When is peak fall color at Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness around 23 Oct. The four days to aim for are 22 to 25 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness?

Tulip Poplar, Red Maple, Sourwood, Hickory, White Oak. Sourwoods turn deep crimson before anything else, tulip poplars go clear gold, hickories fade to bronze, and the layered ridgelines of the Blue Ridge create that famous smoky depth of warm color.

Peak color23 OctAim for 22 to 25 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 Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness Graham County holds most of the wilderness and is still green today. Monroe County, to the west, is 6 days behind.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 1,465 to 4,698 feet. That’s 13 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 17, the low ground holds until about Oct 30, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 3,000 to 4,000 foot band.

4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1718%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2228%
2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2633%
1,000–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3021%

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 NEON.D07.GRSM.DP1.00033 camera, 10 km from Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness — Latest daylight frame PhenoCam Network, Great Smoky Mountains National Park camera, 10 km away, captured Sep 24.

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

Thursday 22 October to Friday 23 October

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

Up at 4,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 17; down at 2,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 30. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

4,000–5,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 17
3,000–4,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 22
2,000–3,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 26
1,000–2,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 30

Where to drive: Cherohala Skyway, about 6 miles · Newfound Gap Road, about 34 miles · Blue Ridge Parkway (NC Section), about 103 miles
What turns: northern red oak, red maple, white oak, shagbark hickory, sugar maple

What turns, and when

northern red oak26%
red maple24%
white oak14%
shagbark hickory13%
sugar maple11%
tulip poplar6%

Also named across North Carolina, outside what the canopy read measures here: Sourwood.

Sourwoods turn deep crimson before anything else, tulip poplars go clear gold, hickories fade to bronze, and the layered ridgelines of the Blue Ridge create that famous smoky depth of warm color.

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 North Carolina