Peak color lands around Nov 8 in most of Arkansas, but it moves 11 days across the state. Here’s where, and when, and how sure we are.
Arkansas’s season, place by place
The 24 places closest to their peak in Arkansas, each set on the calendar at its peak and painted by how far along it is today, Sep 25.
First: Upper Buffalo Wilderness, Nov 2. Last: Hot Springs National Park, Nov 9.
The dashed rule is today; the solid one is the median of the places on this chart, Nov 7. The date at the top of the page is the median county, which includes the low ground between them.
The county map today
Where to go in Arkansas
The destinations we cover in Arkansas, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.
- Too earlyPeak 2 Nov, oak 5 Nov best 1 to 4 Nov
- Pea Ridge National Military ParkToo earlyPeak 2 Nov, oak 5 Nov best 1 to 4 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 3 Nov, oak 6 Nov best 2 to 5 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 4 Nov, oak 7 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 4 Nov, oak 7 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
- Buffalo National River Wilderness AreaToo earlyPeak 4 Nov, oak 7 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
- Leatherwood WildernessToo earlyPeak 4 Nov, oak 7 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 4 Nov, oak 7 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
- Logan Cave National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 4 Nov, oak 7 Nov best 3 to 6 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 5 Nov, oak 8 Nov best 4 to 7 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 6 Nov, oak 9 Nov best 5 to 8 Nov
- Dry Creek WildernessToo earlyPeak 6 Nov best 5 to 8 Nov
- Ouachita National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 7 Nov best 6 to 9 Nov
- Big Lake National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 7 Nov best 6 to 9 Nov
- Caney Creek WildernessToo earlyPeak 7 Nov, oak 9 Nov best 6 to 9 Nov
- Poteau Mountain WildernessToo earlyPeak 7 Nov best 6 to 9 Nov
- Flatside WildernessToo earlyPeak 7 Nov, oak 10 Nov best 6 to 9 Nov
- Big Lake WildernessToo earlyPeak 7 Nov best 6 to 9 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 8 Nov best 7 to 10 Nov
- Wapanocca National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 8 Nov best 7 to 10 Nov
- Cache River National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 9 Nov best 8 to 11 Nov
- Bald Knob National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 9 Nov best 8 to 11 Nov
- Holla Bend National Wildlife RefugeToo earlyPeak 9 Nov best 8 to 11 Nov
- Too earlyPeak 9 Nov, oak 11 Nov best 8 to 11 Nov
When to go
Across 75 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Washington County around Nov 3 and last in Union County around Nov 14. Most of the state peaks near Nov 8.
Each date is the middle of the four days we’d aim a trip at, and each place page names them. We score the model against 7 long-running forest monitoring sites in this part of the country and publish what it got wrong.
This autumn is running 6 days late in Arkansas. September has run warmer than the 1991 to 2020 normal so far, and the dates above already include that. It’s a real signal but a modest one: temperature explains under a tenth of how much peak color moves year to year.
Mid-October through early November, with the Boston Mountains coloring first is how Arkansas is usually described.
What actually turns
The Ozark Mountains produce a warm-toned fall of gold oaks, bronze hickories, crimson blackgums, and the occasional sweetgum burning purple and red along the creek bottoms.
- Red Maple
- White Oak
- Hickory
- Sweetgum
- Blackgum
The Pig Trail (Route 23) through the Ozark National Forest is the most thrilling fall drive in the state, with tight switchbacks through dense hardwood canopy.
Worth the drive
Marion County in the heart of the Arkansas Ozarks contains some of the most rugged terrain in the state, including Bull Shoals Lake and the Buffalo National River's upper reaches. The Ozark hardwood forests of oaks, hickories, and maples drape the limestone bluffs and create a warm, golden fall that peaks in late October. The entire region is dramatically less crowded than its eastern counterparts.
Johnson County contains the Ozark Highlands Trail and the Pig Trail Scenic Byway, two of the most immersive fall experiences in Arkansas. The Pig Trail's tight switchbacks through dense hardwood canopy on Route 23 are thrilling in any season, but in late October when the oaks and maples are at peak, it is one of the best drives in Arkansas. This is the wild, uncrowded heart of the Ozarks.
Every county, by peak week
Elevation does most of the work here. Color runs down a mountain at roughly a day per 100 meters, so a ridge and the valley below it can be a week or two apart in the same county.
Benton, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Newton, Washington
Baxter, Clay, Cleburne, Conway, Craighead, Crawford, Crittenden, Cross, Faulkner, Franklin, Fulton, Garland, Greene, Hot Spring, Howard, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Lee, Logan, Lonoke, Marion, Mississippi, Monroe, Montgomery, Perry, Pike, Poinsett, Polk, Pope, Prairie, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Scott, Searcy, Sebastian, Sevier, Sharp, St. Francis, Stone, Van Buren, White, Woodruff, Yell
Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark, Cleveland, Columbia, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Grant, Hempstead, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lincoln, Little River, Miller, Nevada, Ouachita, Phillips, Union
Every date on this site is a forecast: a model corrected by ground reports, carrying a measured error, published in full. Check conditions with the land manager before you travel. Last reviewed September 2026. Open the live map