North Carolina Fall Color Report - The Final Weeks of 2010

  North Carolina - Vacation Paradise

North Carolina - Autumn Colors

Driving from the Piedmont Triad north to Stokesdale and Route 65 toward Belews Lake provides a nice outing. Route 89 to Hanging Rock State Park in Stokes County is a beautiful scenic drive. Hanging Rock and Pilot Mountain State Parks are past peak but still provide some late season color.

Check out the leaf color forecaster here.

In many areas sugar and red maples continue to blaze with yellow and orange, especially when back-lit in the afternoon sun. Numerous species of oak trees are actively changing into russet and brown and combine nicely with the still colorful maples and sourwoods.

Even though autumn color throughout most of the North Carolina Piedmont region is past peak, some eastern sections of the province remain stubbornly green.

William B. Umstead State Park in Raleigh, for example, reports mildly colorful landscapes while several tree species are only now beginning to yellow. Whether or not full color will eventually appear in these areas is uncertain. Kim Hyer, Naturalist at Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve in Southern Pines says the turkey and blackjack oaks, usually brilliant with reds and oranges this time of year, haven’t even begun to change.

Every North Carolina fall season is beautiful with the state’s vast forest resources in the mountain region and numerous state and local parks