Shenandoah National Park Fall Foliage Peak Updates: Sassafras Trees Are This Week's Scene Stealer
Fall has definitely started at the Shenandoah National Park, coloring the foliage with a burst of red, orange and yellow.
According to the Shenandoah's website, autumn hues are starting to pop up in different areas of the park, from Front Royal to Rockfish Gap. The maple tree in the Meadow Spring Parking at mile 33.5, for example, showcases a happy swirl of cherry, orange, and lime. Some of the sumacs have also started changing colors, while others have remained a deep green. Those found at the Spitler Knoll Overlook are especially dramatic, with an explosion of hues resembling the Mardi Gras feather boas.
Some of the maples located at the Swift Run Gap are also reportedly transitioning from lime to golden to scarlet, while the leaves of the hickories and birches at the Park's South District are turning orange. The trees that are putting up a show this week, however, are sassafras. The ones near Calf Mountain Overlook, about seven miles from Skyline Drive's southern, are reportedly glowing a luminous light red.
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"The scene-stealer this week, though, is sassafras. Sassafras trees, like sumacs, are the mood rings of the Appalachian woods. In the Park this week you can see the whole gamut of sassafras shades – single trees glittering jewel-tones of both crimson and green, startling as mangoes in every stage of ripeness, or dressing themselves in classic monotones like auburn, paprika, and Velveeta orange," the website describes.
This year's fall is noticeably different from the usual, according to the Washington Post. The temperature is too warm and there is hardly any rain. These anomalies are said to be the reasons why the autumn colors are slow to arrive.
In Pennsylvania, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has already warned the citizens that the usual burst of fall hues might not be as brilliant this year. Still, reports indicate that the foliage at the farther north of the state has reached peak colors, while other areas are bound to change soon.
