When is peak fall color at Ozark-St. Francis National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Ozark-St. Francis National Forest around 4 Nov. The four days to aim for are 3 to 6 Nov. We publish our error rate.

Ozark-St. Francis National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Ozark-St. Francis 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 color, most of the stand4 NovAim for 3 to 6 Nov

In the forest today, Sep 25Still green

white oak and black oak

shagbark hickory and sugar maple, peak Oct 29

Peak color should arrive around 29 Oct for the shagbark hickory and sugar maple, and around 7 Nov for the white oak and black oak.

Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.

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 Ozark-St. Francis National Forest Newton County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Johnson County, to the west, is 2 days behind. Crawford County, to the west, is 3 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 482 to 2,003 feet. That’s 5 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Nov 2, the low ground holds until about Nov 7, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 1,000 to 1,500 foot band.

2,000–2,500 ftStill greenpeak Nov 25%
1,500–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 338%
1,000–1,500 ftStill greenpeak Nov 434%
500–1,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 617%
0–500 ftStill greenpeak Nov 75%

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

Tuesday 3 November to Wednesday 4 November

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

Up at 1,500 feet the stands peak around Nov 3; down at 1,000 feet they hold on until about Nov 6. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

1,500–2,000 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 3
1,000–1,500 ftPeak colorpeak Nov 4
500–1,000 ftNearly peakpeak Nov 6

Where to drive: Route 7 Scenic Byway, about 14 miles · Pig Trail Scenic Byway (Route 23), about 28 miles · Talimena National Scenic Byway, about 104 miles
What turns: white oak, black oak, shagbark hickory, sugar maple

What turns, and when

white oak43%
black oak29%
shagbark hickory14%
sugar maple14%

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

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