Heading up to 2900 feet, toward the Signal Knob overlook on #SkylineDrive. #WTOPfall pic.twitter.com/Hsq7OTeT6w
— Neal Augenstein (@AugensteinWTOP) October 30, 2015
Editor’s note: Tweet us your autumn leaves photos at #WTOPfall.
SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Virginia — Rarely are decay and decomposition so beautiful.
The recent rain and wind, combined with the unrelenting march of the calendar from October toward November is turning a trip along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park into a flood of colors on trees and roadways.
Leaves along the 105 miles of winding roadway, stretching from Front Royal to Rockfish Gap, near Waynesboro are colorful and, in many cases, ready to drop.
“This happens every year — that’s why they call it fall,” Patressa Kearns, visitors services assistant with the National Park Service, says with a smile.
Kearns says the colors continue to magnify as chlorophyll-fueled photosynthesis ends and the leaves transition from green to gold, orange, and red.
This week’s wind and rain have sent many leaves fluttering to the ground in higher elevations along the roadway.
“When you look out from the overlooks, along Skyline Drive it can still be very, very beautiful, because you’re looking down to the lower elevations,” says Kearns. “Fall starts at the top of the mountain and creeps down, so it’s still quite colorful, down below.”
Newly-fallen leaves initially retain their colors, “but it also can be a little bit hazardous on the roads and trails, because they’re wet,” says Kearns.
The variety of trees in the park means there is still plenty of fall color left, she says.
“Trees are different. They all turn colors at different times; they all turn different colors, and they all do their fall thing in different ways. Some trees will still hang onto their leaves a little bit longer. It’s also possible to see some trees that are still green here and there.”
Kearns some of the most colorful trees are “hickories, which turn that pretty golden — almost marigold gold.”
The park has many varieties of oaks, which turn more subtle colors.
“We have some sugar maples, which turn that vivid orange-red, and they’ve been really, really pretty this year,” Kearns said.
While there aren’t many of those sugar maples, “the effect is you’re seeing dots of red trees on the hillside.”
A vine called Virginia creeper “is a very, very bright red, and it turns darker as the season progresses.”
“Sumacs are vivid, almost pink, Christmas colors of red,” says Kearns. “It’s pretty astounding — it can take your breath away.”
Kearns says to cover the entire 105 miles of Skyline Drive would take more than three hours, since the speed limit is 35 miles per hour.
“You’re looking out at these startling colors, and it can be very distracting,” says Kearns. “It can be worse than talking on your cellphone or texting.”
The drive has more than 70 overlooks, “so there are plenty of places to pull off, take some pictures and spend some time,” says Kearns.
