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Fall Foliage in New Jersey - 2012

For foliage resources & reports, update your bookmarks to "NJ Fall Foliage".

The 2012 NJ Fall Foliage season has begun - get out and start enjoying the color!

Autumn color can be fleeting and elusive, so to help others in search of where the color is around New Jersey (as well as nearby areas in PA/NY), you can post Fall Foliage updates in this forum.

For a list of foliage resources, check out our "NJ Fall Foliage" page. (If you have foliage resources we don't have listed there - web sites, twitter feeds, or whatnot - post them here and we'll add to our foliage page)

Post the park or area, the amount of color (ie, unchanged, low, medium, peak color), and the date, and we'll add the report to the "NJ Fall Foliage" page. Include a photo if you have one!

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Permalink Reply by njHiking.com on October 1, 2012 at 2:45pm

The 2012 NJ Fall Foliage season is just getting started, with a little color showing up in northern New Jersey.

9/30/12

Wildcat Ridge WMA and the Hawkwatch in Morris County, and the Rt 287 corridor from New Brunswick to Rt 80: Low color change with mostly green, some pops of vibrant yellow and red. Some leaf drop along the trails.

View from the Hawkwatch at Wildcat Ridge, 9/30/12

Wildcat Ridge Trail, 9/30/12

Permalink Reply by Paul on October 2, 2012 at 5:09pm

The AT in Stokes is still mostly green. Just a few touches of color looking west from the peaks. A few more days and I think the colors will start to come out.

Permalink Reply by Daniela Wagstaff on October 3, 2012 at 8:30pm

9/30/12 - Cushetunk Mountain Nature Preserve and Round Valley Reservoir

Some color on the north side of Cushetunk Mountain in the preserve, with color starting on the other side of the mountain around Round Valley Reservoir.

Permalink Reply by Linda Frank on October 4, 2012 at 1:51am

Out at Lehigh Gap Nature Center in Palmerton, Pa. two weeks ago there was a smattering of color. Interesting to see little punches of deep ruby and a splotch of burnt orange-tinged leaves here and there dotting nearby hillsides.

We made a quick run out to Sourland last Sunday before (as well as during :( ) the showers and found more color change beginning there. No pictures taken that day mainly due to the inclement weather. Besides most everything looked somewhat dreary and bedraggled thanks to this persistent cloud cover we seem to be under in the Northeast. Makes me long for another beautiful, sunny day like the one we were blessed with in Pa.

Linda

Permalink Reply by njHiking.com on October 9, 2012 at 11:34am

10/6/12

Route 1/295/55, and Route 54 in Buena to 206 up to Bordentown: Slight blush of low, mild color

Permalink Reply by Daniela Wagstaff on October 9, 2012 at 11:47am

10/08/2012 - Catskills, NY Platte Clove to Overlook Mountain

If you can't make it to the Catskills NOW (color is already on it's way out depending on the elevation), here is a preview of what is coming south. Unfortunately, Overlook Mountain was in a cloud yesterday so it was hard to get pictures of the surrounding mountains with foliage. Harriman/Sterling was becoming colorful driving by up I-87.

Permalink Reply by Linda Frank on October 9, 2012 at 1:42pm

With the weather still so chancy Saturday, we opted to stick closer to home and give Watchung Reservation a shot. Less than an hour's drive and managed to get in 11.6miles. While mileage was decent, I wouldn't travel more than an hour to have done this place. It's...well...as others have said before..."eh". But, still, better than nothing.

Color was minimal with many early, dried-out leaves falling like snow. These leaves were 'golden', but only so because of leaf scortch due to lack of adequate rains this summer. (Apparently too much rain for hikers, but not enough for trees!)

I'm hoping this doesn't mean a late or lack-luster autumn foliage further south. We're headed to Virginia this Saturday for 10 days of hiking the Blue Ridge & Shenandoah areas. At least I hope it doesn't rain. :( :( :(

Flora aside....saw like bazillion chipmunks & squirrels frantically darting about the leaf-strewn forest floor, which I'm told, augers for a snowier-than-usual winter. Considering we didn't have more than a few flakes here last winter, that could mean anything.

Also tracked this giant blue heron several hundred yards just gliding along in this roadside creek. Helped to make this hike more worthwhile.

Linda

Permalink Reply by Paul on October 15, 2012 at 11:46am

Did you know that October is "Squirrel Awareness Month"? (I did not make this up; heard it on NPR)

Permalink Reply by njHiking.com on October 15, 2012 at 1:57pm

10/14/12
Sunrise Mountain, Stokes State Forest:
High color to approaching peak, though there is still a good amount of green. As in recent years, the color isn't turning all at once for a somewhat mixed result. On the trails, a moderate amount of leaf drop.

Route 287 and 206 corridor from New Brunswick to Stokes: