The Fourth Corps of Discovery: Fall Colors in Shenandoah

Shenandoah Nat'l Park--looking west toward West Virginia

The fall colors we saw in Upstate New York two weekends ago (blog post forthcoming--having to rewrite this one after losing it during a computer crash!) and the sense of impending winter got us out the door on a cool, crisp day this past weekend in search of some more fall beauty and harvest-time treats.

We had been keeping a close eye on the "fall color update" blog on the NPS website for Shenandoah National Park because we knew the display along Skyline Drive, which meanders its way through the park along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, would be spectacular.

Here's an enticing passage from the latest park ranger blog entry describing the display going on in the park:

"Sumacs throughout the Park are in different stages. These shrubs don’t ever seem to play by the rules: in places where the rest of the woods are mostly green, sumacs might explode in unnatural-looking neon palettes; where the woods are every shade you can think of, the cagey shrubs might still be as green as Ireland. Sassafras trees are festive – turmeric gold in some spots, a candy bowl of tones – all on one tree – somewhere else. Along Skyline Drive scarlet Virginia creeper slithers over rock walls, as if trying to escape the lowlands and sneak across the road to safety. You might suddenly look up and catch a golden-orange hickory rising like a Jack-o’-Lantern into a turquoise sky – a scene so instantly lovely your next breath fails you and you gasp with glee."

Endless views from one of the many overlooks

We entered the park just north of Charlottesville, and drove about 65 miles north on Skyline Drive, exiting the park several hours later at its northern border in Front Royal. The pictures (although they don't do justice to the colors), will show you some of the sights we saw along the way.

On the ridgeline on scenic Skyline Drive

Literally ablaze with color

Incredible views on a gorgeous, sunny day

Enjoying unexpected splashes of color

Deep reds into browns

Some trees were a palette of color, all on their own

Glimpses of nature's mosaic around every turn

This tree was about halfway through its transformation

Gorgeous reds

Happy adventurers

If we look a little blue-lipped and cold in the pictures, we definitely were! An Arctic front had blown in for the weekend, and most parts of Skyline Drive seem to be around the 3000' elevation. The winds were gusty, and temps never got out of the high 30s. At one stop, we noticed there was something blowing around in the air, and we realized it was snowflakes that had formed due to some slight moisture in the air.

On top of the world, Mom!

Not surprisingly, we weren't the only ones who had the idea to head to the Shenandoah. Thankfully, we trusted our hunch that there would be less traffic driving north through the park rather than southbound. At times, it was a little like driving through parts of Yellowstone, where people abandon their cars in the middle of the road to get pictures of bears, only here people were hurrying to capture pics of the fleetingly beautiful fall colors.