Best place that is close to Dallas for fall colors (Hopefully as good as smoky mountains) (Denton: rent, movies)

[TurtleCreek80]

Arkansas??

[mSooner]

The Ozarks are within driving distance, but we're talking 6-7 hours. Branson is beautiful right now, though.

Now, the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma really aren't half bad for fall color and are closer:

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Still, nothing like areas further north and east. It's one thing I'll be bummed about if we stay in Texas. I love autumn.

[TXbound2011]

Colors are nice - but I know I'll look forward to not freezing body parts off in winter and shoveling heavy wet snow up to my thighs!!!

[hamiltonpl]

I'll just rip off the band aid on this one. Nothing in Texas is like the Smoky Mountains. If you want that, go to the Smoky Mountains. Our fall colors don't last long. Nor are our forests as thick and vibrant.

[solytaire]

yeah, you might as well stop while you havent wasted gas. It wont get as good as the smoky mountains. You'll get some splashes of color here and there, but it just wont be on the level of the Smoky Mountain region.

[JimBaker488]

One of my fav activities is viewing Fall colors which I did for about 2 weeks while out west recently in the Wyoming/Utah area. But you will be very disappointed if you expect to see a significant display of colors in North Texas.
Somebody suggested the Ozarks of Missouri/Arkansas, and that's your best bet. It's a little bit of a drive and of course timing is the key to catch the leaves at their peak, but you will be very pleased if you time it right in that region of the country and it's not too far from N.Texas.

[ShellNic]

I would suggest SE Oklahoma, Beaver's Bend State Park. There at Broken Bow Lake, the trees are really beautiful and while I haven't been there in the fall, I've seen a friend's pictures of the area during October and it really is so pretty.

[ShellNic]

Oh and it's only a 2 1/2 hour drive!

[ggolf]

Originally Posted by ShellNic

I would suggest SE Oklahoma, Beaver's Bend State Park. There at Broken Bow Lake, the trees are really beautiful and while I haven't been there in the fall, I've seen a friend's pictures of the area during October and it really is so pretty.

I was going to suggest Hot Springs, AR, but OK sounds better from a distance stance.
Hot Springs is a great weekend get away, about 4 hours on I30 then north from Arkadelphia. We honeymooned at Lookout Point Inn on Lake Hamilton, and have been back several years since. Love it!

[PanTerra]

I used to have an office in Two Turtle Creek that faced north, overlooking Highland Park. The display of fall colors was great, for about two weeks. Then all the leaves fell and it went to gray.