Fall foliage 2017: Here's when the leaves will be at peak in Indiana

Fall is the best season of the year in Indiana. Yes, spring is lovely, with the peonies and the Indianapolis 500 and all, but let's face it: Fall is better. The weather is always perfect, the sky seems impossibly blue and our leaves put on quite a show.

So when is going to be the best time to look at leaves in Indiana this year? The first two weeks of October are your best bet, according to Donna Rogler, coordinator for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources' Project Learning Tree.

Normally, Rogler said, peak foliage in Indiana is the second to third week in October. But based on weather patterns and some early colors in Michigan, it might be just a bit earlier this year.

"Because we had so little rainfall in August, that can cause the trees to go into their stress mode, their dormant mode a little earlier," Rogler said. That means earlier fall colors. She's already starting to see tulip trees, which are susceptible to drought, turning.

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Besides the tulip trees, you might also see honey locusts and walnut trees turning yellow, Rogler said. But unlike the longer-lived maples, oaks and tulip trees, those leaves will essentially just turn yellow and fall.

Rogler's prediction lines up the 2017 Fall Foliage Map from SmokyMountains.com, which expects our best leaves to show up around Oct. 8.

The quintessential viewing spot for fall leaves in Indiana is Brown County State Park. "I remember when I was little people would just flock to Brown County State Park and wait in long lines to drive through the park to see the colors," Rogler said. "You don’t really have to drive through the park to see the colors." After all, the trees are all around.

But if you do want to really immerse yourself in leaves, Rogler recommends checking out one of the state forests, like Yellowwood, near Nashville, or Morgan-Monroe, near Martinsville. They'll be less crowded than most state parks, Rogler said, but there is one downside: You won't get those big, sweeping vistas like you do at Brown County.

Or, if you want Brown County views without the traffic, check out the leaf cam.

Whether you head for a state park or forest or just take a walk through your neighborhood, enjoy the fall, which begins on Friday.

Allison Carter is social media editor at IndyStar and can confirm Brown County State Park is still pretty freaking crowded. But lovely. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonLCarter.