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by Petra Dvorak

Walk with me: October in the Cheat River Canyon. Fall color is now approaching peak in the lower elevations of NC-WV (by comparison, the high Alleghenies were at peak about a month ago). While always memorable, on certain cold, overcast days, the forest's disparate colors, enabled by a volatile mix of carotenoids and anthocyanins, seem to coalesce into a single, radiant being, whose final act of self-immolation lingers in memory long after the embers have burned away. Contributing yellows and golds to the fire are yellow birch, sweet birch, witch-hazel, American beech, tulip poplar, northern spicebush, striped maple (moosewood), and several species of hickory. Reds and burgundies come courtesy of red maple, sourwood, sumac, dogwood, and various oaks. Sugar maple, big-tooth aspen, yellow buckey, serviceberry, and sassafras contribute variable color, from yellow to vivid orange. But my favorite of all is the wine-colored foliage of mapleleaf viburnum, which pairs exquisitely with lustrous purple-black berries.