of red, orange and yellow.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Striking fall foliage welcomes folks to the Finleyville entrance of Mingo Creek County Park, where locals spent time earlier this week exercising and playing beneath lovely changing leaves.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
From the Mingo Creek County Park Observatory, leaf peepers enjoy a sweeping view of fall foliage. The colors of fall emerged for a photo op Tuesday afternoon.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Colorful leaves float peacefully in Mingo Creek Tuesday afternoon, while the colors of fall reflect in the serene waters.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Friends bike beneath fall foliage Tuesday afternoon. Groups of women and solo riders enjoyed scenic cruises through Mingo Creek County Park Tuesday afternoon, when the warm sunshine and a cloudless sky brought temperatures into the high 60s.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Leaves in Canonsburg put on a color show Tuesday afternoon.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Even horses enjoyed the warm weather and colorful scenes of fall foliage this week.
Every year, when September ends, social media is saturated in cozy doodles paired artfully with a sentiment made famous by Canadian writer L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Shirley: “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
This week, Southwestern Pennsylvanians are glad to live in an area where there is diverse and long-lasting fall foliage.
According to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Fayette County’s fall foliage is nearing best colors, and the leaves in Washington and Greene counties are starting to turn. It is indeed that magical time of year, when even on the grayest days, burning red and rich orange leaves add color to life, evoke awe and inspire childlike wonder.
If you’ve got time to cruise along back roads or meander through area parks this weekend, you’re certain to be met with lovely hues. But for those unable to go leaf peeping, enjoy these scenes from around Washington County, captured earlier this week.