The glorious colors of autumn are on full display at Lost Lake in Putnam County, N.Y., October 2000. The lake is 34 acres in size and is located near the New York-Connecticut border.

“Every fall, visitors on the foliage trail swarm strongholds like the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Appalachians of North Carolina to witness the multicolored splendor of a seasonal ritual older than history,” The Times wrote. “Much of the appeal of those places lies in the vastness of their vistas, the blankets of deciduous trees that stretch as far as the eye can see.

“But nature’s ‘secret’ lies not only in her ‘patience,’ as Emerson once wrote, but also in her caprice: the odd cliff or canyon, tree or shrub that seems so wonderfully out of place. Across the country, microclimates created by differences in geology and wind and sun exposure hold hidden stashes of stunning fall colors that stand out from their surroundings.”