MY FAVORITE DRIVE Start in Cashiers and end in Franklin. Whiteside Mountain first, then Rhodes Big View, into Highlands, and down US 64 past Bridal Veil Falls, Dry Falls and the Cullasaja Gorge. It is about an hour of driving. Leave half a day, because you will pull over. What I did not understand for the first few years is that the order matters. You start near five thousand feet and finish near two thousand, and the season runs later the lower you go. Done in that direction, one afternoon shows you several weeks of fall. “Sourwood is one of the first trees that transforms into bright red crimson colors, while the rest of the forest is still green, reminding us that nature never rushes, yet it always arrives exactly when it’s meant to.” “ This is my eleventh fall in Highlands, and it is still the season I wait for most. The cooler air, the changing light and the slower
WHERE I GO FROM OUR EYES several weeks of fall.
In October
Words by Ilona Vos
It is the scent of woodsmoke in the evening air and the golden glow over the Blue Ridge. It does not arrive all at once either. The leaves take several weeks, and October is the best of it, whether you spend it on a porch with a blanket and a cup of coffee or driving through the sea of gold and red. After eleven of these, here is where I go. SUNSET ROCK The one I come back to most. The short walk stays enclosed in forest until it opens suddenly onto the Blue Ridge and downtown Highlands. Sitting on the granite, watching the light move across the mountains, the late sun makes every color richer. Land Trust property, open to the public. WHITESIDE MOUNTAIN The best hike on the Plateau, a two-mile loop, and the highest ground on this list at 4,930 feet. Go early. The lot fills. RHODES BIG VIEW OVERLOOK The town’s most popular overlook, and the place to stand for Shadow of the Bear, which runs mid-October into early November on clear afternoons. BRIDAL VEIL FALLS Right on US 64 west of Highlands. You can see it without leaving the car. DRY FALLS A mile and a half further down the same road, and worth the steps. You walk behind the water. CULLASAJA GORGE The whole run of US 64 between Dry Falls and Franklin. Pull off where you can. BLUE VALLEY OVERLOOK I pass it every morning on my way in. Quieter than the rest, and where I take people who want the panorama without the crowd. HORSE COVE ROAD Relatively low, slightly warmer and late. When Highlands has gone bare, this is still going. Fall here is more than a season.
pace make the town feel different for a few weeks.
Ilona Vos is a broker in the Cashiers office of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Meadows Mountain Realty. Living on the Scaly
Mountain side of the plateau, she brings firsthand knowledge of Scaly Mountain, Highlands, Cashiers, and the surrounding communities to buyers
and sellers throughout the area.
FALL 2026
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