A friend and I took a ride up to the northern section of the Blue Ridge Parkway on Oct. 1st.  We started at Linville Falls and walked to the Gorge Overlook.  There was barely any evidence of colors changing at that time.  As we rode north on the Parkway, there were some leaves with nice color but it was not common place.  Next stop was Beacon Heights.  No apparent color from the top there either.  We ended the day at Price Lake and ran into just the slightest hint of the start of some colors.  A friend recently posted a shot from the Cowee Overlook which is south of Graveyard Fields.  There was some autumn colors in the valley, which surprised me.

The other disappointing element is the much reduced level of water around western North Carolina.  Hooker Falls in the DuPont State Forest area has very low flow as of yesterday.  Linville Falls looked good however.  The creek flowing below the bridges at Rough Ridge and the Boone Fork Trail are barely flowing.  We are finally get some light rain today but I don't think it will be enough to juice up water levels.

I'm planning on another tour of the area on 10/16 and will report my findings.