[1] One of the unmistakable first signs of fall: the beautiful array of changing colors. - "It's going to be a feast for the eyes."

[2] Virginia State Park ranger Ethan Howes has dedicated his career to protecting and sharing these iconic views.

[3] "What's your favorite part of your job?" - "Seeing people's reactions to things for the first time."

[4] But that seasonal rainbow drawing tourists to parks across the country was something Howes hadn't actually seen for himself until recently.

[5] "Looking out, it's just kind of mundane, I guess. Kind of bland."

[6] Howes is color-blind, making the varied reds, oranges, greens, and yellows appear all one color.

[7] Color blindness can occur in some cases when cones, the nerve cells in our eye that perceive color, are missing or not working.

[8] The most common type is red-green color blindness, making it extremely difficult to distinguish between those hues.

[9] One in 12 men and one in 200 women are affected by color blindness, making scenic vistas like this look drastically different.

[10] That is until Howes found viewfinders with special lenses that allowed people like him to experience the full color spectrum.

[11] With Howes help, Virginia became the first park system in the nation to have these adapted viewfinders at every location, unveiling them at an event earlier this year.

[12] "And everybody just sees that normally?" - "Yeah." - "Okay, that's cool." - "A lot of different colors that I didn't even recognize."

[13] Melissa Baker is the director of Virginia State Parks and says she'll never forget that momentous day.

[14] "It was one of the best days of my career. Parks belong to people. Many of us have been able to get out on the trails and see all the colors and do all the things, but it's important for us to find opportunities for people who haven't always had that ability to do that."

[15] For Howes, those meaningful moments for visitors are a reminder of the first time he tried the viewfinder himself, and called his mother to describe what he'd seen.

[16] "What was her reaction hearing that you were able to see some of these colors now?"

[17] "When I first told her that I looked through it, she started crying, and she probably wept for, I don't know, three or four minutes."

[18] "I'm tearing up myself just kind of recalling that. I never realized how much it impacted other people that I couldn't see it, 'cause I don't really think about it."

[19] "So yeah, it was a really cool experience just getting that reaction from them."

[20] Tony Dykes, a co-founder of EnChroma, the company behind the viewfinder technology, says experiences like Howes are not uncommon.

[21] "For a lot of people, it is just a surprisingly emotional experience to have this sort of veil drop and see something different in the world."

[22] The park has EnChroma glasses on hand for people to use on guided hikes and kayaking, so park-goers can witness the beauty every step of the way.

[23] "How does it make you feel knowing that you've been instrumental in helping give people that experience?"

[24] "Uh, really proud. I never thought that I would have a large impact the way this has in my career." - Valerie Castro, NBC News, Natural Tunnel State Park, Virginia.