When is peak fall color at Gauley River National Recreation Area?

Our forecast puts peak color at Gauley River National Recreation Area around 24 Oct. The four days to aim for are 23 to 26 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Gauley River National Recreation Area Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Gauley River National Recreation Area?

Sugar Maple, Red Maple, Red Oak, Tulip Poplar, American Beech. West Virginia is almost entirely forested, and when the sugar maples, oaks, and tulip poplars turn, the entire state becomes a continuous canopy of orange, gold, burgundy, and bronze.

Peak color24 OctAim for 23 to 26 Oct

In the recreation area 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 Gauley River National Recreation Area Nicholas County holds most of the recreation area and is still green today. Fayette County, to the south, is on the same day.

By elevation The recreation area runs from about 862 to 1,755 feet. That’s 4 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 23, 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 1,250 to 1,500 foot band.

1,750–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 236%
1,500–1,750 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2328%
1,250–1,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2432%
1,000–1,250 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2522%
750–1,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2711%

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.

Today from the summit1 camera, 10 km from Gauley River National Recreation Area — See it now PhenoCam Network, Summit Bechtel Reserve camera, 10 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

The 25 miles of free-flowing Gauley River and the six miles of the Meadow River pass through scenic gorges and valleys containing a wide variety of natural and cultural features. The Gauley River contains several class V+ rapids, making it one of the most adventurous white water boating rivers in the east.

Established 1988.

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 23 October to Saturday 24 October

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

Up at 1,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 23; down at 1,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 27. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

1,500–1,750 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 23
1,250–1,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 24
1,000–1,250 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 25
750–1,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 27

Where to drive: Highland Scenic Highway (Route 150), about 49 miles · Route 39 (Goshen Pass), about 86 miles · Hocking Hills Scenic Byway (Route 374), about 119 miles
What turns: white oak, red maple, northern red oak, shagbark hickory, tulip poplar

What turns, and when

white oak29%
red maple21%
northern red oak17%
shagbark hickory8%
tulip poplar6%
blackgum6%

Also named across West Virginia, outside what the canopy read measures here: Sugar Maple, American Beech.

West Virginia is almost entirely forested, and when the sugar maples, oaks, and tulip poplars turn, the entire state becomes a continuous canopy of orange, gold, burgundy, and bronze.

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 West Virginia