When is peak fall color at Klamath National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Klamath National Forest around 14 Oct. The four days to aim for are 13 to 16 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Klamath National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Klamath National Forest?

Quaking Aspen, Black Oak, Bigleaf Maple, Fremont Cottonwood, White Alder. Eastern Sierra aspens turn brilliant gold against granite walls, black oaks in Yosemite Valley go bronze and russet, and cottonwoods line the desert creeks in pale yellow.

Peak color, most of the stand14 OctAim for 13 to 16 Oct

In the forest today, Sep 25Starting to turn

Fremont cottonwood and California black oak

Oregon white oak and bigleaf maple, peak Oct 26

Peak color should arrive around 5 Oct for the Fremont cottonwood and California black oak, and around 26 Oct for the Oregon white oak and bigleaf maple.

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

2 reports came in from Siskiyou County this week, 2 of them still green. Our date held. See the county on the map.

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

Around Klamath National Forest Nearly all of the forest is in Siskiyou County, which is still green today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 10 days later than the forest’s own stands: the forest is starting to turn.

By elevation The forest runs from about 1,967 to 6,308 feet. That’s 8 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 5, the low ground holds until about Oct 13, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 1,000 to 2,000 foot band.

6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 59%
5,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1220%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1829%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2521%
2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2416%
1,000–2,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 135%

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.

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 13 October to Wednesday 14 October

You’ll find it just past peak up high, starting to turn lower down.

Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 5; down at 3,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 24. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 5
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 12
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 18
3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 25
2,000–3,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 24

What turns: Oregon white oak, Fremont cottonwood, California black oak, blue oak, bigleaf maple

What turns, and when

Oregon white oak25%
Fremont cottonwood14%
California black oak13%
blue oak12%
bigleaf maple10%
willow9%

Also named across California, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen, White Alder.

Eastern Sierra aspens turn brilliant gold against granite walls, black oaks in Yosemite Valley go bronze and russet, and cottonwoods line the desert creeks in pale yellow.

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. Out here we score it against NASA's satellite record of when the canopy shuts down, read inside each unit’s own boundary: two dates in three land within 12 days of it. How this map is made

All of California