fall foliage in Puget Sound

October 6, 2016 2:05 PM

Where is the best fall foliage in the Puget Sound area?
posted by the man of twists and turns to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

Honestly, wherever you're at. Western Washington has a pretty uniform mix of flora across the area.

That's being said you better hurry, what little color we do get is popping off fast right now. Vine maples, gooseberry, other understory plants are all going now here on the Olympic Peninsula. This year everything was early. Apples and pears started hitting the ground early in September.
posted by humboldt32 at 2:28 PM on October 6, 2016

Pretty much anywhere we have lots of trees (the routes over the Cascades, the Olympic peninsula, the rural byways of King County, the whole area around Rainier, etc.) It is subtle stuff compared to the big show on the East Coast but our trees make up in height what they lack in dramatic color change.
posted by bearwife at 3:59 PM on October 6, 2016

Always used to go up to Leavenworth for the fall foliage.
posted by The otter lady at 4:38 PM on October 6, 2016

The North Cascades Highway to Winthrop, then back west through Chelan and Wenatchee had very nice color last week when I went through.
posted by oxisos at 5:17 PM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

If you want larches (the only deciduous conifer, I.e. a confused-looking pine tree), try Ingalls Lake or Blue Lake.
posted by batter_my_heart at 5:32 PM on October 6, 2016

The WTA has advice.
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:01 PM on October 6, 2016

Take 90 to US 2 North up through the Cascades. It's so stunning. Leave early, then take the other route back down before dark and the other side.
posted by Tevin at 7:30 AM on October 7, 2016