When is peak fall color at Tray Mountain Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at Tray Mountain Wilderness around 27 Oct. The four days to aim for are 26 to 29 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Tray Mountain Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Tray Mountain Wilderness?

Red Maple, Hickory, Sweetgum, Tulip Poplar, White Oak. The Blue Ridge mountains of north Georgia produce warm golds and russets from hickories and oaks, with red maples and sweetgums providing the scarlet and purple accents.

Peak color27 OctAim for 26 to 29 Oct

In the wilderness today, Sep 25Still green

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 Tray Mountain Wilderness White County holds most of the wilderness and is still green today. Towns County, to the northwest, is 5 days ahead. Habersham County, to the southeast, is 1 day behind.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 1,688 to 3,779 feet. That’s 9 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 23, the low ground holds until about Nov 1, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 2,500 to 3,000 foot band.

3,500–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2316%
3,000–3,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2536%
2,500–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2727%
2,000–2,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3010%
1,500–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 112%

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

The latest daylight frame from the coweeta camera, 14 km from Tray Mountain Wilderness — Latest daylight frame PhenoCam Network, Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory camera, 14 km away, captured Sep 23.

That’s 4 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

Monday 26 October to Tuesday 27 October

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

Up at 3,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 23; down at 2,000 feet they hold on until about Nov 1. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

3,500–4,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 23
3,000–3,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 25
2,500–3,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 27
2,000–2,500 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 30
1,500–2,000 ftNearly peakpeak Nov 1

Where to drive: Cherohala Skyway, about 40 miles · Newfound Gap Road, about 56 miles · Blue Ridge Parkway (NC Section), about 107 miles
What turns: northern red oak, white oak, red maple, shagbark hickory, sugar maple

What turns, and when

northern red oak30%
white oak25%
red maple20%
shagbark hickory15%
sugar maple5%
tulip poplar3%

Also named across Georgia, outside what the canopy read measures here: Sweetgum.

The Blue Ridge mountains of north Georgia produce warm golds and russets from hickories and oaks, with red maples and sweetgums providing the scarlet and purple accents.

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 16 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 7 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made

All of Georgia