Let’s face it, hiking is pretty swell no matter the season in North Carolina. But it’s hands-down the swellest in fall. Cooling temperatures, drier air, fall color — all combine to make this the best of seasons. Here’s our lineup for Fall 2021.
Tag Archives: fall
GetOut! N.C. State Park programs resume
If you love fall, you’ll adore this weekend.
After a little rain on Friday, the skies clear, the temperatures drop and it’s fall again. Look for a temperature when you wake up Saturday in the upper 30s, look for daytime highs both days in the 60s, look for lots of sunshine. And look for something that’s starting to reappear after a long hiatus: programs at North Carolina State Parks.
5 Fall Blue Ridge Hikes: Great Color, No Crowds
If you get the urge to check out fall color in the next couple of weekends, a bit of advice:
Don’t go where the leaf peeping experts say to go.
Their advice gravitates to the easily accessible go-to color hotspots, mostly along the easily accessed Blue Ridge Parkway: Graveyard Fields, Rough Ridge, Price Lake … . Sure, photos taken within the past few days scream chamber-of-commerce-certified color, but they’re screaming it to the tens of thousands of others looking for a quick autumn fix. A fix that can be had without venturing too far from the car. With a classic fall forecast for this weekend, expect those hotspots to be just that in more ways than one.
Fall color forecast: Early arrival, stellar show
Not only are we setting up for a colorful fall, we’re getting it early. After several years of mostly mediocre fall color, the stars — actually, the temperature and the sun — have aligned for what already looks like a great fall color show.
Good fall color depends on several factors, the key ones occurring in September and including:
GetOut! And be grateful for our gorgeous weather
This morning I went out for an early hike. The air was crisp and clear, not a cloud in the sky. The trees were just beginning to show color. And it was brisk: I could have used a long-sleeve shirt.
After a moment of blissful basking, I remembered a map I’d seen the day before showing the extent of the smoke from the western wildfires that so far have burned more than 3.7 million acres. The haze from the fires extended from coast-to-coast, blanketing most of the West and following the jet stream into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Much of the country is affected by these fires (there are 26 major wildfires burning in California alone). Fortunately, we are not.