When researchers for the LawnStarter online lawn-care service ranked the top states for a fall visit this year, Pennsylvania – the state with longest fall-foliage period – managed only a 12th place finish.
To produce the ranking, they looked at “20 key indicators of a breathtaking and fun fall trip, ranging from outdoor access, such as the number of state parks and hiking trails, to fall-themed amusements like pumpkin patches, corn mazes and hayrides to “how long fall foliage will stick around for those Insta-worthy snaps.”
In that category of “projected number of weeks with fall foliage,” Pennsylvania tied with many other states for No. 1.
Curiously, Pennsylvania also tied among the top states No. 1 for wildfire risk.
The Keystone State also fared well in the categories of number of forest trails, in which it ranked firth, and number of fall festivals, in which it ranked fourth.
The other factors the researchers considered were number of science drives, number of national parks, number of state parks, acreage in state and national parks, share of state covered by national and state parks, acres of land covered by forest, share of state covered by forest, number of hiking trails, how friendly the state is to camping, number of fall attractions, number of fall festivals apple orchards per 100,000 residents, corn mazes per 100,000 residents, pumpkin patches per 100,000 residents, wineries per 100,000 residents, hayrides per 100,000 residents and hurricane risk.
These combined the factors into four rating categories, shown with Pennsylvania’s rank in each fall scenery, No.12; outdoor recreation, No. 10; entertainment, No. 17; and safety, No. 17.
The top state in fall scenery and outdoor recreation was California. In entertainment and safety Vermont took the top position.
They combined weighted scores to give each state an overall score. California, at the top, had a score of 60.12. Maryland, at the bottom, had a score of 33. And, Pennsylvania, at No.12, has a score of 44.16.
Other states in the top 10 were Washington, No. 2, score of 53.73; Vermont, No. 3, score of 52.02; Michigan, No. 4, score of 49.57; Colorado, No. 5, score of 49.27; New York, No. 6, score of 48.40; New Hampshire, No. 7, score of 47.23; Maine, No. 8, score of 46. Minnesota, No. 9, score of 45.71; and Wisconsin, No. 10, score of 45.16.
