When
Is Peak? Ten Things To Know About Ozark Foliage
by Gary Cooley, 2Cooleys.Com
You may read or hear conflicting dates for when this area's peak foliage color
occurs. There are good reasons for these conflicting dates, which I explain below. First,
when is peak?
Over ten years of consecutive foliage
reporting clearly proves that the peak for our reporting area occurs during the last few
days of October and the first few days of November. If you need to plan well in advance
for your Ozark fall foliage trip, your best bet is coming over the last weekend of
October, or the first weekend of November. However, it can depend on several factors,
which is why you need to read our report.
Now for the events which are responsible
for the conflicts in peak foliage prediction.
First: Peak foliage is highly dependent on weather
conditions. It takes clear sunny days with temperatures no warmer than the mid 60's, and
cooler nights with temperatures no higher than the high 30's to mid 40's. When a peak is
about to occur, a few warm cloudy days will slow that turn. Conversely, a hard frost can
damage the color because of accelerated chemical reactions within the leaves.
Don't worry about how much rain there was
during the summer. If the leaves are green in the fall, they WILL turn color! While it is
somewhat true that summer rain levels can help increase color brilliance, it is not a
given fact. Weather conditions in October are the primary force behind color change.
Second: An Ozark foliage turn does not happen as quickly as
a color change in northern states. In fact there are several stages in Ozark color turns.
The first color turns begin along the rivers in low valleys. Turns then progresses up the
hillsides. By the time peak color appears on the hillsides most of the trees along the
rivers will have long since peaked and dropped their leaves.
Third: There are an incredible number of tree species in
the Ozarks. There are 42 oak species alone. Each tree specie changes at a different time
in a different pattern. Maples, hickory, beech, ash, hackberry, gum, and many more all are
on their own schedules.
Fourth: You'll see some hillsides in full color, but across
a valley is a green hillside. Pockets of cold air tend to form between low lying
north-facing hillside valleys and ridges. As it cools air drains from the ridgetops to the
valleys after sunset. If the cold air is trapped by a land formation it can lead to an
early turn for that particular spot. These spotty turns are not common in the northern
states.
Fifth: A key point to remember is that you'll see
understory foliage as well as canopy foliage. The most beautiful colors occur in the
understory, usually no more than a few feet off the ground. Drive down back roads in the
National Forests, which are public lands. Park, get out, and walk around next to the road.
You will not be disappointed.
Six: Foliage turns earlier the further north you go. For
example, peak occurs a week earlier in central Missouri than it does in Mountain View,
Arkansas. Pick any point on the map in the Ozarks. Plan that for every 30 air miles north
you go, the foliage will be one day more advanced toward peak.
Seventh: Remember that our Fall in the Ozarks foliage report
is for our reporting area only. Our area base is Mountain Home, Arkansas, then north 42
air miles to Ava, Missouri, and 30 air miles south to Mountain View, Arkansas. Our
east-to-west coverage is west from Hardy, Arkansas to the Jasper/Harrison, Arkansas area.
In general our report will be accurate
outside this area as far as east-west Ozark conditions go. But north-south conditions will
be much further advanced or behind our reporting area. The color turn follows a
north-south pattern as the days shorten.
Eighth: We do not use "spotters" for our foliage
reporting. We are the spotters. We drive the highways, walk the trails, boat the waters,
and as peak approaches, we fly over our area to make sure we're "spot on" with
our reports.
Needless to say, this foliage running takes
a lot of time. That is why other reporting efforts rely upon spotters they can call and
ask what the foliage looks like in their area. Our experience has been that spotters all
seem to have a different standard of what stage color is in. The result can be a spotty
report ( sorry, could not resist the pun).
Ninth: I'm a full-blown leaf-peeping fall foliage junkie.
I grew up in Vermont. I have seen the best foliage color in the world more than once. And
I have also lived in the Rocky Mountains, and in the Appalachian Mountains. Every region
has a different foliage turn. It takes a lot to impress me. That is why you will not see a
lot of hype and and exaggeration in our reports.
Tenth: Contributing somewhat to the confusion over peak
foliage dates are that the cable TV channels run foliage reports showing peak foliage
occurring in late September. These reports are for northern, not southern states. Southern
states turn about a month to six weeks later than northern states. Don't go by what you
see on TV for this area. They are reporting northern foliages. If you miss the northern
peaks, come on down south!
Best
Area Foliage Drives
(For complete driving tour directions visit
our Driving Tours )
Whether you just want to take an afternoon
drive or get out "into it", either of these two destinations, and the roads
leading to them, will serve you well. Each of these destinations are public property with
easy access. You can visit both in one day since they are about 11/2 hours apart. Be sure
to get both an Arkansas and Missouri highway map before you head out. The information
below is general information only, and is not complete enough to use for driving
directions. The idea here is simply giving you the destinations and their general
locations.
First is the Sylamore District
of the Ozark National Forest, which is between the two towns of Mountain Home and Mountain
View, Arkansas. The 130,000 acre Sylamore District borders the 17,000 acre Leatherwood
Wilderness area. The Leatherwood then borders the Lower Buffalo Wilderness area for a
total of 39,000 acres of prime Ozark Wilderness.
Just outside the Sylamore
District is Mountain View, Arkansas, Blanchard Spring Caverns, and the Ozark Folk Center.
If you want to include fall festivals, some excellent live Bluegrass music shows, and some
top-notch art and craft shopping, be sure to visit the Mountain View area. The caverns are
also an excellent addition to any trip to the Sylamore.
