When is peak fall color at Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest around 19 Oct. The four days to aim for are 18 to 21 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest?

Vine Maple, Bigleaf Maple, Black Cottonwood, Red Alder, Western Larch. Vine maples turn vivid scarlet in the understory of Douglas fir forests, bigleaf maples go gold with enormous leaves, and the Columbia Gorge frames it all against waterfalls and basalt.

Peak color19 OctAim for 18 to 21 Oct

In the forest 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 Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Jackson County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 3 days earlier than the forest’s own stands: the forest is still green. Curry County, to the west, is 2 days behind. Josephine County, to the southwest, is 1 day behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 828 to 5,511 feet. That’s 11 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 8, the low ground holds until about Oct 19, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 0 to 1,000 foot band.

5,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 810%
4,000–5,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1515%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2220%
2,000–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2324%
1,000–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1722%
0–1,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 198%

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.

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

Sunday 18 October to Monday 19 October

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

Up at 5,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 8; down at 2,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 17. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 8
4,000–5,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 15
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 22
2,000–3,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 23
1,000–2,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 17

What turns: black cottonwood, bigleaf maple, willow, Oregon white oak, red alder

What turns, and when

black cottonwood29%
bigleaf maple17%
willow16%
Oregon white oak14%
red alder11%
red-osier dogwood5%

Also named across Oregon, outside what the canopy read measures here: Vine Maple, Western Larch.

Vine maples turn vivid scarlet in the understory of Douglas fir forests, bigleaf maples go gold with enormous leaves, and the Columbia Gorge frames it all against waterfalls and basalt.

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 Oregon