When is peak fall color at Colville National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Colville National Forest around 3 Oct. The four days to aim for are 2 to 5 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Colville National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Colville National Forest?

Vine Maple, Bigleaf Maple, Black Cottonwood, Red Alder, Western Larch. Vine maples turn scarlet in the Cascade understory, bigleaf maples go gold in the lowlands, and the western larches in the Okanogan and Wenatchee forests turn amber on the high slopes.

Peak color, most of the stand3 OctAim for 2 to 5 Oct

In the forest today, Sep 25Nearly peak

quaking aspen and Rocky Mountain maple

western larch, peak Oct 12

Peak color should arrive around 2 Oct for the quaking aspen and Rocky Mountain maple, and around 12 Oct for the western larch.

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 Colville National Forest Stevens County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. Pend Oreille County, to the east, is 2 days ahead. Ferry County, to the southwest, is 5 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 2,162 to 5,633 feet. That’s 11 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 20, the low ground holds until about Oct 3, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 2,000 to 3,000 foot band.

5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2012%
4,000–5,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2628%
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 335%
2,000–3,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 320%

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.

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

Friday 2 October to Saturday 3 October

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

Up at 5,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 20; down at 3,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 3. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

5,000–6,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 20
4,000–5,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 26
3,000–4,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 3
2,000–3,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 3

Where to drive: Sherman Pass Scenic Byway (Route 20), about 23 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Rocky Mountain maple, serviceberry, huckleberry, western larch

What turns, and when

quaking aspen44%
Rocky Mountain maple14%
serviceberry14%
huckleberry14%
western larch8%
black cottonwood4%

Also named across Washington, outside what the canopy read measures here: Vine Maple, Bigleaf Maple, Red Alder.

Vine maples turn scarlet in the Cascade understory, bigleaf maples go gold in the lowlands, and the western larches in the Okanogan and Wenatchee forests turn amber on the high slopes.

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. Out here we score it against NASA's satellite record of when the canopy shuts down, read inside each unit’s own boundary: two dates in three land within 12 days of it. How this map is made

All of Washington