The Derosia Team

Fall is the perfect time for hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The weather is mild and the colors are vibrant. There are tons of hikes for all ages and skill levels. The fall leaves are quickly moving past their peak, but there are several trails that still provide some great opportunities for leaf viewing. These hikes are in the lowest elevations of the park, where leaf color remains exceptional.                                                        Meigs Mountain Trail is found in the Elkmont area. It is a moderate, 4.6 round-trip mile hike. This trail will offer some great opportunities to view the leaf colors along Jakes Creek. You will pass a small 2 foot waterfall and remains of former inhabitants. The trail ends with an opportunity to view remains of an old dam.                 ...

October is here!  In the Great Smoky Mountains this means the leafs are starting to change colors.  This is the time of year where visitors come from all over to view and photograph the beauty the Smoky Mountains can bring. Why are fall colors so remarkable in the Great Smoky Mountains?  The first reason is the parks diversity of trees.  One hundred species of native trees live in the Great Smoky Mountains and the majority of these are deciduous. How do colors change? According to the National Park Service, as the summer comes to an end, the green pigments in leaves deteriorate, giving other colors a chance to shine.  The pigment that makes carrots orange and leaves yellow, carotenoids, are exposed as the green fades.  the reds and purples come from a pigment that is formed when sugars in leaves break down in bright autumn sunlight. The Great Smoky Mountains usually experience an autumn leaf season of seven weeks as the fall colors travel down the m...