Leaf Season Approaching

Below you will find a reprint of an article in today's Winston Salem Journal. It talks about the annual changing of the leaves and beautiful spots to view them. I doubt few can compare to the view from my window here in Danbury. I look out on the back side of Hanging Rock State Park and this spring, I was able to watch as each day the mountain turned its different shades of green and I expect that this fall I can watch the color walk back down the hills. The drive from here to the Blue Ridge Parkway, going up Hwy 8 will be a thing of beauty and as Ron Carroll states in the story rivals any vistas you can imagine. I hope you will take some time to visit our roads and stop to hike our trails this fall. It just shows you don't have to go far to find the beauty in the world.

By Lisa O'Donnell Journal Columnist and Reporter
Published: September 24, 2009
Updated: 09/23/2009 06:45 pm
There's an old wives' tale that says rain washes the color out of leaves. If this is true, given how much it rained last week, we might want to prepare ourselves for an array of browns. It's a color I find pleasing in desserts, not so much in leaves.
For you fall-foliage fans, the important thing to remember here is that these are the same old wives who think that if you cross your eyes, they will stick in place. So their track record is pretty spotty.
Even scientists have a hard time predicting fall colors.
Howie Neufeld, a professor of plant physiology at Appalachian State University, is known at The Fall Color Guy. He told me that there are all sorts of notions out there about why the colors can be eye-popping one season and muted the next, but as far as he knows, there has never been a large study that looks at the different variables that could determine color.
"Some people think that what happens at the beginning of the season will affect fall colors," Neufeld said. "And no one knows that."
Expect the color show to begin at elevations of 3,000 and 4,000 feet around Oct. 15. The blaze of glory should trickle down to Winston-Salem by late October, Neufeld said.
Now that we've cleared that up, let's consider some places to see these leaves.
We all know that the Blue Ridge Parkway is as can't miss as LeBron James on a breakaway dunk. What about other parts of the state?
I asked a variety of people who are intimately familiar with their necks of the woods.
•Starting off is Ron Carroll, a Stokes County commissioner, who has spent most of his life in the county.
If you are out for a drive or heading up to Hanging Rock, Carroll suggested driving up N.C. 66, turning right on Moore's Spring Road and taking another right on Mickey Road. Carroll will sometimes pull off into a church parking lot on this route and look back over the mountains and the old Nancy Reynolds School.
"In a good year, this place, to me, competes with the Blue Ridge Parkway," he said.
• A bit farther north, Patrick County, Va., also boasts some pretty amazing scenery. Wilma Pendleton, who works in the county's office of economic development and tourism, described some routes near Ararat, Va., that wind past rolling hills and farms.
For folks in our area, the best way to get there is to go up U.S. 52 and take N.C. 104 in Mount Airy. You can make your way up to the Blue Ridge Parkway by following Rabbit Ridge Road to The Hollow Road then heading into Ararat. From there, you can take Squirrel Spur Road up to the parkway. Ararat is about 48 miles from Winston-Salem.
"This is just absolutely gorgeous scenery," Pendleton said.
• I asked Neufeld for some of his favorite places to see leaves in Watauga County outside of the parkway. He mentioned getting on N.C. 194, north of Boone, taking a left on Meat Camp Road and driving on to Elk Knob State Park, one of North Carolina's newest parks. There is an old road that leads to the summit. It's rocky and steep, but the payoff is a 360-degree view that looks over Ashe County and Mount Mitchell to the east.
• In the central part of the state, Don Childrey, who wrote the Uwharrie Lakes Region Trail Guide, recommends taking N.C. 109 south to N.C. 49 west and taking N.C. 740 into Badin. From there, get on Valley Drive to Morrow Mountain State Park, where you can find some easy hiking trails.
The park sits along Lake Tillery, which offers a nice contrast to the Uwharries.
• Burt Kornegay, a guide with Slickrock Expeditions in Cullowhee, suggested a few places in the western corner of the state.
The Cherohala Skyway is a 43-mile scenic road that connects Robbinsville to Tellico Plains, Tenn. This parkway-like road offers beautiful views of the Joyce Kilmer-Slick Rock wilderness areas.
"It's quite a road, with sweeping vistas of the southern mountains," he said.
The road has overlooks and numerous out-and-back hiking trails.
Kornegay also recommends a 75-mile or so loop that starts on N.C. 281 near Lake Toxaway and twists up to Tuckasegee. You can turn around and head back or pick up N.C. 107 and head south to Cashiers. Complete the loop by picking up U.S. 64, which takes you back to Lake Toxaway.
Kornegay said this loop will lead you through the Balsam Mountains where you will find plenty of good trails to stretch your legs.
Kornegay leads fall hiking trips each year in mid-October. This year, he'll take groups on the Bartram National Recreation Trail, through Panthertown Valley and to Bonas Defeat Gorge.