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CNN Live Saturday

Interview with David Dumbar

Aired September 27, 2003 - 12:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY FORTIN, CNN ANCHOR: Mother nature is putting on her spectular fall show. It's an annual event as you know drawing millions of leaf peepers. We were wondering when and where we could see the best of fall foil follage. It happens "National Geographic Adventure Magazine" focuses on fall in its September issue.
One of its editors David Dunbar, is in New York to talk about autumn leaves.

David, I would imagine that timing is everything when it comes to foilage, right?

DAVID DUNBAR, "NATL. GEOGRAPHIC ADVENTURE": That's right. And at adventure magazine we have a special take on fall foil foilage. We feel like you'll get more out of the season, have more fun and have a more intense experience if you get out of your car and get into the woods and on the rivers and lakes.

FORTIN: Let's start with location then. Where do we need to go probably in the next week or so to find the best fal

DUNBAR: Well, there are already leaves turning in the great northern woods of Maine and northern part of New Hampshire and one of the areas we like a lot is in the Great Gulf Wilderness in New Hampshire. There's some some hiking trails there, and there's also a trail we featured in Our june issue of "Adventure" called the co-host trail, which is a new route ruth they developed up there and heads north towards Canada and has some great ridge line views of color. Of course, Vermont is also starting to turn in the northeast kingdom and working its way south. The next few weeks in Vermont are going to be great too.

FORTIN: Well, I'm a New Hampshire native so I will second your opinion. People need to get out of their cars, take a hike and experience this, don't they?

DUNBAR: They sure do. Vermont has some great drives, but it tends to be bumper-to-bumper on the prime weekends. So, it's best to avoid Route 100 or Route 7 and try the secondary roads that head up into the National Forest there in the Green Mountains like Route 12 or Route 14. And there's a great day hike at Harmon Hill and you can climb unto the top and have a great view of Bennington and the southern tier of the Green Mountains.

FORTIN: What makes a good fall foilage season? How do you rate it?

What do you need to make a good colorful leaf season?

DUNBAR: You need toes bright warm days and crisp nights. And what you really don't need is rain and we've had a little bit of it here in the New York area, so that's dampened some of the color. Also, Hurricane Isabel of course, had a -- has had a big impact, of course, in North Carolina. But minimal impact in New England and, of course, in the Midwest, upper Midwest. It uprooted a lot of trees and for some odd reasons the trees left standing down in North Carolina retained their foilage.

FORTIN: Let's talk about southern foilage. For those who don't have time to get out in the next week or two and want to travel in October or November can they find good foilage in the south?

DUNBAR: Yes, they can. As the color moves south you can tap into that say in the Washington and Jeffson National Forest, West of Washington, D.C. And there's great mountain biking in say in the Shannadoa Mountain biking trail or a little farther south as the foilage heads down. You can tap into it on the rivers along the Tennessee and Kentucky border.

FORTIN: Well, you know the Chambers of Commerce are going to love hearing this segment. This is a big money maker for so many regions of the United States. I would imagine you would get some pretty good deals out there but it's going to be crowded?

People need to be prepared for that.

DUNBAR: It is crowded, so that's another good reason at Adventure why we think you should park the car and get out on the trail, on the bike, in the canoe. And there's a great resource actually that you can tap into, it's www.foliagenetwork.com and it has some wonderful maps in there and it tracks leaf -- the leaf retension and when the peak season is. So, you can combine that with the September issue of "National Geographic Adventure," and put the two together. I think it's a combination that's tough to beat.

FORTIN: A lot of good information. David Dunbar of "National Geographic Adventure Magazine," thank you for your time. We hope you enjoy the fall foilage.

DUNBAR: Thanks, Judy.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 27, 2003 - 12:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY FORTIN, CNN ANCHOR: Mother nature is putting on her spectular fall show. It's an annual event as you know drawing millions of leaf peepers. We were wondering when and where we could see the best of fall foil follage. It happens "National Geographic Adventure Magazine" focuses on fall in its September issue.
One of its editors David Dunbar, is in New York to talk about autumn leaves.

David, I would imagine that timing is everything when it comes to foilage, right?

DAVID DUNBAR, "NATL. GEOGRAPHIC ADVENTURE": That's right. And at adventure magazine we have a special take on fall foil foilage. We feel like you'll get more out of the season, have more fun and have a more intense experience if you get out of your car and get into the woods and on the rivers and lakes.

FORTIN: Let's start with location then. Where do we need to go probably in the next week or so to find the best fal

DUNBAR: Well, there are already leaves turning in the great northern woods of Maine and northern part of New Hampshire and one of the areas we like a lot is in the Great Gulf Wilderness in New Hampshire. There's some some hiking trails there, and there's also a trail we featured in Our june issue of "Adventure" called the co-host trail, which is a new route ruth they developed up there and heads north towards Canada and has some great ridge line views of color. Of course, Vermont is also starting to turn in the northeast kingdom and working its way south. The next few weeks in Vermont are going to be great too.

FORTIN: Well, I'm a New Hampshire native so I will second your opinion. People need to get out of their cars, take a hike and experience this, don't they?

DUNBAR: They sure do. Vermont has some great drives, but it tends to be bumper-to-bumper on the prime weekends. So, it's best to avoid Route 100 or Route 7 and try the secondary roads that head up into the National Forest there in the Green Mountains like Route 12 or Route 14. And there's a great day hike at Harmon Hill and you can climb unto the top and have a great view of Bennington and the southern tier of the Green Mountains.

FORTIN: What makes a good fall foilage season? How do you rate it?

What do you need to make a good colorful leaf season?

DUNBAR: You need toes bright warm days and crisp nights. And what you really don't need is rain and we've had a little bit of it here in the New York area, so that's dampened some of the color. Also, Hurricane Isabel of course, had a -- has had a big impact, of course, in North Carolina. But minimal impact in New England and, of course, in the Midwest, upper Midwest. It uprooted a lot of trees and for some odd reasons the trees left standing down in North Carolina retained their foilage.

FORTIN: Let's talk about southern foilage. For those who don't have time to get out in the next week or two and want to travel in October or November can they find good foilage in the south?

DUNBAR: Yes, they can. As the color moves south you can tap into that say in the Washington and Jeffson National Forest, West of Washington, D.C. And there's great mountain biking in say in the Shannadoa Mountain biking trail or a little farther south as the foilage heads down. You can tap into it on the rivers along the Tennessee and Kentucky border.

FORTIN: Well, you know the Chambers of Commerce are going to love hearing this segment. This is a big money maker for so many regions of the United States. I would imagine you would get some pretty good deals out there but it's going to be crowded?

People need to be prepared for that.

DUNBAR: It is crowded, so that's another good reason at Adventure why we think you should park the car and get out on the trail, on the bike, in the canoe. And there's a great resource actually that you can tap into, it's www.foliagenetwork.com and it has some wonderful maps in there and it tracks leaf -- the leaf retension and when the peak season is. So, you can combine that with the September issue of "National Geographic Adventure," and put the two together. I think it's a combination that's tough to beat.

FORTIN: A lot of good information. David Dunbar of "National Geographic Adventure Magazine," thank you for your time. We hope you enjoy the fall foilage.

DUNBAR: Thanks, Judy.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com