Fall at Its Finest: Great Leaves – Great Weather - in the Great Smoky Mountains!

With winter right around the corner, the Great Smoky Mountains could not be any nicer! Though the leaves are past peak color, there is still some fantastic color around the Tennessee Smokies however; it is just about all gone in North Carolina.

All of the pictures here in this article were taken in the last 24 hours around the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge area of the Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains. As you can see, the colors are bright and vivid and lots of the leaves are still on the trees even though most elsewhere around the country they are down on the ground already.

Some of the best places to see the fall color are still around the Foothills Parkway, some sections of Newfound Gap Road in the Great Smoky Mountains national park, much of Wears Valley, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and Sevierville Tennessee.

Some of the darker hollows and very high elevations in the Smokies have lost their color, but in places such as the Dollywood Theme Park and around the Parkway in Pigeon Forge, some of the trees have not even peaked in fall colors yet.

To make a trip to Dollywood even better on its 25th anniversary, right now even though it is in the upper 60s right now in Dollywood, the Smoky Mountains Christmas celebration is going on at Dollywood and there are plenty of discount tickets to go around!

Winterfest with its millions of holiday lights all throughout Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and Sevierville kicked off earlier this week. With all the lights and beautiful decorations around the Smokies it will be hard to not be in the holiday and Christmas mood, and the outlet malls in the Smoky Mountains are offering deals you can't pass up on the perfect Christmas gift.

Fall season also means apples and this has been a record-breaking year for the apple crop in the Great Smoky Mountains. The apple crop has been so good some farmer had to prop up their tree limbs in order to keep them from breaking under the weight of those delicious fall goodies! Applewood in Pigeon Forge and Carvers in Cosby are the best places to buy our local delicacy.

This apple season started about 2 weeks early this fall and there are still plenty left to harvest. Even though many plants bloomed early this year, the leaves on the tress are staying far longer than last year even though the weather has been usually warm and dry for fall, which is just fantastic to hike, bike, fish or motor your way around the Smokies.

So if you never came to the Smokies to enjoy the fall color, now is the time to come to the Great Smoky Mountains as the colors are great, the holiday decorations are awesome, the traffic is light and cabin rental rates are far lower than they were just a few days ago. There are still a few One Bedroom and Two Bedroom cabins left for Thanksgiving, but they are going fast so act now.

...and don't forget, if you rent a cabin you can get very discounted tickets for Dollywood which is just amazing this time of the year! So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of the great weather, low cabin rental prices and great fall color and reserve your dream cabin today!

When is the best time to see fall colors in the Great Smoky Mountains?

The Smokies are renowned for having some of the best fall colors when the leaves change in autumn but with as large as the Great Smoky Mountains are where the best place is and when is the best time to see the foliage in peak colors is not a simple answer.

The reason why there is no exact day for the peak colors in 2009 or the perfect places to see the autumn leaves is that there are so many places - hundreds of them to catch breathtaking fall foliage bursting in all the colors of the rainbow.

There are many reasons why the fall colors in the Smokies attract so many people to come see them. One of the most import reasons is that in the Great Smoky Mountains national park there are more than 100 species of trees and hundreds of different species of bushes that all change color.

Since the falls leaves colors during leaf season vary for many reasons and one of the main reasons is which species of trees or bushes are changing as all of the different trees and bushes show a different range of colors. This is what makes the Smokies a great place to see the leaves change as there is a wide range of colors everywhere you look and it is best to go to a few places to see the wide range of fall foliage colors.

Other key factors the effect when the leaves change color in the Smokies as well as the intensity, duration and where to see the change in colors are temperature, moisture, exposure to sunlight and even soil composition.

Since there is a huge difference in elevations from Pigeon Forge Tennessee, Gatlinburg and Cades Cove on the low end to Clingmans Dome, Mount Le Conte and the Blue Ridge Parkway as a higher elevation and where you are in elevation and location will change to surrounding temperatures of the trees as well as exposure to sun, the same species of tree such as a sugar maple tree can display wild vibrant fall colors in some places weeks before it does in others in the Smoky Mountains.

So if you ask when do the leaves start to change colors in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Wears Valley, Cades Cove and all throughout the Great Smoky Mountains national park the answer is they already have started this year in late August!

