October Color

Best places to photograph in October.

Autumn color moves into southern Vermont, New Hampshire, and along the coast of Maine during the first two weeks of October, a good time for lighthouse photography. Acadia National Park usually sees the peak of Fall color by October 10, about the same time New York’s Lake District and Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton reaches the peak of color. Mid-October is the best time to drive the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. State Parks in northern Connecticut see their peak color during the third week of October. Autumn color spreads south, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where the color peaks in late October. Nevada has four great autumn color locations: Rainbow Canyon, Mt. Charleston, Lamoile Canyon, and Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park. Cottonwoods in Arizona’s Canyon del Muerto and Canyon de Chelly are bright yellow during the last week of October. Most of the cottonwoods along the Virgin River through Zion National Park are bright yellow in late October. The river level is usually low enough to safely wade up the Zion Narrows.