We’re headed s-l-o-w-l-y into the second week of the Fall season in terms of fall foliage, but there are definitely some hints of color here and there (thank you, sourwood trees). Let’s see where to go daytripping to hunt for some early Fall color and which tree we’re profiling this week!
The weather seems to have gotten back to “Fall normal” as we move through the month of October in the North Carolina mountains around Asheville. Cool nights are back, as are sunny days. And it looks like the color that we do have will be lovely for Week 4 of our fall season.
Entering mid-October, elevations above 4,500 feet around Asheville sparkle as the tops of the mountains are crowned in gold tones, with orange and red splashes of color as well. It’s Week 3 of the beautiful fall season in western North Carolina and we’re just getting started! Let’s explore!
It’s been a lovely start to the fall season so far, with pleasant days and cool nights, but a warm end to the first week of October and some rain forecast for the following week may keep color from dashing out of the starting gate at elevations under 5,000 feet. So let’s see where the fall color will shine over the next week or so.
Our fall color reports for 2017 have officially begun! Autumn is a spectacular season in the North Carolina mountains. Find out how to maximize your leaf peeping in the Asheville area each week with our fall foliage reports. It’s Week One. Let’s begin!
The year 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the North Carolina State Park System and NC State Parks are celebrating in a big way with events throughout the year. There are nine state parks in the mountains of western North Carolina, and we’re fortunate to have four nearby, which we’ll profile for the next four months. This month, we take a look at Mount Mitchell State Park.
If you’re looking for a super-scenic day trip hike while staying with us here at Inn on Mill Creek near Asheville, NC, consider a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Graveyard Fields. Is it a graveyard? Nope. Is it a field? You could say that… but it’s so much more. Let’s explore.
Craggy Gardens is a section of the North Carolina mountains accessible via the Blue Ridge Parkway, north of Asheville. It has excellent hiking trails, a picnic area, cool mountaintop balds with wild blueberry bushes and dramatic mountain vistas. Read on to see what we saw on our hike of the Craggy Gardens Trail in early May! Hint: Wildflowers galore and other cool stuff that makes us love love love nature.
UPDATE – APRIL 16: The Craggy Gardens area is now open!
We aren’t the only ones who have a project list that we tackle in the wintertime: the National Park Service has been working on projects relating to improving the tunnels on the Blue Ridge Parkway around Asheville, including Tanbark Tunnel at Milepost 374.4 near Craggy Gardens.
Don’t let the name scare you: Rattlesnake Lodge is a neat destination hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway just six miles north of Asheville, North Carolina. The hike has many points of interest and takes you through a pretty area of the mountains.
