TN. Photo taker wrote:
I am looking out the window at the Smoky Mountains now at about 8:30 A.M. and the color is beautiful ----Green. At about 3000ft, no color yet. A few trees are turning yellow, not much reds. Dog woods have turned. My guess about another week or two for full color. Lots of water photo ops, falls and mountain streams. Here it is beautiful no matter what season!
That's what I found as well. Around the last week of October, the first week of November for best color although that can change according to the temps, altitude & rainfall. I've always gone too early when I went around this time in previous years...