vdeal
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Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Sept 22, 2023 16:45:10 GMT -5
Well, tomorrow is the official first day of autumn. I'm ready.
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Post by va3pinner on Sept 22, 2023 22:22:37 GMT -5
you and me both! "Sweat Season" is finally over!!!!
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vdeal
Forum Elder
Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Sept 23, 2023 7:33:55 GMT -5
va3pinner,
Not sure what the summer was like for you but here in the WV mts the highest temp I saw was 86° and on only two days. Summer was a bit of a non-event this year.
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Post by anfhiker on Sept 26, 2023 9:39:19 GMT -5
I was out in PA this weekend, and it looked like things were rapidly beginning to change there. I think it could be another very good year for leaves there, with temps becoming consistently cool this early. It might be another week or two before it's peak around the Allegheny National Forest, but I would guess that the traditionally early locales (Quehanna, Susquehannock areas) will be colored up this week and next.
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vdeal
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Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Sept 27, 2023 9:43:46 GMT -5
anfhiker,
Thanks for the update. Things are changing really early this year. In Morgantown, WV, where leaves usually don't change much until well into October, I'm seeing a decent amount of color with some trees fully turned. I'm not sure what this portends.
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Post by anfhiker on Sept 27, 2023 13:31:56 GMT -5
It seemed that way to me when I was there. Last year it was early as well, so maybe it's the pattern for now. Out here in the Midwest, things are starting to tint as well. We are hoping to hit upper Wisconsin in the next week to 10 days to take in the show there.
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Post by GaliWalker on Oct 1, 2023 10:27:58 GMT -5
I visited Bear Rocks and the Roaring Plains canyon rim yesterday; I’ll put up a trip report later. Fall conditions were coming along but a week from prime. The blueberries - or are they huckleberries? - were almost, but not quite, fully red. Some of the sugar maples were bright red, and really gorgeous! It’s starting… Edit: While there were plenty of people at Bear Rocks, it was much less crowded than the past few falls. Either they’re all waiting for next week, or the pandemic rush is over. Looking towards Dolly Sods from Flatrock Plains
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vdeal
Forum Elder
Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Oct 2, 2023 12:20:52 GMT -5
Thanks for the update Gali. I was hoping someone would be in the area.
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vdeal
Forum Elder
Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Oct 9, 2023 10:33:55 GMT -5
A buddy and I did a bike ride Friday on the GAP (Great Allegheny Passage) from Garrett, PA to just past the Big Savage Tunnel about a mile north of the Mason Dixon line. We crossed Meadow, Savage and Big Savage Mountains. It was a cloudy day with a few sprinkles. I would guess that the trees were about 30% turned with beeches a very nice yellow color and maples starting to come along. There was a decent amount of leaf fall on the trail. There were no great, colorful landscapes. The color was closer in on the personal level. A few trees here and there but still nice. Personally, I don't think this year is going to match last year's spectacular display.
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Post by GaliWalker on Oct 9, 2023 12:12:31 GMT -5
Central Virginia - Shanandoah and further south - are at least a couple of weeks away from peak fall. Nothing much happening there right now.
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vdeal
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Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Oct 17, 2023 19:05:52 GMT -5
Update from Chestnut Ridge, northern WV. For those unfamiliar, Chestnut Ridge is the westernmost ridge of the Appalachian Mts. in northern WV and southwestern PA and on it are Coopers Rock State Forest and the Snake Hill Wildlife Management Area and on its eastern flank just north of the PA border is the Quebec Run Wild Area. Last week I almost reported that leaf color was spotty and dull which it was. Over the weekend and ensuing days we've had over an inch of rain and days have stayed gray and cool. This has helped tremendously. I would say we're at 50% or greater color with most species showing good to very good color. A couple maples in my yard are fantastic and I've seen many on the ridge that look nice. I'm still not sold on it being a full landscape show but its getting better. Not as good as last year but beginning to put on a decent show. Many areas have not had a frost yet so that might help when we get it. Even in Morgantown at around 1000 ft in elevation there are some nice colors. We've had some leaf fall but haven't had a lot of wind so it looks like at least a few more weeks of good color in this area.
