The withering cornstalks, surrounded by fields decorated with orange pumpkins, lie dormant. Football fans clutch brown-paper bags bulging with roasted peanuts as their favorite team races down the field. Festivals abound where tiny hands grasping candy apples are commonplace.     Fall has arrived.     Visions of mountains aflame with autumn’s vibrant colors draw many Alabamians to North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains.…