Limited mobility; activities in early/mid/late September vs October
Hi, I'm going to be visiting for the firs time with someone who can do light hikes (<2 miles) (and doesn't like camping), but the bulk of our moving around and activities would preferably be by car with occasional stops to explore. I don't like the idea of crowds and being stuck in a car for hours, so we're looking to visit in September.
Some questions:
- I see that October is the busiest for fall foliage, but some sites either say that September also has "early fall color at higher elevations" or group together September, November, and October into one big autumn leaf pile. nps.gov also says that fall foliage can start to appear in mid-September, though I assume this refers to these "higher elevations."
Where, specifically, are these "higher elevations" where we might see fall foliage in September? Are they easily accessible by car?
Is early, mid, or late September best? I thought late might give me the best chance for more leaves, but I don't know if maybe crowds start to reach October levels toward the end of September. Or maybe there's no meaningful difference?
For lunch, do people typically eat outside the park and then come back in? Or do they buy food from outside the park earlier in the day and bring it in to eat inside? I figured we could eat breakfast and dinner in Townsend (which I read on here was a good place to stay), but the park looks too big to drive in and out of just for lunch...maybe I'm mistaken?