Peak color lands around Oct 2 in most of North Dakota, but it moves 26 days across the state. Here’s where, and when, and how sure we are.
North Dakota’s season, place by place
The 24 places closest to their peak in North Dakota, each set on the calendar at its peak and painted by how far along it is today, Sep 25.
First: Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge, Sep 28. Last: Stutsman County Waterfowl Production Area, Oct 2.
The dashed rule is today; the solid one is the median of the places on this chart, Oct 1. The date at the top of the page is the median county, which includes the low ground between them.
The county map today
Where to go in North Dakota
The destinations we cover in North Dakota, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.
- Des Lacs National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 28 Sep best 27 to 30 Sep
- Lake Zahl National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 28 Sep best 27 to 30 Sep
- Rock Lake National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 28 Sep best 27 to 30 Sep
- J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 29 Sep best 28 Sep to 1 Oct
- Upper Souris National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 29 Sep best 28 Sep to 1 Oct
- Shell Lake National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 29 Sep best 28 Sep to 1 Oct
- Lake Alice National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 30 Sep best 29 Sep to 2 Oct
- Pierce County Waterfowl Production AreaPeakPeak 30 Sep best 29 Sep to 2 Oct
- McLean County Waterfowl Production AreaPeakPeak 30 Sep best 29 Sep to 2 Oct
- McLean National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 30 Sep best 29 Sep to 2 Oct
- Ramsey County Waterfowl Production AreaPeakPeak 30 Sep best 29 Sep to 2 Oct
- Fort Union Trading Post National Historic SitePeakPeak 30 Sep best 29 Sep to 2 Oct
- PeakPeak 1 Oct best 30 Sep to 3 Oct
- Lake Nettie National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 1 Oct best 30 Sep to 3 Oct
- Florence Lake National Wildlife RefugePeakPeak 1 Oct best 30 Sep to 3 Oct
- Sullys Hill National Game PreservePeakPeak 1 Oct best 30 Sep to 3 Oct
- White Horse Hill National Game PreservePeakPeak 1 Oct best 30 Sep to 3 Oct
- GDU Canal LakesPeakPeak 1 Oct best 30 Sep to 3 Oct
- Mountrail County Waterfowl Production AreaPeakPeak 1 Oct best 30 Sep to 3 Oct
- Lostwood National Wildlife RefugeNear peakPeak 2 Oct best 1 to 4 Oct
- Chase Lake National Wildlife RefugeNear peakPeak 2 Oct best 1 to 4 Oct
- Chase Lake WildernessNear peakPeak 2 Oct best 1 to 4 Oct
- Knife River Indian Villages National Historic SiteNear peakPeak 2 Oct best 1 to 4 Oct
- Stutsman County Waterfowl Production AreaNear peakPeak 2 Oct best 1 to 4 Oct
When to go
Across 53 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Cass County around Sep 21 and last in Bowman County around Oct 17. Most of the state peaks near Oct 2.
Each date is the middle of the four days we’d aim a trip at, and each place page names them. We publish what the model got wrong, region by region.
This autumn is running 3 days late in North Dakota. September has run warmer than the 1991 to 2020 normal so far, and the dates above already include that. It’s a real signal but a modest one: temperature explains under a tenth of how much peak color moves year to year.
2 of 53 counties here are corrected by people who have actually looked at the trees this season. 6 reports from official state sources have moved those dates off the model and narrowed their windows. Counties with neither keep the model forecast and say so. Which is which is marked in the table below.
Late September in the Turtle Mountains, early-to-mid October in the river valleys is how North Dakota is usually described.
What actually turns
The Turtle Mountains and Pembina Gorge produce a boreal mix of aspen gold and oak russet, while cottonwoods line the Missouri River breaks in pale yellow.
- Quaking Aspen
- Bur Oak
- Green Ash
- Cottonwood
- American Elm
The Pembina Gorge in the northeast corner is North Dakota's best-kept secret for fall color, with steep ravines of aspen and birch that feel more like northern Minnesota than the Great Plains.
Every county, by peak week
Elevation does most of the work here. Color runs down a mountain at roughly a day per 100 meters, so a ridge and the valley below it can be a week or two apart in the same county.
Cass observed
Bottineau, Cavalier, Grand Forks observed, Renville, Rolette, Towner, Ward
Barnes regional, Benson, Burke, Burleigh, Dickey, Divide, Dunn, Eddy, Emmons, Foster, Grant, Griggs, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan, McHenry, McIntosh, McKenzie, McLean, Mercer, Morton, Mountrail, Nelson, Oliver, Pembina, Pierce, Ramsey, Ransom regional, Richland regional, Sargent, Sheridan, Sioux, Steele regional, Stutsman, Traill, Walsh, Wells, Williams
Adams, Billings, Golden Valley, Hettinger, Slope, Stark
Bowman
Every date on this site is a forecast: a model corrected by ground reports, carrying a measured error, published in full. Check conditions with the land manager before you travel. Last reviewed September 2026. Open the live map