Fall color season launched in NC State Parks & Blue Ridge Parkway

The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog: Fall color season launched in NC State Parks & Blue Ridge Parkway:

Fall color season launched in NC State Parks & Blue Ridge Parkway

Abundant summer rainfall and cool September nights have already launched the fall foliage season in high elevations of western North Carolina state parks. For the first time, travelers can keep track of peak color as it makes its way across the state through park ranger reports available online at www.visitnc.com, according to the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation.

Regular updates will keep visitors posted on how fall color is progressing through the different types of forests in North Carolina, from the brilliant red of mountain sourwood to the rust-colored cedar in eastern wetlands. The fall season in the state truly lasts from late September into December.

“State parks, with their convenient access and miles of hiking trails, are natural destinations for people who want to get up close and personal with fall color. And, the 42 state park units present the fall foliage experience in every corner of the state,” said Lewis Ledford, state parks director.

Western state parks will immediately join a list of sites reporting peak color to the N.C. Division of Tourism, which prominently features a fall foliage travel section on www.visitnc.com. As the season progresses, rangers in other regions of the state will submit similar reports.

Here are a few of the most popular state parks for enjoying fall color include:

* Stone Mountain State Park in Wilkes and Alleghany counties, where fall color is peaking just as leaves begin to fall in the higher elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The park offers more than 18 miles of hiking trails.

* Hanging Rock State Park in Stokes County, named in 2012 as one of the 10 best spots for viewing fall color in the South by Southern Living magazine. The park offers trails across nine named peaks.

* Raven Rock State Park in Harnett County, where beech groves and hardwood forests mix with eastern evergreens. The park offers surprisingly challenging terrain in the piedmont.

* Merchants Millpond State Park in Gates County, where swamp cedars and stands of hardwood alternate color palettes. Canoes can be rented for waterborne leaf watching.

Travelers and leaf peepers in the western part of the state may also want to note a new fall color tracking tool for the Blue Ridge Parkway. The folks at Blue Ridge Parkway Daily are providing a unique color-coded map of the BRP which shows the progress of fall colors along the entire route. Here's what the latest update looks like, but to check out updates as the fall season progresses, you should click here:

Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

BRP Rangers Bust Ginseng Poachers

The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog: BRP Rangers Bust Ginseng Poachers: On Sunday, September 30th, protection rangers in the Ridge District of the Blue Ridge Parkway detected and apprehended two separate groups of poachers illegally taking ginseng from park lands.

A group of four were seen digging illegally by rangers Jeremy Sears and Marc Cyr; three of them were cited for the illegal removal of the plant. Rangers Zeph Cunningham and Miranda Cook then contacted two people as they walked along the parkway to their vehicle. Further investigation resulted in the rangers discovering a bag stashed in the woods that contained a large amount of ginseng and digging tools. One of the people they contacted admitted to digging the ginseng and was placed under arrest. A search of their vehicle resulted in the discovery of a second bag of ginseng.

Wild ginseng is currently being sold for $500 to $600 per pound.

Jeff
Hiking in the Smokies