The Best National Parks for Fall Foliage

The transition from summer to fall will inspire many travelers to venture into America's national parks in search of vibrant autumn colors. While there are plenty of spectacular places for leaf peepers to enjoy this season, a handful of national parks stand out for their unparalleled fall hues.

Fall foliage within Acadia National Park in Maine typically peaks in mid-October around the dates of October 13-22, but visitors will notice leaves changing colors at higher elevations of the park by late September. Acadia's mix of evergreen and hardwood trees as well as its position along the Atlantic Ocean make it one of the most photogenic in the country come autumn. Cadillac Mountain and Jordan Pond are among the many highlights of Acadia, but visitors short on time may settle for the various scenic viewpoints along the 27-mile Park Loop Road.

America's most visited national park is also one of the best for fall colors as its home to a variety of trees, including tulip poplar, birch, black cherry, dogwood, sourwood, shining sumac, hickories, oaks and maples which work in concert to produce mesmerizing autumn colors across two states. This year, the experts are predicting that leaves at higher elevations of the park will begin to show off vibrant red, yellow and orange hues around mid-October, with the colors moving into lower elevations through mid-November.

Although it receives far less fanfare compared to Acadia and the Great Smoky Mountains, Ohio's Cuyahoga Valley National Park showcases fall colors like few other places in the U.S. Just a short drive from cities like Cleveland and Akron, the park is easily accessed and boasts a number of photogenic stops for autumn leaf peepers, including Brandywine Falls, Beaver Marsh and the historic Everett Covered Bridge.

Visitors to Virginia's Shenandoah National Park will want to make the scenic cruise along the 105-mile-long Skyline Drive, which boasts a whopping 70 overlooks where park-goers can hop out of the car for a better view of the fall colors. Foliage is at its best in October when the rolling hills dazzle with red, yellow and orange leaves complemented by some of the best sunsets on the East Coast.

The best time to experience gorgeous fall colors in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park is in late September and early October when visitors will find fewer crowds but plenty of the park's iconic golden aspen groves. Travelers can experience the changing colors from the comfort of their vehicle on the scenic Trail Ridge Road or while breathing in the crisp autumn air on a hike around Bear Lake or Alberta Falls.

You don't expect to find a whole lot of fall color in West Texas but, then again, Guadalupe Mountains National Park continues to be one of the nation's most overlooked protected lands. Fall color season in Guadalupe Mountains National Park usually begins in mid-October and continues through mid-November but depends on a variety of factors, including temperature, sunlight and soil moisture. Autumn visitors to Devil's Hall and McKittrick Fall are likely to find eye-popping red, yellow and orange leaves mixed in with some green. "Our fall colors, we get very brilliant yellows, reds and oranges," the park's chief of interpretation Elizabeth Jackson told the Carlsbad Current-Argus. "It is largely from the big tooth maple that grows in the park, although we do have lovely evergreens, Texas madrones with lovely red berries, too. It's quite unique and beautiful look at."

Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park is often at its most colorful in mid-September to early October when quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwoods, black hawthorns and willows join forces to transform the park into a vivid sanctuary and leaf peeper's paradise. The Willow Flats and Snake River Overlooks are a must for fall color seekers as is the park's iconic Oxbow Bend.

Glacier National Park in Montana offers visitors a chance to catch awesome colors from September into October thanks to a wide variety of tree species. Cottonwood, aspen and western larch trees give off an incredible golden and amber color this time of year. Be sure to drive the 50-mile-long Going-to-the-Sun Road for sensational views of these vivid peaks and valleys.

A couple of hours southeast of Seattle is where you'll find Washington's Mount Rainier National Park, a natural wonder boasting some of the most colorful meadows and forests on the planet from late September to mid-October. The presence of red huckleberry and larch, cottonwoods, willows, aspen and numerous other tree species gives this park a tremendous pop of color that's only enhanced by waterfalls, ponds and a mountainous backdrop.