Fall foliage season is longer than you think

North Carolina: Fall color usually appears in the mountains the second week in October at 3,000-5,000 feet, said Neufeld, the Appalachian State University professor. Good leaf-peeping places include Newfound Gap and Clingmans Dome in the Smokies; Mount Mitchell, which is the highest peak in eastern North America; and the Blue Ridge Parkway, which starts in Virginia but runs through North Carolina and Tennessee, between Asheville and the Smokies, with many scenic overlooks.

Look for sugar maples (orange and red), tulip poplars (yellow), sassafras black gum (red), sourwood (red), birches (yellow), and oaks (red or brown). Color shows up in the state's coastal plains in late October, from oak trees (yellow and brown) and the occasional red maple to cypress trees in swamps, which turn red. Leaf reports are posted starting the last week of September here.

California: In Yosemite National Park as in other places, "fall colors arrive at different times in different areas," said Kenny Karst, spokesman for DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite Inc., the park's concessioner. In Tuolumne Meadows, at 8,500 feet, October is the best time for foliage. But in Yosemite Valley, at 4,000 feet, "it's not uncommon to see trees turning colors sometimes even later than the first week of November," Karst said.

Dogwood trees are among the most spectacular. "In the fall, the leaves of the tree turn beautiful shades of pink and magenta," Karst said. "Coming in and out of Yosemite, either on Highway 41 from the south or Highway 120 from the northwest, there are a lot of dogwood trees right next to the highway." Other colorful trees include broadleaf maples (yellow), oaks (yellow and brown), cottonwoods (yellow) and in the high country, aspen (yellow).

One pretty fall hike recommended by Karst is from Tuolumne Meadows downstream along the Tuolumne River to the area of Glen Aulin. Camps here close early September, but the hike can be done round-trip in a day. Yosemite also has its own Grand Canyon near Tuolumne Meadows, farther upstream and out of Glen Aulin, accessible only on foot. Aspens also turn the landscape yellow in fall just outside the eastern edge of Yosemite by Tioga Pass, in the area of Virginia Lakes and north of the Inyo National Forest.

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Leaf-peepers also find their way to the Plumas National Forest and other places around Plumas County, in the Sierra Nevada in the eastern part of California. The county seat, Quincy, is about 80 miles from Reno, Nev. Fall color reports will start at http://www.plumascounty.org on the equinox (Sept. 22).

Colors usually peak there the third week of October but can last until early November, said Brakken, the Plumas County Visitors Bureau director. The yellows and reds make a lovely contrast with the local landscape's usual hues of dark green conifers, gray granite mountains and blue skies. "When the fall color comes," Brakken said, "it is just so shockingly popping out at you."

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