5 National Parks That Burst With Vibrant Fall Foliage In Late October

The fall brings pops of incredible color to trees all around the continental U.S. As incredible as seeing the ginkgo tree in your front yard turn yellow is, few things are as breathtaking as an enormous national park alive with vibrant fall foliage. While in some parts of the country, peak leaf season has come and gone by mid-October, in other regions, late October is the perfect time to find awe-inspiring national park fall foliage. If you're looking for a glorious experience in the great outdoors toward the end of October, or maybe you're just running late on an autumnal road trip, don't worry — we've got you. There are luckily numerous parks around the country that hit peak autumn colors in the back half of October.

It can be extremely difficult to predict exactly when peak fall foliage will be in any given park, considering it's dependent on weather and temperature changes in the area and increasingly changing due to the effects of climate change, but you can be reasonably sure that these national parks will be exceptionally beautiful toward the end of October. Each of these five parks has hiking and biking trails along lakes, ponds, and streams and up mountains — paired with the fiery leaves, these national parks promise the perfect late-October getaway.

If you're going to be on the west coast at the end of October, you won't want to miss a trip to Yosemite National Park. Although some might not choose Yosemite to experience fall color, because it primarily has evergreen forests, the National Park Service actually ranks it amongst the best parks to enjoy in autumn thanks to its brilliantly yellow quaking aspens. The majority of color changing leaves in the park are various shades of yellow, though you will see a few reds dotted throughout the park as well. Late October is typically the beginning of peak foliage season at Yosemite, so if the idea of hiking beneath a vibrant yellow canopy appeals to you, you're in for a beautiful day at Yosemite.

There are many fantastic hiking trails in the park, but if you're looking to see something other than green pines, you're going to want to explore the right areas — particularly Yosemite Valley. There, you should consider the 5-mile Mirror Lake Trail Loop. This isn't a particularly difficult trek; in fact, parts of it are paved, so you can enjoy the views of the incredible cliffs and Yosemite foliage reflected in the lake without necessarily needing to break out your hiking poles. If you're in the Halloween spirit, consider trekking out to the supposedly haunted Grouse Lake within the park.

Shenandoah National Park is well-known for its gorgeous fall colors, and depending on the weather conditions, visitors can enjoy vibrant hues all autumn long, from September to November. Fortunately for late October travelers, in 2024, maple, hickory, and walnut trees began turning fall hues after mid-October. While the autumn leaves tend to move from west to east in Virginia, the centrally located Shenandoah National Park is a great choice for Virginia travelers keen on seeing the fall colors. One of the most popular ways to the trees is on the park's Skyline Drive. This winding road gives you views of incredible mountains out your windshield all year long, but in the fall, it's particularly breath-taking, with bursts of orange and red throughout the forests.

Finding fall color in Shenandoah won't be difficult. Shenandoah National Park is packed with accessible overlooks and paved trails, so no matter what your level of hiking ability is, you should have plenty of options. To make things extra easy, Shenandoah National Park actually has a YouTube channel that park staff update every Thursday in the fall where they keep you in the loop about the foliage. Avoiding the leaf peeping crowds can prove more of a challenge. The easiest way to know if a trail is going to be too crowded is to check out the parking lot at the trailhead. Each one of those cars is at least one hiker, so if the lot is full, the trail is full.

You might not think of hot, dry Texas as the best place to see fall foliage, but up in the mountains it's a completely different story. If you're looking for a secluded retreat into nature this autumn, you will love one of the U.S.'s least-visited national parks: Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This seriously underrated park has beautiful fall foliage, especially at the very end of October. You'll find orange, yellow, and brilliant red leaves across the cliffs and valleys throughout the park. While this park is pretty under the radar, the last two weekends in October can get busy with leaf-peeping crowds, so if you're really looking for privacy in the park's most popular spots, come on a weekday.

There's no doubt that the spot best known for fall color is McKittrick Canyon, where tricky, all-day hikes like the 9-mile round-trip trek The Notch give visitors a chance to admire the unique landscape of Guadalupe Mountains with bursts of vibrant color. However, if you're looking for an easier hike through the park, consider the 2.3-mile  Smith Spring Loop. The route is partially paved, and even the dirt parts are well maintained, so you can walk by the babbling spring, admire the surrounding mountains, and take in the foliage without too much physical effort.

While it might not be a household name like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, Ohio's Cuyahoga Valley National Park is one of the most beautiful in the country. All year long there are beautiful views in Cuyahoga Valley, but in the fall the leaves make the place especially stunning. Among the misty woods and hills, you'll find bursts of yellow and rusty orange. The absolute best of the gorgeous Ohio foliage can be found in October, and it only gets more beautiful as the month goes on.

If you're heading to Cuyahoga Valley at the end of October, the Virginia Kendall Area is a great place to admire the fall color. The area, built by Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, has a variety of picnic areas, sports fields, and walking paths, as well as a lake and pier for relaxed fishing. The National Park Service particularly recommends the 1.8-mile Ledges Trail for hikers hoping to see foliage. For those up for a bit of a challenge, this rocky trail takes hikers high up to the Ledges Overlook to see the entire valley spread out below — including the colorful treetops.

The northeast is a perfect place to explore fall foliage earlier in the season. In general, the more northern parts of the country have passed their peak by late October — but that's not always the case. Many rankings, including Almanac, consider Maine's coastal Acadia National Park the most beautiful place in the United States to admire fall foliage. Surprisingly, late October may be a great time to visit Acadia to admire the fall color. A study by Second Century Stewardship Fellow Stephanie Spera published in Landscape Ecology (via the Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park) determined that this is because Acadia is being impacted by the climate crisis. The changes in weather and temperature are extending the time when the fall leaves are vibrant and pushing peak foliage season later. While this is obviously a sign of a major issue on a global scale, that doesn't mean that travelers shouldn't enjoy the opportunity to take in the fall colors later in the fall.

There are many beautiful hikes in Acadia National park for admiring fall foliage, but your best bet may be Jordan Pond Path. It is an easy 3.3-mile loop path around a gorgeous woodland pond and only takes about an hour to complete. The trees around the shoreline turn stunningly vibrant yellows and oranges, and you can appreciate them all doubled thanks to the reflections in the water. It is even ranked among the best fall hikes in the country on AllTrails.

To determine the best national parks to visit at the end of October, we started by creating an extensive list of national parks known for their fall color, giving particular priority to those specifically recommended by the National Park Service. From there, we consulted fall foliage forecasts, including foliage reports from Almanac, the fall foliage prediction map from the Smoky Mountains website and data gathered by AccuWeather, to see which parks are likely to be most beautiful in late October. We also tried to emphasize parks that offered different landscapes and experiences so that visitors from all around the country have the opportunity to explore national park fall foliage.