Shenandoah National Park & Blue Ridge Parkway

[rk]

I am planning for a fall trip to Shenandoah National Park and BLue Ridge Parkway between Roanoke and Waynesboro for October 23, 24 ,25

Has anybody been there.

Do these dates seem OK or I am too late.

[Andy]

rk: I was in Shenandoah NP in October in 2007. No, you shouldn't be too late at that time. I was North of where you will be (Skyline Drive, which starts at Front Royal, VA and heads South). I cannot remember exactly when it was, but it was earlier than Oct 23 and I was much too early. I am told that the Blue Ridge and the Smokies are late Oct to early Nov.

Hope you'll report back to us either here, or if they shun you because you are being disloyal to Vermont Foliage , You are always welcome to talk to us on the photography forum.

[rk]

Thanks a lot Andy.

I just wish there be a great forum like this for every place.

While going home from NH I had to fight with my better half to drive the Route 100 in Vermont as she wanted to go home early taking I -91.

Hope forum doesn't shun me

[pwt54]

I did the Parkway last year between Roanoke and Buena Vista. It was Oct. 28. There was some great color, but it was in zones. The forests down there are dominated by the oaks. They crowd out the maples. In areas that the maples can survive the colors were stunning. The James River Valley was one of these areas. The views made up for the lack of color in the oak zones.

[rk]

Thanks a lot PWT.

you said the colors were in zones.

Apart from Maples Was the rest of the foliage past peak or still green.

[Pentaxguy]

Don't mean to sound a dissonant note. But with the superb color we have seen here in New England, why would you want to settle for less in the mid Atlantic states?

The prime steak of Vermont and New Hampshire versus the Big Mac of the Smokies doesn't seem like a real comparison.


With the color I've seen in New England, I don't want to drive hundreds of miles for less.

[wentworth]

Thanks a lot Andy.

I just wish there be a great forum like this for every place.

--yeah, but at least in North Carolina you can get some foliage reports on the web for that state--but for South Carolina there was no info at all, yet they had good color the entire length of Interstate 26(SE X NW)last year first week of November

[Andy]

Hey Pentax: Good to see you again. I agree -- but then, we are biased in favor of New England, I fear. We have a pretty beautiful country (though I don't see much foliage photography in Florida or Oklahoma). Last year, I found nice color "Western style" in New Mexico. Looks like Al found some very different style nice color in AK. The beauty is that Mother Nature times it so rk can do both. Start witih the best and go downhill as he goes South .

I have a place to go in the SM NP and will undoubtedly make both a late October and a late April trip (the wild azaleas are supposed to be incredible) some year.

[wentworth]

lol--well, I can attest to the Oklahoma Fall, since I lived there for 2 years--They don't have one lol--and it gets bitterly cold there in the winter--At least here in Florida, we have perfect weather from November thru April and sparkling blue-green oceans all year round, and you can even swim in the oceans in January--no hills of course lol, but its nice lush green here, even in January---but Pentax is right of course--Vermont's colors are unmatched,especially the last 2 years--I've seen some nice reds in western virginia in spotty areas, but further south reds are really rare--intense yellows and a few oranges last year in the Carolinas--The Western US has mostly yellows but nice color here and there--but only New England has some of those stunning purples we saw in Waitsfield and in Stowe--they were awesome

[Andy]

I will say, though, that the Michigan U.P. runs a (very) close second to New England

[pwt54]

RK; the maples were peaking. There were some yellows, but I'm not sure what the tree were. They have a tree down there, I think it's the Tupelo, that has nice red leaves. If I had to chose only one place to leefpeep, it would be Northern New England. But the Parkway would be a close second.