Fall Color Predictions For 'America's Best Idea'

T2F Note: The nights are cooling off while the days are just plain beautiful. Now is the time that we folks in Georgia start thinking about weekend trips to the mountains in search of the elusive best fall color and the best apples. Asheville is a great place to visit and is just a short weekend trip away from Georgia. This week's coveted Fayette Front Page Weekender Award goes to Asheville and the Smoky Mountains National Park. See you there!

/PRNewswire/ -- Longtime natives of the Asheville area in the Blue Ridge Mountains, known for its extended fall foliage season, will tell you that the best color displays come later -- toward the end of October. Celebrating the 75th anniversaries of Smoky Mountains National Park in 2009 and Blue Ridge Parkway in 2010, mountain families like Steve Woody's were moved from their homesteads in the 1930s for the creation of the park and are proud of the natural legacy they have left to us all.

Mountain Heritage Remembered

"If you talk to families from the area, there's a peace about the creation of Smoky Mountains National Park," says Woody, whose family was moved from their land in Cataloochee in Western North Carolina. "There was great sacrifice. They had to move from their forbearers' homesteads and livelihoods. But, today they wonder, had the Park not come, what would have happened to the land? You just have to look at other places to get an idea. Now, it is a pristine and wooded place that everyone can enjoy."

PBS Presents "America's Best Idea"

Stories like those of the Woody family are the kind that famed filmmaker Ken Burns had in mind when he began his latest documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea, a six-part series coming to PBS this fall, beginning September 27. The documentary, regional anniversary celebrations and predictions of a healthy leaf season round-out an opportune time to appreciate and experience our natural history in full autumn glory.

Fall Color Predictions

"Every year is a good year for autumn color, depending on where you are in Western North Carolina. We finally had a normal rainfall year. As of September 1, the Asheville airport reports only one inch above 'normal' precipitation. With good growth on the trees, we have all the foliage we need for great fall color. As long as autumn develops normally with cool nights and dry days -- and October is typically one of our driest months -- it should be a colorful season." -- Biltmore Director of Horticulture, Parker Andes

"Drought-stressed trees show more color and turn, more or less, simultaneously. So, our wetter year could make the colors appear more gradually. We don't know what the weather will bring, but fronts that give us cold nights and bright sunny days will start the process in a couple weeks at high elevations, which will be vibrant very soon, and continue down to the low elevations. The later color from oaks and hickories will be nice at the end of October and early November." -- University of North Carolina Asheville Associate Professor of Biology, David Clarke

"Compared to when I was growing up, I think it tends to stay warmer and we see the color later in the season. This was a more typical summer, like the kind I remember as a kid... cooler and wetter." --Steve Woody, Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Gateway City Getaway

Located just outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park and along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Asheville area is steeped in natural history and full of fall adventures. Extreme elevation variations and hundreds of deciduous tree species (the largest number in North America) combine to give Western North Carolina one of most extended and colorful leaf seasons in the country.

Online Resources

-- Weekly Fall Color Reports: Visit FallintheMountains.com
(http://www.fallinthemountains.com/) for expert fall color reports for
Western North Carolina, budget travel info, scenic drives, events,
value packages and insider tips
-- Twitter: Area insiders "tweet" color updates and up-to-the-minute
travel deals @FallColorHunter (http://www.twitter.com/FallColorHunter)
and @AshevilleDeals (http://www.twitter.com/AshevilleDeals)
-- GreatSmokies75th.org
(http://greatsmokies75th.org/welcome-to-the-great-smokies-75th/)
-- BlueRidgeParkway75.org (http://www.blueridgeparkway75.org/)

Fall Value Packages

-- Fall is for Waterfalls Package
(http://www.exploreasheville.com/deals/seasonal-packages/fall-is-for-w
aterfalls/index.aspx)
-- Extreme Fall Color Whitewater Package
(http://www.exploreasheville.com/deals/the-great-outdoors-packages/fre
nch-broad-river-12-day-rafting-package/index.aspx)
-- Wheee! Fall Canopy Tours Zip Line Package
(http://www.exploreasheville.com/deals/the-great-outdoors-packages/can
opy-tours-package/index.aspx)

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Top 10 Asheville, North Carolina, Mountain Hiking Trails

/PRNewswire/ -- It's time to hit the trails! The popular online travel guide to Asheville, www.RomanticAsheville.com, selected its top 10 easy and FREE day hikes in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina for 2009.

1. Gorges State Park: New parking and trails open in May for much better access to rugged river gorges. Hike along the Horsepasture River to see several waterfalls, including Rainbow Falls.

2. Mt. Mitchell: After enjoying the 360-degree vistas from the new observation deck atop the highest peak east of the Rockies, head to the Deep Gap Trail and hike over four more peaks over 6,000 feet.

3. Craggy Gardens: The Blue Ridge Parkway reopens here in May after more than a year of repairs. The Craggy Gardens Trail takes you across a rhododendron bald, and a 1.5-mile roundtrip hike to Craggy Pinnacle offers panoramic views.

4. Point Lookout Trail: This new 3.6-mile paved greenway climbs 900 feet in elevation in Pisgah National Forest. Bike or hike from Old Fort and enjoy mountain views.

5. Dupont State Forest: The best waterfall hike is a three mile trail to three waterfalls, including the impressive 150-foot High Falls with great places for wading and waterside picnics.

6. Max Patch: Hike the loop around the summit or continue further on the Appalachian Trail to enjoy breathtaking views from this bald mountaintop.

7. Cold Mountain: This famous mountain offers a strenuous 10.6-mile roundtrip hike to its summit. The hike includes a 2,800 foot elevation gain to the 6,030-foot peak.

8. Graveyard Fields: This highland hike along the Blue Ridge Parkway features a mile-high valley filled with wildflowers and surrounded by 6,000-foot peaks. With an easy four mile hike, you see two nice waterfalls.

9. Black Balsam Knob: Hike across more spectacular mountain balds. These treeless mountaintops offer sweeping views and alpine-like appearance. Hike three miles without dropping back into the trees.

10. Urban Trail: If you are looking for an urban hike, walk the 1.7-mile journey that showcases the art and history of Asheville, with 30 downtown stops, each with public sculpture.

For details on these trails plus others, see the comprehensive Asheville hiking and waterfall guides at www.romanticasheville.com/hiking.html.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page