CYBER SCOUT; Reds and Yellows On the Screen and on the Trees By BOB TEDESCHI Behind football and baseball, leaf watching is perhaps the most popular fall spectator sport, but it involves jostling for prime viewing position. And with each passing autumn, those with Internet connections have an increasing edge over their unwired counterparts in finding the best leaf-gazing spots at the best times. Kaia Monroe, a Brooklyn resident who divides her time between ”freelance teaching” and secretarial work at a Manhattan ad agency, used the Web last fall to execute that most difficult of autumnal tricks: finding a place where the leaves were nearly at their multichromatic peak, and where she could enjoy almost complete solitude. Ms. Monroe, a South Dakota native who had never made a leaf-watching excursion in her five years in New York, said she was searching for destinations she could reach without a car. A friend suggested traveling to upstate New York, then pointed her to EscapeMaker.com, a site specializing in information about weekend getaways in the eastern United States. There she found information about various towns, including New Paltz, in the Hudson Valley. From there, Ms. Monroe found a bed-and-breakfast in the town center, information on hiking and rock climbing areas, bike rentals and winery tours — all of which she relied on during a Wednesday-through-Friday visit. On the biking trails especially, she said, she was totally alone. ”The only sound was the crunch of the leaves under my wheels,” she said. ”It was fantastic.” EscapeMaker.com is a good source for autumn travel near New York City. It includes many useful links, like those for portal sites devoted to wine tours. (See the Special Interests link at the bottom of each page.) Caylin Sanders, EscapeMaker’s president, said the site had until recently focused on
CYBER SCOUT; Reds and Yellows On the Screen and on the Trees By BOB TEDESCHI Behind football and baseball, leaf watching is perhaps the most popular fall spectator sport, but it involves jostling for prime viewing position. And with each passing autumn, those with Internet connections have an increasing edge over their unwired counterparts in finding the best leaf-gazing spots at the best times. Kaia Monroe, a Brooklyn resident who divides her time between ”freelance
