When is peak fall color at Green Mountain National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Green Mountain National Forest around 6 Oct. The four days to aim for are 5 to 8 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Green Mountain National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Green Mountain National Forest?

Sugar Maple, Red Maple, Yellow Birch, White Birch, American Beech. Sugar maples turn brilliant orange and scarlet, birches go gold, beeches fade to bronze, and against the dark green of spruce the effect is iconic.

Peak color6 OctAim for 5 to 8 Oct

In the forest today, Sep 25Starting to turn

Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.

1 report came in from Rutland County this week, 1 of them patchy color. 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 Green Mountain National Forest Bennington County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. Addison County, to the north, is 2 days ahead. Rutland County, to the northwest, is on the same day.

By elevation The forest runs from about 897 to 2,790 feet. That’s 7 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 5, the low ground holds until about Oct 10, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 2,000 to 2,500 foot band.

2,500–3,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 511%
2,000–2,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 631%
1,500–2,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 732%
1,000–1,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 917%
500–1,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 107%

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 1 day earlier than our model alone would say. This September has been running cool, 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

Monday 5 October to Tuesday 6 October

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

Up at 2,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 5; down at 1,500 feet they hold on until about Oct 9. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

2,500–3,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 5
2,000–2,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 6
1,500–2,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 7
1,000–1,500 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 9

Where to drive: Route 100, about 29 miles · Mohawk Trail (Route 2), about 54 miles · Route 112 (Lost River Road), about 72 miles
What turns: sugar maple, red maple, paper birch, yellow birch, American beech

What turns, and when

sugar maple30%
red maple20%
paper birch20%
yellow birch10%
American beech10%
quaking aspen10%

Also named across Vermont, outside what the canopy read measures here: White Birch.

Sugar maples turn brilliant orange and scarlet, birches go gold, beeches fade to bronze, and against the dark green of spruce the effect is iconic.

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 27 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 10 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made

All of Vermont