When is peak fall color at Whiskeytown Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area?

Our forecast puts peak color at Whiskeytown Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area around 17 Oct. The four days to aim for are 16 to 19 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Whiskeytown Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Whiskeytown Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area?

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 stand17 OctAim for 16 to 19 Oct

In the recreation area today, Sep 25Still green

California black oak and blue oak

valley oak, peak Nov 2

Peak color should arrive around 14 Oct for the California black oak and blue oak, and around 2 Nov for the valley oak.

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 Whiskeytown Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area Shasta County holds most of the recreation area and is still green today. Trinity County, to the west, is 9 days behind.

By elevation The recreation area runs from about 1,028 to 3,944 feet. It turns together: there isn’t enough relief here for the color to come down in stages.

4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 185%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2813%
2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2530%
1,000–2,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1649%

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

The place

Whiskeytown Lake’s crystal-clear waters are iconic, but this 42,000-acre National Recreation Area offers much more. Explore waterfalls, hike rugged trails, uncover Gold Rush history, and witness the resilience of nature in its post-fire recovery. Adventure awaits at every turn—Whiskeytown is calling!

Established 1965.

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

Friday 16 October to Saturday 17 October

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

Up at 3,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 28; down at 2,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 16. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 28
2,000–3,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 25
1,000–2,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 16

What turns: California black oak, blue oak, valley oak, Fremont cottonwood, white alder

What turns, and when

California black oak32%
blue oak31%
valley oak15%
Fremont cottonwood9%
white alder6%
willow6%

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

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