When is peak fall color at Black Hills National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Black Hills National Forest around 3 Oct. The four days to aim for are 2 to 5 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Black Hills National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Black Hills National Forest?

Quaking Aspen, Bur Oak, Cottonwood, Paper Birch, Green Ash. The Black Hills produce a colorful mix of aspen gold and birch yellow against the dark green of ponderosa pine, while Spearfish Canyon stages the most dramatic display.

Peak color3 OctAim for 2 to 5 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.

1 report came in from Pennington County this week, 1 of them just starting. Our date held. See the county on the map.

Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.

Around Black Hills National Forest Custer County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 13 days later than the forest’s own stands: the forest is nearly peak. Lawrence County, to the northeast, is 20 days ahead. Pennington County, to the east, is 1 day behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 3,462 to 6,631 feet. That’s 19 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 30, 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 6,000 to 7,000 foot band.

6,000–7,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 3020%
5,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 729%
4,000–5,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1329%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1922%

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 3 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

Friday 2 October to Saturday 3 October

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

Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 30; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 19. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 30
5,000–6,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 7
4,000–5,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 13
3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 19

What turns: narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, plains cottonwood, quaking aspen, water birch

What turns, and when

narrowleaf cottonwood26%
willow22%
plains cottonwood13%
quaking aspen12%
water birch9%
bur oak8%

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

Also named across South Dakota, outside what the canopy read measures here: Paper Birch, Green Ash.

The Black Hills produce a colorful mix of aspen gold and birch yellow against the dark green of ponderosa pine, while Spearfish Canyon stages the most dramatic display.

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 South Dakota