Look carefully in the Smoky Mountains right now and you will see in the dark green canopy touches of color in a few random leaves in the dogwoods, maples and sourwood trees especially at the higher elevations such as along the Foothills Parkway. But you don't want to come here to just see a few random leaves change color - you want to see the fall colors at their peak in the Smokies!

Count on being able to see fall colors popping out in mid to late to late September 2009 but the real displays will start to be fantastic in October and will still be sowing into November. It is not uncommon to see nice vibrant deep reds and maroons in the hardwoods in the Smoky Mountains such as the oak trees as late as Thanksgiving but you will be far past peak at that time.

So what are the predictions for the 2009 leaf season in the Great Smoky Mountains? Actually the predictions are for an extremely good leaf season in both color and duration if the weather continues to so cooperative!

In the past 2 years in the Smokies there have been record breaking droughts. The lack of water stressed the plants and the colors were actually very good. Temperatures were also much higher during the peaks in summer and even late spring also stressing the tress in bushes in the Smoky Mountains.

Though last year the color of the leaves during the fall season were good, they were lacking in duration and when it would rain, it washed down many leaves prematurely and even though fall leaves are colorful on the ground, for the best impact you want to see is the colorful leaves in peak longer on the trees.

This year 2009 we have made up for the past few years of lack of water and the health of the forests and mountains are fantastic! Add to this cooler than normal temperatures all spring and summer long and you have a recipe for beautiful leaf colors as well as duration where the beautiful brightly colored foliage stays on the trees longer during leaf season along with a greater range of colors all showing at the same time.

Because of the very good weather we have had in 2009 including the cooler than normally temperatures we are experiencing right now in the Smoky Mountains, it is likely that the fall leaf season will start earlier this year and the peak leaf season may run only until the 2nd week in November.

As we had done last year, we will do fall color report updates to let you know where to go to see the best fall colors in the Smoky Mountains and the best places to stay to see the fall colors in 2009. Our updates will also be broadcasted on Twitter and our new Face Book account.

More About Peak Leaf Season in the Great Smoky Mountains:

• Peak Leaf Color Season Dates In Cades Cove and the Great Smoky Mountains for 2012
• Peak Leaf Season Dates For Fall of 2012
• Smoky Mountains Fall Color Season: Where and When To See the Best Leaves In 2010

Smoky Mountains fall colors and wildflowers: Cove Mountain Trail

The recent light rain may have washed down many of the colorful fall leaves but there are still plenty of fall colors to be found right next to Gatlinburg in the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

One of the lesser traveled hiking trails in the Great Smoky Mountains national park that is very close to the city of Gatlinburg is a perfect place right now to see fall colors, long vistas and even a few wildflowers that are still left blooming.

The beginning of the Cove Mountains Hiking trail is less than 2 minutes from downtown Gatlinburg and is right behind the national park headquarters. The trail passes by Cataract Falls which is generally a trickle this time of year. After you are past the falls you will run into few people if any.

If you were to hike the entire length of this trail it would almost be an 18 mile round trip, but there is no need to hike that far. Hiking just an hour or so in you will pass by pretty views, streams, plenty of fall colors and the best wildflowers still left blooming on the national park.

The majority of the steepest hiking will be within the first half hour on this trail. The trail is very smooth and usually bone dry so you can hike comfortably with just sneakers.

On this trail you will still find yellow and crimson red fall leaves on the trees. There is also plenty of color on the bushes, small plants and young trees along the forest floor.

While usually by this time of the year there are few if any flowers blooming, this trail has more than any other trail we had checked for weeks.

There are a variety of small wildflowers still blooming and the color pallet ranges from pure white to yellows and light and deep purples. All of the wildflowers in the photo montage below were photographed from the Cove Mountains hiking trail yesterday.

While same of these wildflowers are far past their peak, there are still blooming and giving some additional color other than just the fall leaves to the mountains and forest floor.

You can look at the wildflowers in the National Park but you must remember not to pick them or remove plants or even seeds. Plants, animals and even rocks are protected within the boundaries of the national park.

While same of these wildflowers are far past their peak, there are still blooming and giving some additional color than just the fall leaves to the mountains and forest floor.

