When is peak fall color at Cherokee National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Cherokee National Forest around 26 Oct. The four days to aim for are 25 to 28 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Cherokee National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Cherokee National Forest?

Tulip Poplar, Red Maple, Sourwood, Hickory, White Oak. The Great Smoky Mountains produce a warm, layered fall where tulip poplars turn gold, sourwoods go crimson, hickories fade to bronze, and the ridgelines recede in hazy waves of color.

Peak color26 OctAim for 25 to 28 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 Cherokee National Forest Carter County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Polk County, to the southwest, is 9 days behind. Cocke County, to the northeast, is 5 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 1,376 to 3,293 feet. That’s 12 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 23, the low ground holds until about Nov 1, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 2,500 to 3,000 foot band.

3,000–3,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 235%
2,500–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2511%
2,000–2,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2826%
1,500–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3044%
1,000–1,500 ftStill greenpeak Nov 111%

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.

Today from the NEON.D07.GRSM.DP1.00033 camera, 10 km from Cherokee National Forest — See it now PhenoCam Network, Great Smoky Mountains National Park camera, 10 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

Sunday 25 October to Monday 26 October

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

Up at 2,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 25; down at 1,500 feet they hold on until about Nov 1. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

2,500–3,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 25
2,000–2,500 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 28
1,500–2,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 30
1,000–1,500 ftNearly peakpeak Nov 1

Where to drive: Newfound Gap Road, about 15 miles · Cherohala Skyway, about 52 miles · Blue Ridge Parkway (NC Section), about 59 miles
What turns: northern red oak, white oak, red maple, shagbark hickory, sugar maple

What turns, and when

northern red oak29%
white oak22%
red maple21%
shagbark hickory14%
sugar maple7%
tulip poplar3%

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

The Great Smoky Mountains produce a warm, layered fall where tulip poplars turn gold, sourwoods go crimson, hickories fade to bronze, and the ridgelines recede in hazy waves of 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 Tennessee