When is peak fall color at Humboldt National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Humboldt National Forest around 30 Sep. The four days to aim for are 29 Sep to 2 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Humboldt National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Humboldt National Forest?

Quaking Aspen, Fremont Cottonwood, Water Birch, Rocky Mountain Maple, Curlleaf Mountain Mahogany. Aspens turn gold in isolated mountain ranges rising from the Great Basin, creating dramatic contrasts of bright yellow groves against sagebrush gray and limestone white.

Peak color30 SepAim for 29 Sep to 2 Oct

In the forest today, Sep 25Nearly peak

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 Humboldt National Forest Elko County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. White Pine County, to the southeast, is 7 days ahead. Humboldt County, to the northwest, is 1 day behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 4,413 to 8,848 feet. That’s 33 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 18, the low ground holds until about Oct 21, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 7,000 to 8,000 foot band.

9,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 184%
8,000–9,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 267%
7,000–8,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 213%
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 923%
5,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1531%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2122%

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 1 day 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 29 September to Wednesday 30 September

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

Up at 7,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 2; down at 5,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 21. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

7,000–8,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 2
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 9
5,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 15
4,000–5,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 21

What turns: quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow

What turns, and when

quaking aspen94%
narrowleaf cottonwood4%
willow3%

Every one of these turns yellow or gold here. The shades only tell the species apart.

Also named across Nevada, outside what the canopy read measures here: Fremont Cottonwood, Water Birch, Rocky Mountain Maple, Curlleaf Mountain Mahogany.

Aspens turn gold in isolated mountain ranges rising from the Great Basin, creating dramatic contrasts of bright yellow groves against sagebrush gray and limestone white.

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 Nevada