40 miles southeast of Ashville is still green

[burntpixel]

Anyone headed to the Ashville area in search of fall color may need to wait. Just returned from Cashiers NC where it is still a week or so from peek. Received the EF-S 17-85 just before departing and was very anxious to give it a try on some of the many waterfalls located in the area. Headed out Sunday to White Water falls with my wife, 7 month old daughter and folks and got a couple of shots from the higher overlook. I was going to return on Monday morning alone to take my time and descend the some 170 steps. That plan was spoiled with rain. It would continue to rain over Tuesday, Wednesday and looked as if were not going to clear out till Friday. This area is in need of rain so bad that I could not complain. So, what I thought would be a five day trip shooting 1000's of shots of waterfalls in the area came down to me bringing home around 30 shots.

[sparker1]

Pity about the rain. Whitewater Falls is one of the best.

[Picture North Carolina]

I am going to differ in opinion just to ensure nobody is disappointed. I have been working on the parkway (almost on a daily basis) for about 2-3 weeks now. Colors vary greatly this year.

There are areas within easy reach of asheville, such as graveyard fields, that are at or past peak. As you travel from asheville toward pisgah, colors ramp up as you increase elevation. As you continue south starting at about 276 going toward graveyard fields, black balsam and the parkway peak, colors are peaking with some of the reds and yellows already dropping.

As you go down toward 23, colors ramp down as you drop elevation, then go back up as you cross 23, climb again and get up in areas such as waterrock knob.

On the other side (north) I have been working since sunday (yes, in the rain and fog) in the area ranging from blowing rock to grandfather mtn / linn cove. Boone, blowing rock, going toward price lake colors ramp up as you climb elevation. When you get to the higher elevations of the viaduct area colors are peak / past peak. Sunday (10/21) was a cloudless, sunny day. Monday (10/22) the beginning of this weeklong rain set in. On monday I noticed that because of the rain and wind and because the leaves were weakened being at peak, some of the areas that I shot on sunday had substantial leaf drop on Monday with some of the things I shot being almost bare. There is substantial leaf drop between price lake and g. mountain. As you hit g. mtn. going s on the parkway toward linville, colors ramp down as you drop elevation.

Here is a 10/25 quote from grandfather.com: "Leaves have peaked in the highest elevations (above 5,000 feet), but the show is only just beginning in the 3,000-foot elevations near Elk Park, Boone and Valle Crucis." This is an accurate report about elevations and jives with my own experiences excepting that at 3000 foot levels the show is not beginning, it is well under way with what I would term moderate, pre-peak conditions.

Above 5000 includes much of the area from the pisgah lodge south on the parkway as well as grandfather mtn, linn cove, etc.

Mt. mitchell and the surrounding area (an easy shot from asheville) is a curiosity. Not the state park, but remaining on the parkway, the areas around mt. m, craggy gardens, etc. are as high or higher than g. mtn or graveyard fields. Yet the colors in the area are not that great. Lots and lots of yellows, but only a few random reds. Don't know... perhaps the drought affected that area near the black mtns. more. Hard to tell if it's really peaking, but there is substantial leaf drop there.

I did not mean to contradict you, but I wanted to ensure people knew what to expect. One thing I have found over the years is that many / most of the online sites that do leaf reports are traditionally behind. Some of the most popular sites can actually be 10-14 days behind. I no longer rely on them.

I hope this post helps somebody enjoy the view. If you go on saturday, and even more so on sunday, expect traffic and crowds. The linn cove area last sunday was as bad as a bumper-to-bumper commute on L.A. freeways. I would describe it as a "zoo." Enjoy the colors. /Dan

Edit: For anybody visiting the parkway this weekend: In most of western NC rain set in on monday and it has been raining, drizzling and socked in by dense fog off and on all week long. This has kept many people off the parkway. This saturday and sunday weather is supposed to begin clearing off. Because the entire week has been (basically) a rainout, I would expect this weekend to be an even worse zoo than normal. Be careful. The leaf peepers are watching the leaves, not you. /Dan

[Jon Smith]

I've got to go with CannedHeat on this. I spent the weekend b/w Pisgah and Richland Balsam last week and the colors were pretty good. Plenty of popping colors at Graveyard Fields.

But to not contradict with Burntpixel, I also took a jaunt over to Cullowhee. The colors through little Canada were good. Looking back up the Gorge, and down around the university the show was not really worth writing home about.

[Tsmith]

From what I've seen the Fall colors on the East Coast have been rather lacking this year. Read an article about the tourism industry taking a big hit on visitors back out on reservations.

Sure looks to be a wonderful spot.

[burntpixel]

I did not mean to contradict you, but I wanted to ensure people knew what to expect. One thing I have found over the years is that many / most of the online sites that do leaf reports are traditionally behind. Some of the most popular sites can actually be 10-14 days behind. I no longer rely on them.
Dan
Not a problem CannedHeat :) This is what I love about this forum, two people can see and share to help out others. With the rain that moved in late Sunday night, wife and 7 month old daughter along with my folks (in their 70's), I just did not have a good opprotunity to get very far out from Cashiers. Agreed on elevation, went to whiteside mountain and had some pretty good color there. However, with a crying baby with an ear ache I was unable to shoot one shot. So with all that said, I hope that readers of this thread will read it in its entirety to see that I was very limited on how far I was able to travel. One thing to note is that the two images attached at the begining of this thread are of the white water falls area and should be peek (depending on the weather) over the next week 1/2 or so.

From what I've seen the Fall colors on the East Coast have been rather lacking this year. Read an article about the tourism industry taking a big hit on visitors back out on reservations.
Sure looks to be a wonderful spot.

This maybe due to the drought we have had here in the Carolina's. Charlotte area is 13" behind for the year on rainfall. I am by no means a park ranger (and did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express) but would bet the drought has an impact on the leave color this year.