Natural History Wanderings

Fall Color Report for the Week of October 11, 2015 | Department of Biology | Appalachian State University

This is THE PEAK WEEK for the Blowing Rock to Grandfather Mountain section of the Parkway. The same might be said for the Cashiers/Highlands area, according to my contacts down thatway. Colors have exploded out over the weekend, even despite the dreary, rainy Saturday that we had. Luckily for us, there was little or no wind on Saturday, so while some leaves did come down, many stayed up, and are now turning beautiful colors.

One notable color addition this week is the black gum tree (Nyssa sylvatica). This tree turns a lovely deep red color that complements the reds of the maples, sourwoods and sassafras trees. Today, the colors were really spectacular along the Blue Ridge Parkway from below Holloway Mountain road down to the Beacon Heights parking lot. I saw a lot of reds splashed against a background of brilliant orange and yellow.

Despite all the bad weather we’ve had, the trees have held their ground, and are now showing us all a magnificent display of color. Forests below 3,000’ are still predominantly green, and so they will color up in the next two weeks, but right now, the peak color is from about 5,000’ or so down to about 3,000’. If you head south of Linville, the colors become more muted, with fewer red trees and more yellow ones (due to a change in species composition over to hickories, ash and oak). When you get past Little Switzerland, heading south toward Mt. Mitchell State Park, the colors begin to pick up again, and from there to Craggy Gardens, you’ll have great views this week up to next weekend. The same can be said for the area south of Waynesville to the Waterrock Knob area of the Parkway.

The Smokies are still working up to their peak color, and most of the lower elevations are still predominantly green. They will work up to their peak color in the next two weeks, and Gatlinburg should be at peak color at the end of this month. You can check out the status of the fall color there at this website: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/fallcolor.htm . You can also check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GreatSmokyMountainsNPS