A FREE Daily Visitor Guide for the North Carolina Mountains and 50+ NC Mountain Cities: Fall Leaf Color Report for 10/15/13

Friday, October 18, 2013

Fall Leaf Color Report for 10/15/13

The Week of October 15, 2013:
The High Country: This week, plus the coming weekend, should be peak fall leaf color times in the Boone/Blowing Rock and Grandfather Mountain areas. A drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway will present excellent viewing, especially at 3,000’ and up. Colors are still developing at lower elevations, and won’t peak for another week or so, but the views should be great nonetheless. Sugar maples are really gearing up now. In Boone, along King Street, and also on the Blowing Rock Highway. ......see photos and read more from local expert Howie Neufeld, Ph.D. Professor of Plant Physiology Appalachian State University

Asheville and the Mid-elevations: Still mostly green with small patches of color starting to appear and more color in the surrounding hills. Dogwoods, sourwoods and Virginia creeper are all beautiful red. There is some color in some maples and yellow in other trees like birch and tulip poplar. Lower elevations at Lake Lure and Chimney Rock are beginning to turn with the drive from Hendersonville to Chimney Rock now gorgeous.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Leaf color Report will be updated soon as park workers catch up from the government shut-down. There is lots of color at mid elevation throughout the Park.

Western Mountains in Nantahala and the Smokies: More colors appearing in Highlands and Sylva with peak anticipated over the next 10 days.

Where to find color this week: Along the Blue Ridge Parkway; Hayesville, Highway 64, Blowing Rock Highway, Chimney Rock Park.

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

The Blue Ridge Parkway at 469 miles long is the nation's longest scenic rural parkway. Now 70 years old it is administered by the National Park Service and host to approximately 20 million visits annually. It connects the Shenandoah Valley National Park with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. Along the route are opportunities for lodging, dining, camping, hiking and simply enjoying breathtaking views from easily accessible overlooks and picnic areas. For additional information visit :The Blueridge Parkway Association

The River Arts District is open year around with the opportunity to meet artists in their studios. Schedules are available online. This unique area along the French Broad River is home to more than 165 artists with working studios located in 18 turn-of-the-century industrial buildings. The artists of the River Arts District welcome you into their studios to talk with them, see their latest artwork, watch demonstrations, and experience for yourself the magic hidden inside the time-worn factories and warehouses along the French Broad River.

Chimney Rock Park is named for a 500 million-year-old giant granite monolith overlooking Hickory Nut Gorge. Visitors are awed by the breathtaking view that spreads 1200 vertical feet beneath them and 75 miles across the Carolinas. The now state owned park encompasses 1,000 acres offers the best of the mountains in one place with spectacular 75-mile views, hiking trails for all ages, a 404-foot waterfall, a variety of special events and much more. Chimney Rock NC

The National Scenic Byways Program is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. The program is a grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. Since 1992, the National Scenic Byways Program has provided funding for almost 1500 state and nationally designated byway projects in 48 states. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation recognizes certain roads as All-American Roads or National Scenic Byways based on one or more archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and scenic qualities.

Tsali Recreation Area is an outdoors lover's paradise. Probably the most popular features of Tsali Recreation Area are the 39 miles of trails suited for mountain bikers and horse-back riders, as well as hikers. The 4-loop system offers a variety of landscapes. You can climb 1-foot wide rugged paths or travel flat, well-beaten roads. The four trails--Right, Left, Mouse Branch, and Thompson Loops--meander through mixed pine and hardwoods on a peninsula stretching into Fontana Lake. Near Bryson City NC and Robbinsville NC.