There are places in the United States where the fall colors are already starting to bloom. Fortunately, peak color is still weeks away. With that said, where do you head in the National Park System to see the best fall colors?
While the Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah National Park, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park are well-known for their fall foliage, if you listened to our Labor Day Weekend podcast you know that Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky also has some pretty good fall colors. And so does Acadia National Park in Maine, and no doubt so does Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area that straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee line. And Cumberland Gap National Historical Park on the Kentucky-Virginia-Tennesse line.
Head west, the aspen and cottonwoods glitter gold in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, the larch also shimmer golden in Glacier National Park in Montana, as do the cottonwoods in the washes of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Many swear by the magnificent fall colors in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan.
The list goes on and on. And there are some sleepers out there. Which are your favorite parks for fall colors?
Read where you can find some great fall hikes in the National Park System.
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Comments
I think a great place is the western reaches of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park by Paw Paw in the late Fall. The C and O towpath is fantastic to to take a walk or bike ride.
The dogwoods changing color in Sequoia NP are spectacular, and the best place is in the vicinity of Tunnel Log on Crescent Meadow road.Early to mid November is when the show is on.
About the only quaking aspens on the western slope of the Sierra are in Mineral King Valley (which is currently closed due to the Coffee Pot Fire) and they start changing color in early October and it only intensifies until either the first rain of the year wipes them out or the gate is closed for the year around Halloween.