The second destination is the Glade Top Trail just a couple miles
southwest of Ava, Missouri. This is a well maintained dirt road that runs along a series
of high ridges. There are several scenic pullouts that give some of the best views of the
Ozark Uplands. There are picnic areas and even a public restroom in the middle of nowhere
at the most scenic spot on the Trail. Few spots in the Ozarks offer better fall foliage.
If you are visiting the Bull
Shoals Lake area then drive Arkansas State Highway 14 from the Yellville area to Mountain
View. Highway 14 is a beautiful Ozark drive. If you are visiting the Norfork Lake area,
then Highway 5 is your choice. You can go north to Caney, or south to the Sylamore.
Back
Road Adventures
Seeing the Outback Ozarks
If you want to be more adventuresome and
drive the less common roads, the Ozarks are loaded with back roads, both paved and gravel.
These roads offer some truly fascinating drives. You'll see little streams, old farms, and
rock formations you won't see on the main highways. HOWEVER! It is VERY easy to get lost
on these roads, and cell phones don't work well back in the hills. If you go backroading
make sure you are well armed with good maps! If you get lost most of the local people are
friendly and will be glad to give you directions.
About the only way you can
make the locals mad is if you mess with their fences and cattle gates. DO NOT climb fences
or otherwise enter private property without permission. Too many people leave cattle gates
open or otherwise weaken fences. The result is the cattle owners spend three days trying
to locate their escaped cows out in the Ozark hills. This does not make them very happy so
they get real protective of their fences and gates. Show some respect for their cows,
fences, and gates, and most locals will treat you very well.
Photographer's Tips
Foliage and Fall Wildlife
In general fall conditions are well under way. Indeed there
are so many photo ops right now your challenge will simply be deciding what to shoot.
The first thee weeks of October and the first week of
November offer several different photo ops here in the Ozarks. In addition to foliage this
is also the period when Ozark wildlife is very active. This is the time of year when many
berries and fruits are ripe, and it is also the time of year that acorns, walnuts, pecans,
and hickory nuts all ripen and fall to the ground. Wildlife goes into a three week feeding
frenzy to fatten up for winter.
Migrating birds are attracted to this Ozark bounty. Up north
the food is mostly gone, but down here birds can fill up one more time for the rest of
their southward journey. Seeds, berries, and insects are still plentiful so there's plenty
of forage for migrating birds. Both song birds and raptors migrate through this area. Bald
eagles winter on the lakes and rivers feeding on fish.
The early turning trees offer photographers
a change to shoot separate trees which are in strong contrast to the still-green
neighboring trees. You'll find ops not available any other time of year in the weeks
preceding the peak. The primary pre-peak foliage attraction are the dogwoods.
With brilliant scarlet leaves and brilliant
scarlet berries, dogwoods offer some exciting macro and landscape shots. The beauty of
dogwoods is they look great in any light or weather condition. From fog and rain to bright
sunlight, dogwoods in peak display can't look bad. Dogwood leaves on the ground offer a
change to capture some very unique colors for your texture stock. And at the same time the
leaves turn red, so do the dogwood berries. The berries are a favorite wildlife snack so
they don't last long.
Several species of wildflowers are still in
bloom. Capture a few fall leaves around the wildflowers and you'll have shots not
frequently seen in foliage publications!
Ozark insects, of which there are many colorful
species, do not die off during foliage so you'll have a rare chance to shoot colorful
insects on colorful foliage. Giant walking sticks will be on the leaves until the first
heavy frost. As temperatures cool insects get sluggish and are much easier to photograph.
Look for insects on wildflowers, in rotten wood logs and stumps, and on tree leaves.
Mushrooms and fungus are also plentiful this
time of year. The challenge is finding them before the animals do. Many small animals
relish the several colorful species of edible mushrooms and fungi growing in the Ozarks.
The forest floors are damp from good rainfalls all summer so mushroom growth is strong
right now.
If you are a large animal photographer the
Sylamore District of the Ozark National Forest has a good black bear population. There are
also good populations of bobcat, deer, wild turkey, coyote, rabbits, and both gray and red
fox. However, since hunting is allowed in the Sylamore, the animals are jumpy. Your best
bet is to cross the road and go into the Leatherwood Wilderness. Because motorized
vehicles are not allowed in the Leatherwood, and because the terrain there is very rugged,
not many hunters venture into the Leatherwood.
The Ozarks have good populations of large fox
squirrels. Normally fox squirrels are much shyer than the grays and can be hard to
photograph. However the fox squirrels know that the best acorns and walnuts are still on
the branches, not the ground. As a result they'll be out on the end of branches gathering
nuts. This will give you some great shot opportunities not found any other time of year.
In most cases you can get close enough to use a 300mm zoom. The squirrels will be active
all day so you won't need a super fast lens.
Several wild berries and grapes are ripe at this
time. Hackberry, smooth sumac, gum,devil's walking stick, bittersweet, and many others
like the beauty berry (aka French Mulberry) shown above are either ripe now, or soon will
be. These colorful berries can keep a macro shooter busy for a week.
While you are out bushwhacking for that next
winner shot, keep your eyes open for some unique texture shots as well. With some 230
species of trees in the Ozarks you'll find some amazing barks. Karst formations rich in
minerals give stone faces unique color. Indeed the rocks themselves are unique.
If landscapes are your pursuit the Ozarks do not
offer the grand, wide-open scenes you find out west. Form, light, textures, and tones are
not grandiose. Instead your compositions, for the most part, will encompass a much smaller
subject field. The best landscapes are generally found under the forest canopy. However,
there are some dramatic vistas where you can capture early morning fog on the move,
especially on the lakes and rivers.
Gary Cooley
Ozark Mountains Website, Inc. (OMW)
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