Fall Foliage (Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Muskogee: travel, sick, home)

[edvl]

Does anyone know where to get reliable info about fall foliage in OK? The info on http://www.travelok.com/foliage/index.asp is outdated.
Or could you describe the area around you? I am near OKC, any area within a 2 hours drive.
Thanks

[KellyD]

I would be very interested in this as well if people could report on the progress of fall colors in thier area. I can tell you as of today, Tulsa has a few trees just starting to turn, but pretty much very little color at the time.

I would be interested in current colors down at the Talimena Drive (http://www.talimenascenicdrive.com) and at Broken Bow, Oklahoma. I'll post what I can as I venture out this fall in search of fall colors. I haven't been down to Beaver's Bend in a few years to take pictures, but would like to catch it near peak this year. (You can see my previous year's ventures down there at http://www.kellydrown.com if you're interested.)

-Kelly

[Jammie]

How nice to know that the trees are first STARTING to turn down there. We were kind of hoping for the gold colors and the reds, but green is fine, too. I just hate it when they're big sticks.

We'll be in Tulsa Sat. and probably be home by next Fri. I'll let you know how things are there. Talimena Drive??? We've heard that is beautiful. It seems like autumn is a bit late this year, which is fine by me. Southeastern, So. Dak. here~we're about half gold and half green yet. The only problem is last weekend we had such awful wind and it blew so many of the pretty, gold leaves off. Someday we plan on taking the Talimena Drive tour. Let us know if it's as pretty as it's rep says it is.

[Jammie]

I'm a member on an OK forum and just read that their fall foliage is normally from late Oct. to mid Nov. It may vary a bit from year to year, of course.

[Nameless]

Not to many colors around Oklahoma City, sadly. I can say though, that the trees in my backyard have a hint of yellow now. So I'm happy about that! I'd look for them to change even more over the next few days with this cool weather coming in.

As far as timing, this seems to be a bit early for the colors to me. And I'd agree that peak times seem to be late Oct and early - mid Nov.

I'd guess with the elevation of Talimena Drive that dispite being farther south, it's foliage may be similar on the timeline to Tulsa?

[KellyD]

Originally Posted by Nameless

I'd guess with the elevation of Talimena Drive that dispite being farther south, it's foliage may be similar on the timeline to Tulsa?

It has been my experience that down the Talimena Drive and south to Beaver's bend has been later than up here in Tulsa. The pretty parts of Arkansas however are usually ahead of us. We're just starting to turn around the Tulsa area now, which means Arkansas should be getting close to peak... maybe another week for them at the latest. Beaver's bend may be several weeks away yet for them.

In a couple days, I'll journey southward and eastward and start scouting it out. I don't want to miss Fall this year as I suspect it may be a good one. (At least hope so.)

-Kelly

[Nameless]

Thanks for that. Leaves continuing to change a bit more in the backyard. Starting to see a few reds and oranges mixing in

[Jammie]

We just got back from our trip to OK. It doesn't quite look like autumn was setting in there yet. Some of the bushes had turned the beautiful red, but most of the others were still pretty green with an occasional group that had a touch of gold in them. We stayed in Tulsa and absolutely loved it there. It just appears to be too big and too fast of a city for us. We went down to Poteau and drove along I-59 along the eastern edge of OK. It is so pretty there. ( We were going to go on the Talimena Drive, but I was getting carsick, normal for me.)We went through several towns like Salisaw, Muskogee, Checotah (where Carrie Underwood grew up), and many other towns during our trip. Talequah was the one town that we didn't get to visit that we had planned on seeing. We absolutely love the northeastern part of the state. Grove just stole our hearts. My husband was only there for about 4 hours when he said that it would definitely be the place for us. It is very nice, but I wasn't done looking around yet. I wanted to check out Talequah and we'll do that on our next trip.

[Nameless]

You're a couple weeks early for the color. But things are changing fast. Mostly below 70 degrees this week too. Where are you moving from, Jammie?

[Jammie]

Nameless, we're from So. Dak. We won't be moving for a bit over a year yet when my husband semi-retires. We have always lived here and we love our state, but I'm tired of our COLD, snowy winters.