When is peak fall color at Monongahela National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Monongahela National Forest around 15 Oct. The four days to aim for are 14 to 17 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Monongahela National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Monongahela National Forest?

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 color15 OctAim for 14 to 17 Oct

In the forest today, Sep 25Starting to turn

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 Monongahela National Forest Pocahontas County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. Randolph County, to the north, is on the same day. Tucker County, to the northeast, is 2 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 1,870 to 4,023 feet. That’s 11 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 11, the low ground holds until about Oct 22, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 3,000 to 3,500 foot band.

4,000–4,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 116%
3,500–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1321%
3,000–3,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1524%
2,500–3,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1723%
2,000–2,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1918%
1,500–2,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 228%

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.

That’s 4 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, 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

Wednesday 14 October to Thursday 15 October

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

Up at 3,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 13; down at 2,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 22. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

3,500–4,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 13
3,000–3,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 15
2,500–3,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 17
2,000–2,500 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 19
1,500–2,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 22

Where to drive: Highland Scenic Highway (Route 150), about 20 miles · Route 39 (Goshen Pass), about 49 miles · Skyline Drive, about 81 miles
What turns: northern red oak, red maple, white oak, shagbark hickory, sugar maple

What turns, and when

northern red oak25%
red maple23%
white oak23%
shagbark hickory12%
sugar maple7%
blackgum6%

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

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