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vdeal
Forum Elder
Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Oct 19, 2023 8:40:00 GMT -5
The WV Dept of Tourism is saying that "West Virginia Continues to Experience Best Fall Foliage of the Decade". Of course, they said that last year also. Not having been down in the mountains this year I am a smidge skeptical and wonder if this is some good PR though I suspect colors are very nice. Unfortunately, things have not conspired to let me get out to verify. I'm sure there are plenty of pictures on Instagram but now they have locked down and demand a mugshot for access and I refuse to give that. I will add to my comments from two days ago that Chestnut Ridge and the Morgantown area are having a very, very nice year color-wise. So, are they right? Can anyone confirm?
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vdeal
Forum Elder
Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Oct 19, 2023 8:48:32 GMT -5
The WV Dept of Tourism is posting pictures from Instagram on their live leaf map at wvtourism.com/fall-map/. It does look nice.
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Post by GaliWalker on Oct 20, 2023 22:23:08 GMT -5
Fall colors are peaking in West Virginia right now. Go see them this weekend!
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vdeal
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Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Oct 23, 2023 13:59:48 GMT -5
We had over an inch of rain in the region over the last three days with a decent amount of wind also. This morning most of the area had a frost. Needless to say, these conditions are finalizing the fall foliage color change. Trees are still holding leaves well but quite a few came down this weekend and the frost should initiate the still green trees to change. My guess is that best colors will be below 3000' from here on out.
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vdeal
Forum Elder
Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Oct 24, 2023 14:09:30 GMT -5
I just checked the Pendleton County (WV) traffic cams and much of the high country is past peak but the leaves still look to be on. Surprisingly, North Fork Mt. still looked leafy and colorful (at least what I could see). I also noticed that while much of the area was well past peak the stream valleys still had decent color.
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Post by GaliWalker on Oct 24, 2023 14:20:45 GMT -5
In my experience, North Fork Mountain, being east of the Allegheny Front, always lags behind Dolly Sods, etal, by 2 weeks or so.
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vdeal
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Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Oct 25, 2023 12:15:43 GMT -5
Ok, has the board basically died? Besides myself and Gali, no one is really commenting on this thread. Where's arfcomhiker and va3pinner or jmitch? Surely others are out there.
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Post by anfhiker on Oct 25, 2023 15:48:20 GMT -5
Vdeal, I have moved to the Chicago area so my leaf reporting for the Mid Atlantic is done for a bit. I will, however, way that the leaves were pretty good when I visited northern Wisconsin the first week of October and then central Wisconsin this past weekend! It seems like a solid foliage season all around.
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Post by va3pinner on Oct 25, 2023 16:09:00 GMT -5
You call I will answer!!!! On a Saturday the 21st I took Gali's suggestion, grabbed my wife and we drove out the blackwater falls State Park to act like old people.. well actually we are but that's another story..... The drive up 48 to Davis was just spectacular Once we got into the high country a lot of the leaves were down, but what was left was just on fire. My wife and I have hiked all through that area. For years we would go to blackwater falls State Park during ski season, but I didn't know she had never been to the overlooks for the canyon! She's not real well at this point, and was a bit confused why we were walking behind the lodge, but once we got to the overlook she was hogging the whole view with her camera just watching the light change. It was one of those windy/flying clouds/ changung light kind of days, we took a lot of pictures! I finally saw weather moving in we went inside and had dinner while it just poured rain out there. When we finally did enter the lodge, it was busy with people of course, but everyone's attention was this beautiful young woman standing in the lobby all by herself dressed head to toe in a wedding dress and bridal veil. We did not take pictures because she looked really uncomfortable standing there. It was in the 30s and I know every time somebody walk through the door she got a blast of cold air for at least a half hour. She'll remember that wedding, just like my wife remembers more than 40 years ago we spent about a week in dolly sods for a honeymoon. She tells people I tried to kill her on her honeymoon and then takes out the pictures just to show how beautiful it was then. All in all a very good day for both of us, perfect for a couple old people!
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