Autumn Color in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina
- Jennifer and Steve
- Sep 27, 2022
- 2 min read
Where and when do you find the best autumn color in the mountains of NC? That’s the million-dollar question all photographers and leaf peepers ask each year.
For close to nine years, Steven and I have been making an annual fall pilgrimage, from our house in Charlotte, to the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. Our North Carolina territory covered nearly everything from West Jefferson, on the eastern mountain end, to Franklin, on the western end. Some years we hit the celebrated peak color, some years we danced on either side of it. Over time, we got better at figuring it out.
Mountain leaf color mainly depends on several things: rainfall, light, and temperature - three very fickle influences. Due to these, some autumns can be glorious, while others are pretty, but not spectacular. Personally, I’ve never been disappointed with the colors of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
What’s the secret to finding this color? There isn’t one, really. It’s pretty much based on the 3 factors above and elevation.
This is not written in stone, but a general timeline we have found is that color starts to show at altitudes near 6,000 feet first. Each week thereafter, color seems to start as you descend about 1,000 feet in elevation. Two areas that generally start the color ball rolling are Grandfather Mountain (closer to the Blowing Rock area) and Graveyard Fields (closer to the Brevard area).
Steven and I have been monitoring Graveyard Fields the last few weeks and this past Sunday, color was beginning to show.
There are several good on-line sources to help navigate the puzzle with more location for you to consider.
Explore Asheville has colorful interactive fall color forecast map.
Blue Ridge Mountain Life has a nice site with information about stops, things to do and a link to App State’s Biology Department’s fall color map.
If you are headed this way, may the color be always in your favor.
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