Fall color report for Asheville and surrounding mountains: astoundingly beautiful

It's been an absolutely brilliant weekend. Crisp October air. Carolina blue skies. I haven't trekked up into the mountains yet, but I'm watching the color coming in around Asheville, and it's absolutely on fire. I have no doubt that this will be one of the most vibrant fall color seasons  we've seen recently in and around Asheville.

Here's the fall color report from the Asheville chamber folks:

Big Color Up Top

Fall is the season of color, and that is exactly what we're seeing at higher elevations. Naturalist Jesse Pope of Grandfather Mountainhas been seeing yellow birch, hobblebush, and many of the berry-bearing shrubs above 5,000 feet come to life in colors from bright red to maroon. In fact, the shrub-covered balds on the flanks of Grandfather Mountain are in nearly peak conditions. Color hunters also report that some maples are red, orange, and yellow and the birch have turned bronze and golden yellow.

Mid-Elevations Right on Schedule

You don't have to trek up to the highest peaks to find autumn hues. Although fall's peak is still a few weeks off in the Asheville area, the leaves are starting to color up nicely. AtBiltmore and The North Carolina Arboretum, sumacs and dogwoods display a fiery red, while black gums and persimmons have turned a reddish-orange. According to Cindy Carpenter of the US Forest Service, there is already bright color on sourwood trees, especially the young ones in sunny areas. The area near the entrance to Sliding Rock on Highway 276 in the Pisgah National Forest is beautiful -- keep an eye out for the yellows, oranges, and reds on hydrangeas, bottlebrush buckeyes and Virginia sweetspires.