Photo taken October 11, 2008

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Mountain Ashe tree located next to the Split Rock on Grandfather Mountain:

The foliage is spectacular at Grandfather Mountain this weekend! More than half of the trees above 4,000 feet have turned. The color will be at its peak along the Blue Ridge Parkway between Blowing Rock and Grandfather Mountain for the next few days.

The clouds that have been hanging over Grandfather for the past few days are lifting and the colors will only look more amazing with more sunlight shining through the leaves. Today's photograph shows a guest posing beneath a brilliant Mountain Ashe tree that grows next to the Split Rock.

We recommend driving the Blue Ridge Parkway between Blowing Rock and Linville Falls. This section will take you across Grandfather Mountain and the famous Linn Cove Viaduct. This area has a great number of maple trees that always turn very bright shades of yellow, orange and red.

One of the most colorful roads in the High Country is NC 184 between its intersection with NC 105 at Tynecastle and its intersection with NC 194 in downtown Banner Elk. This road goes past Sugar Mountain, a peak named for the profusion of very colorful sugar maple trees growing on its slopes. Sugar Mountain is also hosting its annual Oktoberfest this weekend, October 11-12.

Other colorful routes include NC 181 between Linville and Newland and NC 194 between Elk Park and Valle Crucis.