The road winds through colorful foliage in Evans Notch, near the Maine border with New Hampshire. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Maine is a living, breathing, geography text book. This time of year it’s a full-color text book, to boot.

Whether you want to explore Maine’s mountains, rivers, coast or rolling farmland, there’s a foliage route for you. Many are just a couple hours from Portland, with quaint towns and places to get picnic provisions along the way.

It’s a good chance to see different landscapes and explore Maine’s scenic byways, including the ones that are officially designated as such. Here are some suggestions for routes that’ll teach you about Maine’s geography. And there will be a quiz.

If you don’t usually do a foliage drive, be advised this is the year for it. Foliage experts say the combination of sunshine and rainfall we’ve had is likely to create a blazing display of reds, yellows and oranges this fall.

Before heading out, it’s smart to check the state’s weekly comprehensive foliage report, at MaineFoliage.com. Based on information from spotters all over Maine, it divides the state into seven regions and rates the color in each one, from very low to peak. Last week, conditions were high in northern Maine and moderate to low in the rest of the state. The same website site also has information on various routes and things to do along the way.

Sunshine lights up a ridge of trees while a higher ridge stays in shadow in the Baldface-Royce Range on the Maine/New Hampshire border. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH

There are two great foliage drives in the state’s western mountains, just a couple hours or so from Portland. Grafton Notch Scenic Byway, north of Bethel, travels more than 20 miles of wooded road to the New Hampshire border, with views of 3,812-foot Grafton Notch. There are several areas to stop along Route 26, if you want to see some impressive natural features, including 23-foot Screw Auger Falls and the 40-foot Mother Walker Falls. There’s also a picnic area.

Just a little south of there is scenic Evans Notch, in the White Mountain National Forest. Start in Fryeburg on Route 113 north and follow it to Gilead. There’s a scenic overlook about halfway through the 30-mile drive to park and enjoy the view.

Fall colors emerge along Route 137 in the Kennebec County town of China in mid-September. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

FIELDS OF DREAMS 

Seeing an apple orchard or farm field ringed with bright foliage is not only beautiful, but practical. You can stop along your drive to pick your own apples or pumpkins and try assorted treats, like apple cider doughnuts. A great place to do that kind of drive is the inland part of York County, with several farms and orchards and gently rolling hills.

There’s Libby & Son U-Picks in Limerick, which was voted the No. 1 apple orchard in the country last year in a USA Today poll and has live music and food trucks on weekends. Brackett’s Orchards in nearby Limington has been a family farm since the 1780s. It also has pumpkins, hayrides, doughnuts and other baked goods. McDougal Orchards in Springvale has wagon rides, a corn maze and Capt. Jack’s Donut Shack.

You could take Route 25, heading west from Portland for about an hour to the Limerick/Limington area. From there, Route 11 south will take you on a scenic half-hour drive to Springvale.

Fall colors surround a barn on Smith Farm Road off West Bethel Road in West Bethel last year. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

RIVER RUN

Explore the foliage along the very top of Maine, by driving the St. John Valley/Fish River National Scenic Byway. It runs for some 129 miles along the border between Maine and Canada and along Route 11 between Fort Kent and Portage Lake. Driving the whole route, you pass through Allagash, Fort Kent, Frenchville, Van Buren and other towns important in Acadian history and culture. The Fish River portion takes you past Eagle Lake, for a taste of lakeshore foliage.

Another foliage trek along a Maine river involves following the Kennebec, north of Skowhegan to the Canadian border, along the Old Canada Road Scenic Byway. You can start at Robbins Hill Scenic Overlook and Visitors Center in Solon, two hours north of Portland, and follow Route 201 for 78 miles. There are pastoral views of woods and wide open spaces, as well as historic markers, information kiosks and scenic pullouts at Attean Overlook and Lake Parlin.

Route 201 near Wyman Lake, can be part of a foliage route following the Kennebec River. Photo courtesy of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

THE MOST COAST 

A dramatic coastal foliage route is the Schoodic National Scenic Byway, which includes the part of Acadia National Park on the Schoodic peninsula. It winds 27 miles down the peninsula, through the charming small towns of Winter Harbor and Prospect Harbor. The route offers views of a lighthouse, eagles and osprey, blueberry barrens, Cadillac Mountain and Mount Desert Island.