Goin’ to Carolina

Like California, Alena Nicholas reports, color in the Carolinas changes by elevation. Since relocating there from Southern California, Alena has watched fall color descend, as it does here. Only, she found that as it does, it passes sights not common here.

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In her search for fall color, Alena has explored the Tar Heel state’s (so called, because of its pine forest that produced pitch-based products) inlets, hills, swamps, and lighthouses, discovering bright spots of autumn near wild horses, verdant marshes, alligators and lighthouses.

While touring the Outer Banks near Virginia, Alena found wild horses roaming the beaches, sand dunes, forests and homesites.

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The Carolina lighthouses she toured were surrounded by autumn grasses. They’re now mostly maintained just as scenic landmarks, she explained, irrelevant in an age of GPS navigation, but increasingly relevant at a time when inspirational places have never been more necessary.

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Like the west coast, Carolina autumn sunrises and sunsets are colorful, but unlike California, there are plenty of alligators lurking around the coastal “Low Country”.