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

Our forecast puts peak color at Ross Lake National Recreation Area around 27 Sep. The four days to aim for are 26 to 29 Sep. We publish our error rate.

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

Q: What trees turn color at Ross Lake 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 color, most of the stand27 SepAim for 26 to 29 Sep

In the recreation area today, Sep 25Nearly peak

willow and black cottonwood

bigleaf maple and vine maple, peak Oct 16

Peak color should arrive around 23 Sep for the willow and black cottonwood, and around 16 Oct for the bigleaf maple and vine maple.

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

2 reports came in from Whatcom County this week, 1 of them just starting and 1 of them still green. 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 Ross Lake National Recreation Area Whatcom County holds most of the recreation area and is nearly peak today. Skagit County, to the southwest, is 1 day behind.

By elevation The recreation area runs from about 1,553 to 6,121 feet. That’s 17 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 10, the low ground holds until about Sep 27, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 1,000 to 2,000 foot band.

6,000–7,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 106%
5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1812%
4,000–5,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2418%
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 121%
2,000–3,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 222%
1,000–2,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2721%

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

Saturday 26 September to Sunday 27 September

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

Up at 5,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 18; down at 2,000 feet they hold on until about Sep 27. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 18
4,000–5,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 24
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 1
2,000–3,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 2
1,000–2,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 27

Where to drive: Mountain Loop Highway, about 56 miles · Sherman Pass Scenic Byway (Route 20), about 122 miles
What turns: willow, bigleaf maple, black cottonwood, vine maple, red alder

What turns, and when

willow72%
bigleaf maple8%
black cottonwood8%
vine maple7%
red alder5%

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