When is peak fall color at Ouachita National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Ouachita National Forest around 8 Nov. The four days to aim for are 7 to 10 Nov. We publish our error rate.

Ouachita National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Ouachita National Forest?

Red Maple, White Oak, Hickory, Sweetgum, Blackgum. 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.

Peak color8 NovAim for 7 to 10 Nov

In the forest today, Sep 25Still green

Roadsides and wetland edges turn first, and the woods behind them run a few days later.

No new reports from the ground here this week.

Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.

Around Ouachita National Forest Montgomery County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Garland County, to the east, is 1 day behind. Scott County, to the north, is on the same day.

By elevation The forest runs from about 410 to 1,545 feet. That’s 4 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Nov 6, the low ground holds until about Nov 10, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 750 to 1,000 foot band.

1,500–1,750 ftStill greenpeak Nov 66%
1,250–1,500 ftStill greenpeak Nov 78%
1,000–1,250 ftStill greenpeak Nov 718%
750–1,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 830%
500–750 ftStill greenpeak Nov 927%
250–500 ftStill greenpeak Nov 1010%

Height off 3DEP inside the forest’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the forest stands in it.

That’s 6 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.

Plan this trip

If you can only come on certain days

Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.

ArrivingLeaving

Saturday 7 November to Sunday 8 November

You’ll find it peak color up high, nearly peak lower down.

Up at 1,250 feet the stands peak around Nov 7; down at 500 feet they hold on until about Nov 10. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

1,250–1,500 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 7
1,000–1,250 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 7
750–1,000 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 8
500–750 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 9
250–500 ftNearly peakpeak Nov 10

Where to drive: Talimena National Scenic Byway, about 42 miles · Pig Trail Scenic Byway (Route 23), about 71 miles · Route 7 Scenic Byway, about 93 miles
What turns: white oak, black oak, shagbark hickory, sugar maple, blackgum

What turns, and when

white oak43%
black oak28%
shagbark hickory13%
sugar maple13%
blackgum2%

Also named across Arkansas, outside what the canopy read measures here: Red Maple, Sweetgum.

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.

This forecast is built from the species that stand here, their elevation and this September’s weather, and corrected in season by cameras, foresters and our own crew. We score it here against 7 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 13 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made

All of Arkansas