I took my first fall foliage drive of the season this morning, to both check out how the colors are doing and to see how long I could be out and about, given I had my surgery just over a month ago. I’m happy to report that both tasks were successively accomplished – I was in the car about an hour and a half, traveled about 46 miles, and, was able to see the current state of the leaves. This is about how far I must travel to do lab work, so it wasn’t too much of an exertion. I did no hiking though – not up to that yet. Just drove and stopped at overlooks.
So, here’s my report. Leaves are definitely turning color early this year, no doubt a result of the cool down that occurred in August and the lack of excessively high temperatures in September (excluding the expected high temperatures this Sat and Sun though). There is observable color at 3,000’ and especially above 4,000’. For this time of year, I think the amount of color is more than I’ve seen in previous years.
Much of the color is due to sugar maples, tulip poplars, birches, cherries, sumacs, and sourwoods. Although colors are turning early, the forests are still 90-95% green. If you’re thinking of coming up this weekend or next, I’d suggest you try high elevation sites to get the most color, such as Graveyard Fields below Asheville, Craggy Gardens about 20 miles north of Asheville, and Elk Knob State Park about 8 miles north of Boone.
In town, the urban trees are peaking brilliantly right now. Lots of bright red maples, yellow/orange sugar maples, and deep burgundy red flowering dogwoods. Tulip poplars are yellowing up nicely along with a lot of birches.
For my trip today, I drove down to Linville, then got on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) and headed north. A few miles down the road there is a nice pull off on the left with good views of Grandfather Mt. Those pics are shown in this posting. If you continue heading north, you will get to the Beacon Heights parking area, also with good views of Grandfather. The short trail there takes you up to the top of a large rock outcrop with eastern and southern views of the Wilson Creek drainage area, plus the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area, and Table Rock. If you go left near the top where the trail forks, you get to another rock outcrop, this time with views of Grandfather, Blowing Rock to the north, and areas east. The trail is only about a half a mile, so it’s easy and short.
Getting back on the BRP going north you quickly encounter the Linn Cove Viaduct section, perhaps the most well-traveled portion of the BRP. You can pull into the visitor center parking area just before the viaduct (the center itself is closed) and there is a trail at the end that you can take to beneath the viaduct that has some nice views. If you continue beyond the viaduct for several miles, you will get to Rough Ridge, which is probably the most popular hiking trail on the BRP.
I highly recommend the Rough Ridge trail, but get there early in the day or go midweek, as on the weekends it gets very crowded, and parking is at a premium. The trail goes up to a boardwalk after about a quarter of a mile (after crossing a beautiful wooden bridge that overlies a mountain creek). There are great views from that point and if you don’t want to exert yourself any further, there is no need to go to the top. But for those that do, you can see some spectacular views from the rock outcrop at the summit.
After Rough Ridge, the next four overlooks are closed because the NPS is repaving the parking lots. However, I spoke with someone from the NPS and those repairs are going quickly, so I think that by the end of September, they may reopen.
If you continue heading north, you’ll soon get to Price Lake. There is camping there, but check the website for availability, because some sites are not open. All the trails are open however, and I saw early color at the lake, which surprised me. There is a 2 mile trail, nearly flat, no climbing, that goes around the lake, which I recommend. You can also rent a boat and to out on the lake.
My last stop was at the Thunderhill Overlook, about 1 mile north of where the BRP crosses US 321. There wasn’t much color there yet and the views are of forests at much lower elevations, which were very much still green.
So, to conclude, colors are definitely appearing in the High Country, and others have told me the same is happening farther south at Graveyard Fields and Craggy Gardens. So, the next two weekends should be great for fall color viewing, even if they are ahead of peak color. Weather reports show no signs of rain until Tuesday next week and high temperatures up here should be in the upper 60s to maybe 71F at most. Perfect for leaf peeping!