When is peak fall color at Sabine National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Sabine National Forest around 16 Nov. The four days to aim for are 15 to 18 Nov. We publish our error rate.

Sabine National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Sabine National Forest?

Bald Cypress, Sweetgum, Red Oak, Bigtooth Maple, Sycamore. Bald cypresses turn copper and russet along the Hill Country rivers, bigtooth maples in the Guadalupe Mountains produce pockets of scarlet, and sweetgums color the Piney Woods red and purple.

Peak color16 NovAim for 15 to 18 Nov

In the forest today, Sep 25Still green

Roadsides and wetland edges turn first, and the woods behind them run a few days later.

No new reports from the ground here this week.

Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecast

Around Sabine National Forest Sabine County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Shelby County, to the northwest, is 1 day ahead.

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

Sunday 15 November to Monday 16 November

You’ll find it peak color.

That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.

What turns: water oak, sweetgum, blackgum, red maple, bald cypress

What turns, and when

water oak17%
sweetgum17%
blackgum17%
red maple17%
bald cypress10%
white oak6%

Also named across Texas, outside what the canopy read measures here: Red Oak, Bigtooth Maple, Sycamore.

Bald cypresses turn copper and russet along the Hill Country rivers, bigtooth maples in the Guadalupe Mountains produce pockets of scarlet, and sweetgums color the Piney Woods red and purple.

Across Texas as a whole: Late October in the Guadalupes, mid-November in the Hill Country, late November in East Texas.

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 7 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 13 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made

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