10 Reasons Fall is the Perfect Adventure Season
The end of summer does not have to mean the end of adventure. In fact, fall is arguably the best adventure season. Here’s why:
Fewer bugs. Adventure should be challenging, but it doesn’t have be torturous. Crisp fall mornings and cool evenings are ideal for enjoying small, pre- or post-work weekday adventures bug-free.
Fewer people. In urban areas, it’s much easier to find solitude at easily accessible local campgrounds if you’re up for a quick overnight.
Better weather. A mini bicycle tour is so much more pleasant in sweater-weather than in sweltering mid-summer heat.
Unpredictable weather. If you only have a couple of hours to spare, challenges of weather can turn a brief outing into an adventure.
Food tastes better. Imagine how amazing your food will taste on a chilly evening, especially if you cook or heat it over open fire! And if you happen to spend the night outdoors, you will wake up to incomparable coffee.
Fall colors. Midwestern landscape offers fantastic opportunities for viewing beautiful fall colors: red sumac, yellow birches, silvery cottonwoods, maples of all hues, not to mention the sunset tones of the uniquely midwestern fall prairie.
Less daylight. Early dusk means there’s more opportunity to turn a weekday bike ride into night-time adventure. Extend your post-work commute and head down an unlit bike trail with only your own circle of light.
Fall holidays. Columbus Day and Veteran’s Day are more low-key than summer holidays, and may give you an opportunity to fit in a two-three day trip without fighting summertime crowds. The weekend after Thanksgiving is a perfect time to escape into the wilderness, away from the shopping mall crowd.
Easier to find a place. With fewer events, fewer people reserving picnic groves in the forest preserves and parks, it’s easier to find a destination for your mini-adventure.
Extend the care-free mood of summer. Do you ever look forward to summer and plan all the great things you’re going to do, only to get to the end of August and find that you didn’t really have the time? Take the time now. A slow roll into a fall evening, a brief camping outing, a long ride to the end of some train line that will bring you back home in the evening can give you the relaxed feeling you missed this summer.