
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 13, 1993                   TAG: 9404130008
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PEAK? CALL A HOTLINE

You've only got one spare afternoon out of October's 31 days, and, being the efficient person you are, you want to hit the fall foliage at the exact peak.

``The 16th,'' says Shenandoah Park Service spokesman Sandy Rives.

Or, Oct. 24, at 11:47 a.m., according to Shenandoah Valley Travel Association's Third Annual Pigmentation Prognostication Pow-Wow.

Sure, it's a gimmick, but it's fun, says association President David Leatherwood. These folks feed all sorts of information - some fact, mostly fiction and folklore - into an IBM computer and come up with a date, hour, and minute at which the leaves will be at their best.

The answer is printed out, hermetically sealed and (allegedly) hidden in a hollow tree until the official prognosticator reveals the secret on Sept. 17.

So, which is it?

``Oh, I'm always right,'' Rives says.

Well, whatever. Anytime during the middle two weeks of the month, and you can't miss.

Fall Color Hot Lines:

U.S. Forest Service: 1-800-354-4595

National Park Service, for the Blue Ridge Parkway: (704) 298-0398

by CNB