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.
- 1,500–1,750 ftStill greenpeak Oct 276%
- 1,250–1,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2818%
- 1,000–1,250 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2954%
- 750–1,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3018%
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 5 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Plan this tripIf you can only come on certain days
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Tuesday 27 October to Wednesday 28 October
You’ll find it peak color up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 1,250 feet the stands peak around Oct 28; down at 1,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 30. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
- 1,250–1,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 28
- 1,000–1,250 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 29
- 750–1,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 30
- Where to drive
- Newfound Gap Road, about 124 miles · Cherohala Skyway, about 139 miles · Blue Ridge Parkway (NC Section), about 148 miles
- What turns
- white oak, northern red oak, red maple, shagbark hickory, tulip poplar
What turns, and when
- white oak30%
- northern red oak22%
- red maple20%
- shagbark hickory11%
- tulip poplar4%
- blackgum4%
Also named across Kentucky, outside what the canopy read measures here: Sugar Maple, Sweetgum.
The Cumberland Plateau and Daniel Boone National Forest produce a warm palette of gold tulip poplars, bronze hickories, and deep red sugar maples against sandstone cliffs.
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