When is peak fall color at Citico Creek Wilderness?

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

Citico Creek Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Citico Creek Wilderness?

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 color25 OctAim for 24 to 27 Oct

In the wilderness today, Sep 26Still 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 Citico Creek Wilderness Nearly all of the wilderness is in Monroe County, which is still green today. Graham County, to the east, is 6 days ahead.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 1,966 to 4,314 feet. That’s 12 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 19, the low ground holds until about Oct 29, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 2,500 to 3,000 foot band.

4,000–4,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1910%
3,500–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2123%
3,000–3,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2323%
2,500–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2520%
2,000–2,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2716%
1,500–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 296%

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 NEON.D07.GRSM.DP1.00033 camera, 10 km from Citico Creek Wilderness — See it now PhenoCam Network, Great Smoky Mountains National Park camera, 10 km away, captured Sep 25.

That’s 4 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 4,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 19; down at 2,500 feet they hold on until about Oct 27. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

4,000–4,500 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 19
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

Where to drive: Cherohala Skyway, about 6 miles · Newfound Gap Road, about 38 miles · Blue Ridge Parkway (NC Section), about 108 miles
What turns: northern red oak, red maple, white oak, shagbark hickory, sugar maple

What turns, and when

northern red oak27%
red maple23%
white oak17%
shagbark hickory13%
sugar maple10%
tulip poplar5%

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