The Department of Biology at Appalachian State University has recently updated their fall color report for North Carolina. The department reports that it’s a great time to view fall leaf colors for elevations above 3,000 feet.
Therefore the best time for viewing fall color this year in the Boone/Blowing Rock area down to Grandfather Mountain is now through Oct 21-23.
And the colors overall have started to jump out – they are mostly the yellows and oranges of the birches, poplars, magnolias, and maples, but a few bright red maples, sourwoods, and black gums can be spotted on the hillsides now.
As for hiking options, on the Parkway is Linville Falls, which is always a great stop, and there are several hikes of easy to moderate difficulty from which you can see the falls and surrounding woods. The Linville Gorge was the first wilderness area designated in the east and has hikes down to the Linville River at the bottom (strenuous though). One tree of significance there is the Table Mountain Pine, a southern Appalachian endemic, which has cones that only open after they have been heated by a fire. The natural return cycle for fire in the gorge is about every 5-12 years, and if fires are suppressed, this inhibits the ability of this tree to release its seeds, and they fail to germinate. The technical term for this is known as “serotiny”. Pitch pine, a close relative, has the same habit, but only where fire is prevalent. It loses this adaptation if it grows for long periods of time in areas free of fire.
Please visit biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors for additional information.