Ozark Fall Foliage Trip Planning
for the North Central Arkansas & South Central
Missouri Corridor
Norfork Lake, Bull Shoals Lake, White
River, Glade Top Trail, and Ozark National Forest areas
Details For Guidelines
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Rule 5 Details - Take What Officials Say
With A Grain Of Salt
All over America Fall Foliage is big business. Indeed it generates
literally billions of dollars in tourism revenue. As a result states and regions within
states all compete with each other. Once
politicians and officials get involved reporting becomes homogenized.
As competition ratchets up, so does pressure on expert foresters to
give fall foliage a positive spin - regardless of what conditions really are.
Understandably this has backfired on them over the years. They no longer bow to pressure.
Instead they are just very very cautious what they say, and how they say it. They are
smart enough to know that at the last minute their previous prediction for a
"wonderful fall" can be destroyed by adverse weather.
A fine example is all the false hype over summer droughts destroying
fall color. It simply is not true. As long as the leaves are green, there will be fall
color. While drought does stress trees, the Ozark forests are no strangers to drought.
These native species have been subjected to droughts for thousands of years. They deal
with it.
The general public, as well as many locals and hospitality
operators, also are not experts on fall foliage. Few really understand the process and
where and when to find good color. Most of them just repeat with great authority what they
have heard others say. Be careful who you listen to out there!
Indeed this is what lead us to first produce our
Fall in the Ozarks reports. Once you understand the basics of fall foliage then you can
read between the lines of what reports are saying. This is explained in our Guide To Ozark
Fall Foliage.
More than once in our past reports we came right out and said,
"Don't come. It's not worth it. Try again next year." That level of honesty is
not something officials like to use. It is not what they are paid for. Be on the lookout
for excessive positive spin. When foliage was truly grand we said, "Now's the time!
It won't be any better than now!". If you don't see this level of honesty in a report
be leery of it. Foliage is a fickle event. Follow the dates and weather conditions we give
here and you'll know what to expect without help from anyone anywhere.
Details For Guidelines
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