Honey Badger views every month in the Southern Appalachians outdoors as a time with definitive aesthetic appeal.
The autumn equinox generally features the changing of color in the highest altitudes and farthest northern region and is indeed a special time. The year 2024 so far has been a bit of an outlier.
Due to drought conditions presumably to be ameliorated by Hurricane Helene, the maples, sourwoods and dogwoods started turning color at lower altitudes and further south than in recent years and continue to change hues earlier than normal.
The Badger has no specific time that he denotes as “Fall Color Season” as the conditions are different in a relative way each year. There’s a saying the “green is a color too” and mixed with the current gold, red and light brown presents a mosaic prelude to the generally more colorful late October views.
Pictured is a photo from the Blue Ridge Parkway at elevation 4,500-feet south of Asheville. People ask me “when is the peak leaf time” and my response is “any time that looks like this photo” which was taken during the equinox weekend.
That’s a bit tongue in cheek. If you love color, you’ll love getting out to witness our magical autumn. It’s the time of the season!
Thomas Mabry – Honey Badger Images
Many of the HoneyBadgerImages are on display at instagram.com/honeybadgerimages.