• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Fun Things To Do
  • Restaurants & Food
  • Shopping & Business
  • Local Celebrities
  • Franklin / Nashville Basics
  • More
    • Electronics & Gadgets
    • Health & Beauty
    • Hobbies & Crafts
    • Home & Garden
    • Jobs & Money
    • Outdoor Fun
    • Travel

Franklin / Nashville TN Guide

Real People. Real Experiences. Real Helpful.

a Fun Times Guide site

Home » Travel » Fun Things To Do » Leaf Peeping In Tennessee… The Time Is NOW!

Leaf Peeping In Tennessee… The Time Is NOW!

Pin
Share
Tweet

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to yourself.


Looking for colorful leaves? Hoping to catch the fiery fall colors before they fade?

Closeup of colorful autumn leaves.

We are too. This weekend, we plan to capture some of nature’s most colorful beauty in photographs. So we’ll arm ourselves with our Canon digital camera, tripod, zoom lens, macro lens, adjustable flash, freshly charged battery, and a spare memory card, then we’ll be hitting the backcountry roads of Tennessee!

Here are some leaf-peeping tips for ALL states!

The good news for Tennesseans like us is this state is filled with places that display spectacular Autumn scenery.

The bad news is that you’ll have plenty of company out there. People tend to head to the mountains in search of the best Fall color. In fact, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg gets 1 million visitors each and every October alone!

 

Some of the less popular places that are highly recommended for their colorful fall foliage (and much smaller crowds) include:

Asheville, North Carolina area (2,000 foot elevation), including Hendersonville and Brevard. The unique thing about this area: the abundance of waterfalls! Many of the waterfalls are located right along the main roads, and others can be accessed within state parks like the Dupont State Forest.

Beautiful fall colors captured in a photograph of a waterfall.

Balsam Mountain — just outside of Cherokee, North Carolina.

Cherokee National Forest (from Chattanooga to Bristol along the TN/NC border).

Closer to home, around Nashville Tennessee, you can take a drive on the Natchez Trace Parkway, motor along the winding roads within Edwin Warner and Percy Warner parks, or take a stroll through Radnor Lake State Natural Area for the most peaceful and quiet experience you can find.

Around Nashville, the third week in October is typically the “best” time for viewing Fall colors at their peak.

Whether you make a concentrated effort to get out and explore nature’s beauty, or you just decide on a spontaneous drive to a nearby park to check out the awesome color… I encourage you to at least take a brief moment to appreciate life’s colorful rewards!

 

A little about how, why, and when leaves change colors:

  • Firey red leaf tree. photo by Lynnette at TheFunTimesGuide.comThe abnormally cool evenings in mid-August will cause some trees to initiate the leaf color process earlier than usual.
  • Other factors influencing leaf color include cooler temperatures, less moisture, the amount of sunlight and changing levels of leaf pigments.
  • If the area received adequate amounts of rainfall during the primary growth period for trees (late spring through early summer) then most of the tree’s energy will have switch to the production of wood instead of producing leaf pigments that yield bright fall colors.
  • In Tennessee, autumn color begins first at the higher elevations. Each year you can look for peak colors to occur during the third or fourth week of October — unless there is an early frost or too much rain.

 

More About The Leaves Changing Colors In Tennessee

In addition to the links I’ve included above, here are some other resources to help you find the most colorful leaves in and around Tennessee:

  • Great Smoky Mountains Fall Color Guide & Driving Tours
  • Southeast Tennessee Fall Colors
  • Where To Enjoy Some Outdoor Adventure AND Colorful Leaves In Tennessee
  • Tennessee’s Top 10 Places To See Fall Colors
  • What A Difference A Day Makes
Lynnette
Lynnette

We moved from Florida to Tennessee in 2001. All signs point to the fact that we will probably retire here — by choice. We L O V E Nashville! Our favorite places to live are just south of the City — we’ve had houses in Brentwood, Franklin, and Spring Hill. And we have properties in Leipers Fork, Cookeville, and Lewisburg. This site is where I share my best tips for moving your family to Nashville and/or visiting Nashville for the first time — with the ultimate goal of helping you find fun things to do in Williamson County and Davidson County. When I’m not out & about enjoying the Nashville area, you’ll find me at the corner of Good News & Fun Times as publisher of The Fun Times Guide (32 fun & helpful websites). To date, I’ve written over 500 articles on this site! Many of them have upwards of 100K shares.

franklin.thefuntimesguide.com/the_face_behind_the_blog/
Pin
Share
Tweet

Filed Under: Fun Things To Do, Travel Tagged With: Fall Colors, Gatlinburg TN, Nashville Fun Stuff, North Carolina

Primary Sidebar

About Us

LynnetteWe moved from Florida to Tennessee in 2001. All signs point to the fact that we will probably retire here -- by choice. We L O V E Nashville! Our favorite places to live are just south of the City -- we've had houses in Brentwood, Franklin, and Spring Hill. And we have properties in Leipers Fork, Cookeville, and Lewisburg. This site is where I share my best tips for moving your family to Nashville and/or visiting Nashville for the first time -- with the ultimate goal of helping you find fun things to do in Williamson County and Davidson County. When I'm not out & about enjoying the Nashville area, you'll find me at the corner of Good News & Fun Times as publisher of The Fun Times Guide (32 fun & helpful websites). To date, I’ve written over 500 articles on this site! Many of them have upwards of 100K shares.

Lynnette: View My Blog Posts

JennI'm a happily married mom to 3 wonderful children: Taylor (13), Gavin (10) and Garrett (8). We recently relocated to the Nashville area from Florida and we're enjoying exploring Middle Tennessee and all it has to offer. My hobbies are: writing, photography, digital scrapbooking, cooking, and all things parenting.

Jenn: View My Blog Posts

Top Searches

All The Best Stuff American Idol Art Fun Bluebird Cafe Christmas Church Clothing And Shoes Cowboy Stuff Craig Wiseman Day Trips Dogs Elizabethtown Movie Premiere Franklin Factory Franklin Fun Stuff Franklin Neighborhoods Free Stuff Fun For Kids Gatlinburg TN Gifts And Memorabilia Gone Country Grand Ole Opry Historic Stuff Holidays House Shopping And Real Estate Johnny Reid Leipers Fork TN Movies Murfreesboro TN Music And Songwriters Nashville Fun Stuff Nashville Star Parks Photos Of Franklin And Nashville Pizza Predators Hockey Reality TV In Tennessee Restaurant Reviews Roads And Driving Schools Shawn Mullins Sports Spring Hill TN Strange And Funny Water Fun Wildhorse Saloon

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Fun Times Guide logo
Shop Our Favorite Items

Copyright © 2004-2021 The Fun Times Guide | Privacy Policy | Disclosure Policy | About | Contact | Sitemap