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Fall 2007 2Cooleys.Com Ozark
Mountain Fall Foliage Reports Twin
Lakes Area Weather Urgent Area Lodging
Request About Our Reports We, Gary and Mary Cooley (aka the 2Cooleys) are the spotters. We drive through, fly over, boat past, or hike through our reporting area every few days. Our report is based 100% on what we see with our own eyes. We've done this since 1997. Moreover, since we are also commercial photographers, we return to many foliage spots several times to observe the best light conditions for making photos. Any way you want to look at it, we're out in the foliage in a number of ways in all kinds of locations. We get up on ridge tops, down in small creek valleys, and along hundreds of miles of roads as well as a few hundred air miles. New for 2007 - See Our Reporting
Photos No Crowds In The Ozarks Current 2007 Foliage Report Last Report for 2007 Thursday, November 15, 2007 Thanks for visiting our site this fall and for your trips to our area. Thanks too to all of you who took the time to email us your comments. We also want to thank all of the journalists who wrote articles about Ozark Fall Foliage and used this site as a reporting reference. Please visit us again next year! Until then, Best regards from the 2Cooleys, 8th Report, Sunday, November 11,
2007 We also greatly enjoy understory color and recommend pursuing it. Right now you can enjoy bright understory color by driving down Hwy 14 between Hwy 341 and the little spot on the map called Allison. If you want a diverse foliage drive take either Hwy 5 to Allison and pick up Hwy 14. Once on Hwy 14 look for Blanchard Springs Caverns and drive down to the Blanchard campgrounds. If you want a beautiful dirt backroad drive visit either (or both) Gunner Pool Recreation Area, and/or Barkshed Recreation Area. Both are only 3 or 4 miles off the Hwy 14 pavement. Each have beautiful bluffs over classic Ozark creeks. Both Gunner and Barkshed have parking areas and bathrooms. Whatever you do, don't travel off these roads without a map! There are endless miles of roads in this part of the Ozark National Forest. You won't get lost driving down to Gunner or Barkshed if you stay on the roads leading to them. Don't drive past either one without a map as the roads past them lead way off into the Ozark Outback. The town of Allison, Arkansas is only a spot on the map. You'll know it because right at what the map shows as Allison is Anglers Restaurant, which sits right on the White River. Anglers is a great place to stop for gasoline, gift shopping, and a great meal at a good price. You can also get a little food and gasoline at Hacker's Store in the town of Fifty-Six, Arkansas, which is on Hwy 14. You have about three or four more days of good color. There will be color for the next week, but each day it will dwindle. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for the middle of next week. It is likely that if the storms do form the wind will blow off all the remaining color. If you want fall color, it is now or never for this year! The modern rifle deer hunting season started Saturday. Don't wander the woods. Stay on the roads. If you walk the understory do so in site of the roads and you'll be fine. But don't hike any of the trails or wander far from the roads without wearing orange clothing. We highly recommend driving Hwy 341, Hwy 14, and Hwy 5, all of which are in southern Baxter County in the Ozark National Forest. Hwy 5 is also known as the Sylamore Scenic Byway. All three highways are connected so you can drive a loop if you wish. Gas and dining are available at several places in Mountain Home, Mountain View, and if you want to meet the locals, try either Anglers or Hackers. 7th Report: Wednesday, November 7,
2007 Photographers, if you want macro subjects for your fall foliage collection, now is the time. Drive Hwy 341. Smoke trees are in brilliant orange, chalk maple, Japanese maple, sweet gum, black gum, mockernut hickory, red oak, dogwood, hackberry, sumac, and locust are all offering spectacular color right now. Best afternoon light is after 4pm, best morning light is after 8am to about 10am. If you are looking for awesome landscapes with hillsides of color, wait a few days. It is individual trees offering the colors right now. The ridgetop hardwoods are turning, but have not reached peak. Best bet for close up color is to drive either Hwy 5 south out of Mountain Home, Arkansas down to Mountain View, Arkansas, or drive up from Mountain View to Mountain Home. You can also drive on Hwy 341 to either Mountain Home or Mountain View. And if you really want some color, drive down Hwy 341 from Mountain Home, then turn left onto Hwy 14 and take 14 to Blanchard Springs Caverns, then when you leave Blanchard continue on 14 until you run into Hwy 5. You can turn south to go to Mountain View, or turn north to head toward Calico Rock and Mountain Home. We highly recommend a trip into the Blanchard Springs Cavern campgrounds. Two streams, lots of color, one of the most spectacular limestone bluffs in the Ozarks, a waterfall, and a spring - all in one place. 6th Report: Monday, November 5,
2007 There's good news and bad news regarding color. The bad news is that what was shaping up to be a fantastic fall display has been reduced to average. A hard frost and warm day time temperatures caused dulling of color in many locations. A frost does not destroy color all together, it just dulls it. The good news is that there are still many colorful displays on hillsides, understories, and along roadways. You can still enjoy fall color. To see the best colors you'll need to visit no later than this weekend, preferably sooner. Most of the area is now in peak and will remain colorful for another several days - provided the weather does not turn too windy and blow the leaves off the trees. The smoke trees on the Glade Top Trail are past peak. However lots of color remains there on maples, oaks, gums, and hickory. Reds, orange, yellow, and mixed colors are still strong on individual trees along the roads. Color on the Glade Top will be good for no more than a few more days. This weekend will be the last of it along most of the Trail, which had a hard frost Saturday night. Frost causes bright colors to wilt and turn a brownish color. The Hwy 341 area in Baxter County, Arkansas is just now coming into peak. The rest of this week, and maybe a few days next week, will see peak along Hwy 341. However we recommend coming this week, or this weekend if at all possible.
