Best places, road trips to view fall colors in Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Trees across Missouri will soon start to change colors as the temperatures cool off and we lose daylight.
In the Kansas City area, fall colors will likely peak in mid- or late-October.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has weekly updates on which trees are changing and where to get the best views of the changing foliage with its fall color report that runs now through November.
"Our weekly fall color updates are a great resource for the public," said MDC Forestry Field Programs Supervisor Russell Hinnah.
"Foresters begin posting reports in mid-September that show users where trees are beginning to turn and even suggest great places to see changing leaves."
The fall foliage is the perfect excuse to take a long drive or a day trip.
Here in Kansas City, the local tourism office recommends visiting Loose Park, the City Market, the National World War I Museum and Memorial and the Cliff Drive Scenic Byway to see the stunning fall foliage that will take over soon.
Even trips to Weston, Missouri; Atchison, Kansas; and favorite sites like Powell Gardens are great options for leaf peepers.
If you're up for a day trip, Missouri's tourism department recommends these six road trips for people looking for fabulous fall foliage:
- Hannibal to St. Louis: Highway 79
- Hermann to St. Charles: Highway 94
- Caledonia to Van Buren: Highway 21
- Cuba to Eminence: Highway 19
- Lake of the Ozarks loop: Highway 5, Highway 54, Highway 52
- Table Rock Lake loop: Highway 65, Highway 13, Highway 76
On the Kansas side, these 10 drives won't disappoint, according to the state's tourism department:
- Glacial Hills Scenic Byway: K-7 Highway
- Chautauqua Hills
- Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway: Highway 160
- Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park
- Flint Hills National Scenic Byway: K-177 Highway
- Native Stone Scenic Byway: K-4 and K-99
- Prairie Trail Scenic Byway: K-86, K-4 & K-141
- Arikaree Breaks
- Cimarron Grasslands
- Frontier Military Historic Byway: K-5, I-435, U.S. 69 Highways
Leaves change color at different times, so a fall color season could last four-to-six weeks.
Missouri trees first begin changing color in the northern part of the state, then move southward. The same can be said for Kansas, as fall colors move from north to south.
"Trees like maple, ash, oak and hickory are at the peak of their fall display by the middle of October," Hinnah said. "Normally by the end of the month, colors are fading and leaves are falling."
Sassafras, sumac and Virginia creeper are some of the earliest trees to change in Missouri, beginning in mid-September. By late September, black gum, bittersweet and dogwood are turning.
Hinnah said the dry summer conditions will likely cause fall color to start sooner than normal.
"Due to recent dry weather across central and southern Missouri, we're already starting to see trees change and some may even lose leaves early," he explained.
