West Virginia Fall Foliage 2026

Monongahela National Forest · 4,863 ft · peaks Oct 6

West Virginia's highest point, with a stone observation tower standing over red spruce that the wind has flagged to one side. The summit rim opens on every compass point, so color reads as bands running down the Allegheny ridges rather than a single view.

Dolly Sods · 3,999 ft · peaks Oct 8

Sandstone slabs and wind-flagged spruce sit on the lip of the Allegheny Front, with blueberry and huckleberry heath going crimson underneath by early October. The ground drops more than 1,000 feet in the first half mile east, so sunrise often comes up over fog filling the valley below the rocks.

Blackwater Canyon · 2,980 ft · peaks Oct 12

A 57-foot curtain of tannin-stained water drops over sandstone with hemlock and birch closing both canyon walls. The lower deck stands level with the plunge pool, so the falls fill the frame with canyon color stacked behind them.

Blackwater Canyon · 3,054 ft · peaks Oct 12

A railed rock ledge with a wind-bent pine on the point stands 500 feet above the floor of Blackwater Canyon. Late light runs straight down the canyon to the west and separates the near rim from the ridges stacked behind it.

New River Gorge · 2,277 ft · peaks Oct 17

A working reconstruction of a 19th-century mill sits directly over the ledges of Glade Creek, with maples closing the hollow on three sides. Flat overcast light holds detail in the white water and the weathered board siding at the same exposure.

Monongahela National Forest · 1,567 ft · peaks Oct 17

The quartzite fin stands 900 feet above the North Fork valley, and the boardwalk crosses the river with pasture and hardwoods in the foreground. Afternoon sun lights the west face while the valley maples turn a week or two after the ridges above.