5th Report: Thursday,
November 1, 2007 The smoke trees on the Glade Top Trail are in peak color and will remain so for several more days. No tree turns a brighter red than the "Smokes", and there's no better place to see them than along the Glade Top Trail, which is in the Mark Twain National Forest about 13 miles southwest of Ava, Missouri. Regarding the rest of the turn we are still a week away from peak. However, between now and peak, you can still enjoy good color along the roads, lakes and rivers in Missouri. Arkansas runs a few days behind Missouri in color turn. Regarding northern Arkansas we are still at least a week from peak, maybe more. Nice color has already developed, but will be stronger next week. If you like red trees now is the time to visit. If you prefer more yellow and orange, then next week is the time to come. If you want both reds and yellows it will be a close call, but plan on the middle of next week. We're getting excited because if the current weather pattern holds we will have the best foliage-generating conditions we've seen in ten years. A cold front is moving in and we have a freeze warning for this evening. The weather forecast remains clear for the next week. We have a simple rule of thumb for measuring what we call "foliage making temperatures". If the insects sing loudly at night, it's too warm. If the night insects are just barely singing, it is good for foliage generation. If they don't sing at all, then peak is only a day or two away. So far the night insects are singing, but not as loudly as in warm weather. A good sign. If they stop singing tonight or tomorrow night, then the peak is just around the corner. Nothing like a little folk lore in the mist of high tech weather radar maps! Regarding the choice of coming this weekend or next, here is what we recommend. If you want to come this weekend plan on looking for foliage in southern Missouri. Your two best locations will be the Glade Top Trail and Caney Mountain Conservation Area, both are in southern Missouri. Both are public lands where leaf-peeping is welcomed. If your trip plans are for northern Arkansas, and you have no choice but to come this weekend, it is not a long drive to either the Glade Top Trail or Caney Mountain. Indeed it is a very pleasant drive to both. If you do have a choice hold off coming to Arkansas until next week. If you are planning for next weekend please check back here to confirm color conditions, but we suspect that next weekend will be a good time to visit the Sylamore District of the Ozark National Forest between Mountain Home, Arkansas and Mountain View, Arkansas. However, as always, it depends on what the weather does. Glade Top Trail Directions & Map Caney Mountain Directions 4th Report: Tuesday, October 30,
2007 As always, color starts to appear along the river banks first, and it has. The hillsides still remain mostly green, but that will change over the next few days. As soon as we see change we'll report it here. We have posted a lot of foliage photos including aerials of Ozark foliage. To see these new photos click here. 3nd Report: Friday, October 26,
2007 If you travel to the area this weekend you will see color, but if you can, wait a week and chance are good you will hit the peak, or close to it. Next week we will report every two or three days as the peak develops. If the weather warms the peak will be delayed so we still can't accurately predict the peak. 2nd Report: Saturday, October 20,
2007 1st Report: Monday, October 15, 2007 The color turn has not yet started. Trees remain totally green with rare exception. The turn will begin as soon as the weather cools. Trees in low valleys and along rivers will turn first, and then color will move up the hillsides with ridge top trees being the last to turn. It is commonly believed that without normal rainfall in the summer months, fall foliage will be poor. Last year (2006) foliage was the best we had seen in 10 years but rainfall levels were low during summer 2006. So what do you believe? If we have learned anything from producing these reports for 10 years it is you just can't predict what quality of foliage you'll have. Above all else strong color depends on cool sunny days and cooler nights. Warm cloudy weather results in poor, weak color. And one good thunderstorm can blow off a beautiful display in an hour. In spring of 2007 this area, as in many other parts of southern United States, we had a hard, late freeze. The trees had almost completely leafed out when the new growth was killed by the freeze. Our spring hillsides turned from green to brown overnight. It was nearly 6 weeks before new leaves appeared. We are waiting to see what impact, if any, this will have on fall color. Flora & Fauna - For several years we've added information for nature photographers to this report, as we will again this year. We suspect that deer, bear, and other wildlife will be moving about more than normal this fall. This extra movement results from the spring freeze killing off acorn, hickory, walnut, and other hard mast food crops. Berries, plums, cherries, and other wild fruits did not appear this year. We fear the wildlife will be hungry this fall. As a result they will roam more in daylight, and they will roam over larger distances. Wildflowers continue to bloom in several colors. Eagles, osprey, and migrating hawks are starting to show up, as are ducks, cranes, and geese. One of the best ways to spot birds is to hire a trout fishing guide to take you out on the White River. If you have never piloted a shallow draft john boat on the White, we highly recommend a guide to pilot the boat for you. Not only is it safer, you'll have a lot more fun and see many more birds. The trout fishing guides know the river very well and they don't mind taking birders out for a river trip. Special Thanks - We want to say thank you to all of the journalists all over America who have helped promote this site in their newspapers and magazines. As soon as time allows we will add a Press Room with free photo downloads for reporter. Photos | Tours | Lodging | Travel | Main Page © 1997-2007 The Ozark Mountains Website (OMW), Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be used or reproduced in any manor for any reason without written permission from Ozark Mountains Website, Inc. This includes, but is not limited to, any or all photographs, and any or all text. For use permission phone 870-491-5751. Any party who uses any text, any photographs, or any other part of this presentation without written permission from Ozark Mountains Website, Inc. will be billed a minimum fee of $1,000. Cooley Digital Imaging is a division of Ozark Mountains Website, Inc.
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