This is why I love Canada in autumn

by Mika Iwasaki
(Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan)

If I stay in Canada in October, I will absolutely go to forests and parks to see the landscapes with colored leaves. For Japanese (including me), it is one of the most pleasant things to visit the sights of trees with colored leaves in this season. That is why I am attracted to Canada, especially in autumn.

Every year in the middle of fall, leaves of broadleaf trees such as maple trees turn red or orange or yellow all at once in the eastern area of Canada.

I heard that forests with colored leaves spread up to Laurentian Highlands and Algonquin Provincial Park. Some people who have seen this landscape described that it was so beautiful that they were at a loss for words.

Prince Edward Islands, which was the stage for the story “Anne of the Green Gables,” is well-known for its wonderful landscape of colored leaves, too.

In the story of Anne, it was described that Anne and her intimate friend, Diana, go to school tripping together through the hills and fields aflame with red and gold in the morning. When I read the description, I felt the breathtaking beauty of Nature in Canada's autumn.

By the way, since the Middle Ages, outings to see fall colors in temples and shrines or on hills and fields is called “Momijigari” in Japan (literal translation: "hunting maple tree red leaves").

It seems that there is no practice like “Momijigari” in foreign countries, even in Canada.

I like landscapes with fall colors, but I regret that all the famous sights of trees with colored leaves are very crowded every autumn.

So I would like to enjoy the majestic forests of Canada's fall colors sometime to my heart's content, but without any crowds.