I'd like to take a midweek break and head down to Shenandoah National Park for some hiking and camping in mid-October. Does anyone have any idea (or good references) for when leaves might peak this year at Shenandoah?

Last year, I swung by Shenandoah on October 22, and that was past the peak, with little color left. I'm thinking sometime between October 8-15 might be good, but know it can vary from year to year.

Thanks,

- Scott

Scott,
I think Oct 8-15 sounds about right. I am not sure how you feel about keeping an eye on the foliage thru live cams. If you want, you can check it out thru www.instacam.com. There's one for Shenandoah Nat'l Park in the Luray area. You can also check and compare other areas in southwestern part of VA(e.g.Wise, Roanoke, Lebanon, Danville,etc) as well as the area northwest of I-81. Not sure if the leaves changes first among the mountain top at Shenandoah Nat'l Park before the valley area.

Have fun if you go hiking.

- Mark

Bob Ryan on NBC4 has been indicating that peak time will be around the first to second week of October of this year, although I'm kind of wondering what the quality will be. Up here in Wardensville the leaves are changing, but doing so quickly before falling. Not many tree's have changed yet but walnut, oak, and other nut bearing trees in our front yard have had little time holding color before drying turning brown and falling. Normally Wardensville is about on par with Shenandoah National Park for leave changes so I can let you know what is happening here to be a better judge of what is going on there.