When is peak fall color at Linville Gorge Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at Linville Gorge Wilderness around 25 Oct. The four days to aim for are 24 to 27 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Linville Gorge Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Linville Gorge 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 color25 OctAim for 24 to 27 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 Linville Gorge Wilderness Nearly all of the wilderness is in Burke County, which is still green today.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 1,329 to 3,838 feet. That’s 12 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 21, the low ground holds until about Oct 31, 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 2114%
3,000–3,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2314%
2,500–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2520%
2,000–2,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2715%
1,500–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3021%
1,000–1,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3114%

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.

Today from the asuhighlands camera, 41 km from Linville Gorge Wilderness — See it now PhenoCam Network, Appalachian State University camera, 41 km away, captured Sep 25.

That’s 5 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

Saturday 24 October to Sunday 25 October

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

Up at 3,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 21; down at 1,500 feet they hold on until about Oct 31. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

3,500–4,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 21
3,000–3,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 23
2,500–3,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 25
2,000–2,500 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 27
1,500–2,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 30
1,000–1,500 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 31

Where to drive: Blue Ridge Parkway (NC Section), about 18 miles · Newfound Gap Road, about 88 miles · Cherohala Skyway, about 124 miles
What turns: northern red oak, red maple, white oak, shagbark hickory, sugar maple

What turns, and when

northern red oak27%
red maple23%
white oak18%
shagbark hickory14%
sugar maple9%
tulip poplar4%

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