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by Jerry_Jelinek on Sun Apr 30, 2017 6:36 am
Jerry_Jelinek
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Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Hi,

Hope people with experience can give me an idea of the traditional best week to visit Great Smoky Mountain National Park for fall color.  I just got back from a wonderful week in the spring.   It was my first visit to GSMNP and I loved it.  Such a gorgeous park.

So I'm thinking of returning in the fall for fall colors.

Thanks for any advise you have,

Jerry
--------------
Jerry Jelinek

http://jerryjelinek.smugmug.com/
Follow my photography efforts on my blog: http://jerryjelinekphotography.blogspot.com/
 

by Kerry on Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:01 pm
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Location: Chicago area/Wilmington, DE area
Hi Jerry. Agreed--the Smokies are phenomenal, particularly during the spring bloom and fall color seasons.

Timing for fall color in the Smokies is tricky and variable, at least partly because different parts of the park turn at different times (primarily due to the significant differences in elevation). Historically the best time for the relatively low level sites in the park (Tremont, Elkmont, Cades Cove, Greenbrier, Roaring Fork, the length of the stretch along the Little River Road and Oconaluftee at the far southern end of the park in NC) falls in the neighborhood of Oct. 20-25 or thereabouts. That's presuming normal temperatures and rainfall through the summer, of course. If anything, I'd guess those dates have slipped somewhat later (as they have just about everywhere) over the years. Higher elevations, of course, would turn sooner but if you're looking down into the valleys from overlooks like Clingman's Dome or Newfound Gap or Oconaluftee Valley View or the Foothills Parkway or even many of the overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the "lower elevation" dates should hold up pretty well.

Word to the wise: the park can be jam packed during fall color season, particularly on weekends.
 

by Jerry_Jelinek on Sun Apr 30, 2017 5:58 pm
Jerry_Jelinek
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Posts: 3642
Joined: 18 Apr 2007
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Hi Kerry,

Thanks for your quick reply. Hope you are well. I appreciate your knowledge. Right now it looks like the week of Oct 30 will be my target. I have conflicts prior and after that week. If I decide to go, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that fall color will be present in the park.

Jerry
--------------
Jerry Jelinek

http://jerryjelinek.smugmug.com/
Follow my photography efforts on my blog: http://jerryjelinekphotography.blogspot.com/
 

by Kerry on Mon May 01, 2017 4:01 pm
Kerry
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Posts: 920
Joined: 20 Aug 2003
Location: Chicago area/Wilmington, DE area
Hi Jerry.

Given that color seems to come later every year, maybe it will work out. I was in northern New England last fall and, like you, had limits on the timing (and had to make reservations months in advance or face the prospect of being shut out regardless). Part of that time was spent in the White Mountains in New Hampshire and when people with far more experience in the region than me heard the dates, they warned that there was a good chance that I'd be a week-plus too late and that, if I could, I should move my trip up. Well, I couldn't. And despite all the warnings I was there during absolute peak color.

With a little bit of luck and a willingness to be flexible when you're there it may well work out for you. The absolute lowest elevation locations in the main part of the park lie alongside the Little River Road, particularly the area around the Sugarlands Visitors Center just outside Gatlinburg, but spurs off that road--Elkmont, Tremont, Cades Cove--would be pretty good bets as well, as would Greenbrier. If the color in these areas is decent (or better), then it may still be holding at comparatively higher elevations like Roaring Fork, up the Newfound Gap Road a ways, upt a Laurel Falls, etc.

It might be worth a call to the park office some time in the first half of October to see how things are progressing.
 

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