When is peak fall color at Shenandoah National Park?

Our forecast puts peak color at Shenandoah National Park around 20 Oct. The four days to aim for are 19 to 22 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Shenandoah National Park Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Shenandoah National Park?

Red Maple, Tulip Poplar, White Oak, Hickory, Sourwood. Shenandoah's overlooks reveal a warm mosaic of gold tulip poplars, scarlet maples, bronze hickories, and the deep wine of white oaks stretching along the Blue Ridge.

Peak color20 OctAim for 19 to 22 Oct

In the park 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 Shenandoah National Park Page County holds most of the park and is still green today. Madison County, to the east, is 2 days behind. Rockingham County, to the west, is 2 days ahead.

By elevation The park runs from about 664 to 3,124 feet. That’s 12 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 15, the low ground holds until about Oct 27, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 2,000 to 2,500 foot band.

3,000–3,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 157%
2,500–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1814%
2,000–2,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2021%
1,500–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2221%
1,000–1,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2417%
500–1,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2720%

Height off 3DEP inside the park’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the park stands in it.

Today from the shenandoah camera, 17 km from Shenandoah National Park — See it now PhenoCam Network, Pinnacles Viewpoint camera, 17 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.

The place

Skyline Drive runs 105 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge with over 70 overlooks, and on a clear fall morning the ridgelines stack up in progressively bluer layers until they disappear into haze. Shenandoah is the great eastern park that most people only see from their car windows. Get out and walk. The 500 miles of trail, including a stretch of the Appalachian Trail, are where this park actually lives.

Established 1935. About 1.6 million/year visitors.

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 19 October to Tuesday 20 October

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

Up at 2,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 18; down at 1,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 27. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

2,500–3,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 18
2,000–2,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 20
1,500–2,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 22
1,000–1,500 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 24
500–1,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 27

Where to drive: Skyline Drive, about 5 miles · Route 39 (Goshen Pass), about 66 miles · Highland Scenic Highway (Route 150), about 89 miles
What turns: northern red oak, white oak, red maple, shagbark hickory, sugar maple
Entrance: $30

What turns, and when

northern red oak29%
white oak26%
red maple20%
shagbark hickory15%
sugar maple5%
blackgum3%

Also named across Virginia, outside what the canopy read measures here: Tulip Poplar, Sourwood.

Shenandoah's overlooks reveal a warm mosaic of gold tulip poplars, scarlet maples, bronze hickories, and the deep wine of white oaks stretching along the Blue Ridge.

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 Virginia