Find This Week's Best Fall Color

Find this week's perfect fall adventure with a little help from your Minnesota Fall Color Update, brought to you by Explore Minnesota and Minnesota State Parks and Trails. You'll get this email Thursday afternoons during the peak fall color season, making it easier than ever to make every day a colorful fall adventure.

“This fall’s overall color display should be vivid and travel-worthy,” said Val Cervenka, the forest health program consultant in the DNR’s Forestry Division. Don't miss the fall color show!

Brilliant maples dominate the region's forests with their red, fuchsia, peach and yellow leaves—a stark contrast to the deep green pines. In a few areas, the maples are at or nearing peak fall color! The ash trees are quickly turning a vibrant yellow, and the birch trees have golden highlights.

• George Crosby Manitou State Park, Silver Bay/Finland
• Bear Head Lake State Park, Ely
• Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Soudan

Recent sunny skies have brought forth a rich palette of gold and orange colors. The region's ash, basswood and boxelder are displaying near-peak shades of gold and yellow color. Pockets of red and orange-yellow are visible in red and sugar maples, and understory shrubs.

• Hayes Lake State Park, Roseau
• Old Mill State Park, Argyle, northwest of Thief River Falls
• Itasca State Park, Park Rapids

Sugar maple-covered hillsides across central Minnesota are tinted with scattered patches of bright orange and red. The sumacs are nearing peak shades of crimson and deep red. The golden-yellow elm and ash trees offer spectacular color to the parks, as do the gold, maroon and purple prairie grasses.

• Charles A. Lindbergh State Park, Little Falls
• Lake Carlos State Park, Carlos, north of Alexandria
• Maplewood State Park, Pelican Rapids

Pops of color are visible in the maples and there has been a general lightening of the forests overall. The sumac and dogwood remain very colorful, with their bright red and deep crimson hues. Prairie grasses across the metro dot the landscape with maroon and gold.

• Wild River State Park, Center City, east of North Branch
• William O'Brien State Park, Marine on St. Croix
• Fort Snelling State Park, St. Paul

The sumac and Virginia creeper vines have turned brilliant shades of scarlet and crimson, while the ash, aspen and maple add buttery yellow and fiery reddish-orange hues to the forest canopy. Prairie grasses show stunning shades of red, yellow and purple.

• Sakatah Lake State Park, Waterville
• Fort Ridgely State Park, Fairfax, northwest of New Ulm
• Kilen Woods State Park, Lakefield, north of Jackson

Disclaimers: This year's fall color updates are a collaboration between Explore Minnesota and Minnesota State Parks and Trails. As a result, some subscribers may receive two copies of this newsletter. Some images in this email are representative of typical Minnesota fall color, not real-time photographs from this year.

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