Speaking of seeds, by this time of the year many of the wildflowers have turned into seeds. Even in their simplicity there is great beauty so be sure to take your time and take in all the fall beauty of the park.

The seed head above was about half the size of a dime and was in some moss along the side of the trail about and hour and a half up. Looking up from this point you will see giant red leaves hanging from a flame oak tree.

Once you get out of the hollows, the hiking trail follows a ridgeline which often looks out at the mountains across the valley. The light was fading fast when more clouds came in you could see the yellow still popping out in the valleys where more of what's left of the fall colors are.

What's unusual about this hiking trail and unlike most other hiking trails within the Great Smoky Mountains national park is that this trail passes close by some homes and cabins so if you smell smoke it may be a fireplace not a wildfire.

You won't have to hike long to enjoy the fall colors on Cove Mountains but you will enjoy all the time you spend on this wonder fall hike.

The Cove Mountain Hiking Trail is just minutes from dozens of Smoky Mountains cabins for rent by American Mountain Rentals.

Fall color report for late October 2008 in the Great Smoky Mountains national park

Late October in the Great Smoky Mountains national park is peak for color in the higher attitudes in both Tennessee and North Carolina and the fall color in the leaves are working their way down from the mountain peaks slowly down to the valleys.

There a many reasons why the Great Smoky Mountains national park is so fantastic in the autumn to see the leaves change color in October and November. 2 reasons are that there are more than 100 species of trees in the park and that there is more than 4,000 feet in elevation range from the mountains tops the valleys.

The result of all of the species of different trees all in one place that change color sis that they will all change colors at different times, in different shades and with different intensities. Add into this great diversity of color and timing of the peak of each type of trees leaves and add in the major changes in elevation and you have a leaf season that starts in early October and you can find great color until mid or late November.

Cades Cove in the picture above taken yesterday is not even close to having peak beginning on the valley floor. The deer and coyote are sporting their winter coats and the bear are busy collecting acorns and eating as much as they can to take them through the winter.

The Great Smoky Mountains has many other sections in the park and we will take you through the best place to see the fall colors right now on the Smokies and where they will be.

Once of the best places to take a hike right now in the Great Smoky Mountains national park to see the fall colors is in the higher elevations by Cove Mountain, Wear Valley and Round Top trail that will take you all the way to the Townsend Wye, of course you don't have to hike in far to see great sights.

As you can see by the picture of the bright red leaves on the tree the colors are already stunning. There are also bright yellows and mixes of orange, light yellow and still plenty of deep green of trees which have not changed yet, rhododendron and some yellow pine.

Get off Little River Road at the Metcalf Bottoms picnic area and take the bridge over the river and keep going uphill until you reach the trailhead parking on either round top on the left or the Hiking Trail to Little Greenbrier on the right. Both trails will be great for weeks.

Another section of the national park close to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge is Elkmont section pictured above where a lot of the logging operations took place prior to the formation of the national park.

Since the bottom of Elkmont is one of the lower elevations on the park you are just going to see the start of the color changes here right now. Elkmont has many great hiking trails and they will all take you to higher elevations where the color is better.

One of the nicest and easiest hiking trails to take in Elkmont to see the fall colors is along the Little River Trail. Here you will see the yellow and golden brown leaves already on the trail floor and floating on the river alongside the trail. Giant rock boulders in the river form many small waterfalls and the higher up you hike the better the color becomes.

This is a very easy smooth trail that was a railroad grade and logging road so it is very easy to hike. You do keep on climbing though the further you go in and if you take the Goshen Prong branch of the trail you will reach the peak of the park on the Appalachian Trail where you will find amazing fall colors.

Between Elkmont and Cades Cove just after the Townsend Wye you will find the turnoff to taker you to Tremont - another section of the park that used to have large logging operations.

In the lower elevations of Tremont you will also find most of the trees have not started to change colors but there are some very pretty patches of yellows and reds that are growing more intense by the day.

The gravel road in Tremont travels along the river. Get out on some of the pull outs and just soak in the beauty of this area.

The gravel ends up at a trailhead parking area. Even if you don't want to hike far, just go in 15 minutes and sit at the bench and take in one of the nicest waterfall cascades in the park. Again this is a relatively smooth trail that keeps climbing and the higher you go the better the color is.

Expect this trail to be great until mid to late November!