Discover October Gold in the North Carolina Mountains!
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Before living here, I thought that the leaves basically changed and fell off the trees in about two weeks or so. NOW, I know they begin falling in September and continue into November. They start changing colors at the tops of the mountains and gradually work their magic down into the valleys and gorges.
The "granddaddy" of them all is the Blue Ridge Parkway. Stretching for 252 miles from
the Virginia border to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the
Parkway's many overlooks give motorists safe leaf-looking all along the
way.
The Cherohala Skyway in the far western part of the state
climbs to elevations of over 5,300 feet. Travelers look down on
stunning views of the Snowbird Mountains and the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock
Wilderness Area and on clear days can see the Great Smoky Mountains in the
distance.
Twenty NC State Scenic Byways weave through the countryside, from the
Yadkin Valley wine country to the "Land of Waterfalls," from the summits of the High Country to the ancient ancestral home of the Cherokee.