WASHINGTON — Depending where you are and where you wander through the D.C. area, you still have time to take in the beauty of fall foliage colors.
“As far as the foliage, you have not missed it if you’re going to be sticking around the D.C.- Annapolis area,” said Don VanHassent, state forester of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Forest Service.
“It’s getting probably close to a peak right here in the Annapolis area where I am,” VanHassent said. Colors have come and gone from Garrett and Allegany counties that are in higher, cooler elevations of Western Maryland. In Southern Maryland along the lower shore of the Chesapeake Bay, VanHussent expects colors to peak in about a week or less.
For viewing fall colors now, VanHassent recommends the Patapsco Valley and Gunpowder Falls state parks. Patapsco State Park is west of Baltimore along the Patapsco River. Gunpowder State Park is in the Harford County area. You can get a Maryland foliage report from the Department of Natural Resources website.
In Virginia, Skyline Drive, in Shenandoah National Park, is a popular destination for viewing fall foliage. Leaves are beginning to fall at higher elevations, but portions of the park still are vibrant.
“If people come up this weekend, there’re going to see some lovely color from the overlooks and the summits where they’re looking own into the lower elevations — because it’s beautiful down in the valley right now,” said park administrative support assistant Patressa Kearns.
During the fall colors season, Kearns posts weekly reports online, which also are available in abbreviated form by calling 540-999-3500 and pressing 6.
In the recorded message from Oct. 27, Kearns describes hickory trees as golden yellow — “they positively blaze like mutant marigolds.” The oak trees are “starting to sizzle with chili-powder reds and bright pumpkin oranges.”
Kearns also notes that sumacs and sassafras haven’t given up the stage just yet. “A patch of sumacs across the road from Stoney Man overlook at mile 38.6 is red as Christmas, like poinsettias out of season and out of place,” Kearns said.
Kearns’ last fall color report of the season will be posted on Friday.
