Where is the color? Check the report weekly to get an idea of where the best color viewing is in the state.

From the Virginia Department of Forestry

Report for the weekend of November 12.

 
Colonial Williamsburg November 5, 2016 Photo: Wayne Reynolds

For Weekend of November 12. If you want to see fall foliage in Virginia this week, look to the east! Virginia’s mountains are mostly brown, rust, or leafless, interspersed with pines that keep the views interesting even in winter. Lower elevations still have some muted golds and reds, but they are fading fast. The upper Piedmont is covered in a quilt of subtle earth tones, but here and there you can still find pockets of brightness in the rolling hills. Oaks, which turn yellow to deep red or rust, have been slow to change this year. They still vary from nearly green to fully colored. In the southern Piedmont and the Coastal Plain, all the shades of yellow predominate, but bright red sumacs, deep red dogwoods, and orange or red maples provide a pretty contrast along eastern Virginia’s forest edges. 

As the October colors kindle, so too can wildfires.  For information about the fall wildfire season and safe disposal of fallen leaves, please visit www.dof.virginia.gov.

Shenandoah National Park Report

Fall color report for October 28, 2016

Though it’s true that what each of us considers beautiful (or not) is entirely subjective, Shenandoah National Park is always beautiful – at any time, in any season, in the eyes and opinions of almost everyone. 

However…

...just about everyone would agree that fall brought her brightest, most vibrant colors to Shenandoah National Park last week. This week, though it’s still autumn in this part of the Blue Ridge, the colors – though still gorgeous – are more muted. You must accept this and learn to appreciate it for what it is: this is nature.

But that doesn’t mean the trees are all bare. There are still plenty of lovely trees wearing their crushed-velvet gowns in sophisticated, grown-up shades like russet, pumpkin, thyme green, and cumin. In the early afternoon, stop by Jenkins Gap Overlook at mile 12.4 and try to count how many different hues you see there. The view from Pinnacles Overlook at mile 35 is one of the best going this week, with all the colors of a spice drawer – paprika, ginger, clove, sage, chili powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and saffron – on one hillside. Heading south, when you round the bend just past Stony Man Overlook (mile 38.6) and gaze up at the old, recumbent man in the mountains, you'll see broad strokes of forest greens, cabernet sauvignon purples, allspice browns, Dijon mustard ochres, and the interspersed grizzle of trees who have lost their leaves already along with long-dead hemlocks who never got needles this year. In the waning light of late afternoon, this makes for a majestic scene that is not nearly as somber as it sounds, and much more resplendent. 

This is the last fall color report of this year.

Read the full report.