Asheville, North Carolina fall foliage

Asheville sits in a broad valley ringed by some of the highest mountains in the East, and the Blue Ridge Parkway runs along the edge of the city. Mount Pisgah, visible from much of Asheville on a clear day, rises southwest of town. Farther south on the Parkway, the overlook at Looking Glass Rock faces a huge dome of bare rock, and Graveyard Fields, at about 5,100 feet, is a high valley with open meadows and waterfalls that is often one of the first places around Asheville to show color. North of town, Craggy Gardens sits more than a mile high, with sweeping views, and Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the East, is beyond it. Because these high places turn weeks before the city, the color moves down the slopes toward Asheville as the season goes on.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is the drive. Head north to Craggy Gardens and on toward Mount Mitchell, or south past Mount Pisgah to Looking Glass Rock and Graveyard Fields, where the road climbs above 5,000 feet. Sections of the Parkway can close, so check its status before you go. Near Graveyard Fields, US 276 descends through Pisgah National Forest past Looking Glass Falls, which is right beside the road.