When is peak fall color at Lake Chelan National Recreation Area?

Our forecast puts peak color at Lake Chelan National Recreation Area around 28 Sep. The four days to aim for are 27 to 30 Sep. We publish our error rate.

Lake Chelan National Recreation Area Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Lake Chelan National Recreation Area?

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 color28 SepAim for 27 to 30 Sep

In the recreation area today, Sep 25Nearly peak

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

3 reports came in from Chelan County this week, 2 of them still green and 1 of them at peak. 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 Lake Chelan National Recreation Area Nearly all of the recreation area is in Chelan County, which is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 9 days later than the recreation area’s own stands: the recreation area is nearly peak. Okanogan County, to the east, is 13 days ahead.

By elevation The recreation area runs from about 1,227 to 6,968 feet. That’s 15 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 11, the low ground holds until about Sep 26, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 0 to 2,000 foot band.

6,000–8,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 1126%
4,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2141%
2,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 720%
0–2,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2613%

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

Sunday 27 September to Monday 28 September

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

Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 11; down at 2,000 feet they hold on until about Sep 26. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

6,000–8,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 11
4,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 21
2,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 7
0–2,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 26

Where to drive: Mountain Loop Highway, about 47 miles · Sherman Pass Scenic Byway (Route 20), about 104 miles
What turns: bigleaf maple, vine maple, black cottonwood, red alder, willow

What turns, and when

bigleaf maple30%
vine maple28%
black cottonwood18%
red alder16%
willow5%
quaking aspen4%

Also named across Washington, outside what the canopy read measures here: 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.

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