When is peak fall color at Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest around 5 Oct. The four days to aim for are 4 to 7 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest?

Sugar Maple, Red Maple, Quaking Aspen, Paper Birch, Red Oak. Wisconsin's Northwoods produce vivid sugar maple orange against birch gold and the dark green of hemlock and spruce, while the Mississippi River bluffs add a warm oak-and-hickory palette.

Peak color5 OctAim for 4 to 7 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 Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest Forest County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. Bayfield County, to the northwest, is 1 day behind. Taylor County, to the southwest, is 3 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 602 to 1,699 feet. That’s 3 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 5, the low ground holds until about Oct 8, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 1,250 to 1,500 foot band.

1,500–1,750 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 535%
1,250–1,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 529%
1,000–1,250 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 613%
750–1,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 716%
500–750 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 87%

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.

Today from the willowcreek camera, 16 km from Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest — See it now PhenoCam Network, Willow Creek camera, 16 km away, captured Sep 25.

That’s 2 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

Sunday 4 October to Monday 5 October

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

Up at 1,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 5; down at 1,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 7. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

1,500–1,750 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 5
1,250–1,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 5
1,000–1,250 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 6
750–1,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 7

Where to drive: Route 41 through Copper Country, about 130 miles · Brockway Mountain Drive, about 143 miles · Gunflint Trail (County Road 12), about 145 miles
What turns: sugar maple, red maple, paper birch, quaking aspen, yellow birch

What turns, and when

sugar maple26%
red maple20%
paper birch19%
quaking aspen11%
yellow birch8%
American beech8%

Also named across Wisconsin, outside what the canopy read measures here: Red Oak.

Wisconsin's Northwoods produce vivid sugar maple orange against birch gold and the dark green of hemlock and spruce, while the Mississippi River bluffs add a warm oak-and-hickory palette.

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 13 long-running forest cameras: two dates in three land within 9 days of the camera’s own peak. How this map is made

All of Wisconsin