Want to know the latest about Arkansas’s fall color? Or scenic routes for best viewing? You’ll find all this information – and more – on www.Arkansas.com. Click on the “Fall Color Update†icon.
Updated fall color reports are posted each Thursday by 5 p.m. A network of “spotters†keeps the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism apprised of the fall foliage status around the state. These reports are then compiled and posted online.
In addition to the leaf report, you’ll find information on various scenic drives across the state, fall festivals and events, and hot deals and packages.
Some of the state’s more popular scenic drives are nationally designated routes. These include the Talimena National Scenic Byway, which traverses the top of Rich Mountain in western Arkansas; Crowley’s Ridge Parkway National Scenic Byway and the Great River Road National Scenic Byway, both which cut through the colorful hardwoods of the St. Francis National Forest in eastern Arkansas. There are also US Forest Service Scenic Byways with impressive natural vistas. Five of these are in the Ozark National Forest: Mount Magazine (Ark. 309 from Paris across Mount Magazine to Havana), “Pig Trail” (Ark. 23 north of Ozark to its junction with Ark. 16), Ozark Highlands (Ark. 21 north out of Clarksville to the Buffalo National River), Highway 7 (Ark. 7 from Hot Springs National Park in the Ouachita National Forest north through the Ozark National Forest), and Sylamore (Ark. 5 and 14 from Calico Rock and Allison, which provides a peaceful and beautiful approach to Blanchard Springs Caverns).
Other US Forest Service Scenic Byways are: Talimena (Ark. 88 from Mena to the top of Rich Mountain and Queen Wilhelmina State Park), and St. Francis (Ark. 44 and Forest Rd. 1900 between Marianna and Helena/West Helena, offering a drive through magnificent Eastern Arkansas hardwood forests as it cuts across the lower end of the unusual geologic formation known as Crowley’s Ridge).
For more information, visit www.Arkansas.com.