Fall in America is short, loud, and best watched from a lakeshore. Between late September and mid-October, maples, birches and oaks flare up around hundreds of lakes across the country — and the reflections on still water give you the show twice. Islands has pulled together ten of the best, and a few are well off the usual New England circuit.

Take Spooner Lake, Nevada. Most people blast past it on the way to Lake Tahoe, but this small reservoir in Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park has a gentle 2.5-mile loop trail threading golden aspens, without Tahoe's crowds. Farther north in Alaska, Eklutna Lake turns yellow as early as late August; the 13-mile lakeside trail in Chugach State Park sits just an hour from Anchorage, and early mornings bring mirror-flat water and mountain mist.

Classic leaf-peeping country holds its own. Moosehead Lake — Maine's largest — pairs sugar maples, birch and beech with the option of hiking a mountain or booking a seaplane tour for a bird's-eye view. Vermont's Lake Willoughby, wedged between the cliffs of Mount Pisgah and Mount Hor in the Northeast Kingdom, looks almost fjord-like, with a 20-mile stretch of Route 5A running along the shore. And New York's Finger Lakes deliver eleven lakes in one trip: there's a dedicated 'Colors of the Season' driving itinerary, views from Carolabarb Park over Canandaigua Lake, and riesling at lakeside wineries when the light goes golden.

There are options for boaters and campers too. Georgia's Lake Lanier was ranked the best lake in the country for foliage views in a Boatbooker study — 38,000 acres of water with Don Carter State Park's campsites for sunrise and sunset viewing. Lake Norman near Charlotte is an easy kayak-and-weekend option, with colour peaking later, from late October into early November. Geneva Lake in Wisconsin runs vintage boat tours past scarlet oaks and aspens, Flathead Lake in Montana glows with golden larches against the Mission and Swan mountains, and Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park caps it all with snow-dusted peaks behind golden aspens — aim for mid-September to early October there.

The practical upshot: foliage season varies wildly by latitude and altitude, so pick your lake to match your dates — Alaska and Wyoming in September, Vermont and Maine through early October, Georgia and North Carolina into November. Water is the underrated viewing platform; a rental kayak or a boat tour beats a crowded roadside pull-off almost anywhere on this list.