Arizona Fall Foliage Map 2026

The county map today

Where to go in Arizona

The destinations we cover in Arizona, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.

1. C Hart Merriam Scenic AreaArizona
   Too earlyPeak 8 Oct best 7 to 10 Oct
2. Kachina Peaks WildernessArizona
   Too earlyPeak 12 Oct best 11 to 14 Oct
3. Mount Baldy WildernessArizona
   Too earlyPeak 13 Oct best 12 to 15 Oct
4. Phelps Botanical AreaArizona
   Too earlyPeak 13 Oct best 12 to 15 Oct
5. Kendrick Mountain WildernessArizona
   Too earlyPeak 14 Oct best 13 to 16 Oct
6. Kaibab National ForestArizona
   Too earlyPeak 15 Oct best 14 to 17 Oct
7. Escudilla WildernessArizona
   Too earlyPeak 15 Oct best 14 to 17 Oct
8. Sunset Crater Volcano National MonumentArizona
   Too earlyPeak 16 Oct best 15 to 18 Oct
9. Hubbell Trading Post National Historic SiteArizona
   Too earlyPeak 17 Oct best 16 to 19 Oct
10. Saddle Mountain WildernessArizona
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
11. Walnut Canyon National MonumentArizona
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
12. Navajo National MonumentArizona
    Too earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct
13. Bear Wallow WildernessArizona
    Too earlyPeak 20 Oct best 19 to 22 Oct
14. Strawberry Crater WildernessArizona
    Too earlyPeak 20 Oct best 19 to 22 Oct
15. Juniper Mesa WildernessArizona
    Too earlyPeak 20 Oct best 19 to 22 Oct
16. Coconino National ForestArizona
    Too earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
17. Petrified Forest National ParkArizona
    Too earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
18. Sycamore Canyon WildernessArizona
    Too earlyPeak 21 Oct best 20 to 23 Oct
19. Apache-Sitgreaves National ForestsArizona, New Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 22 Oct best 21 to 24 Oct
20. Woodchute WildernessArizona
    Too earlyPeak 22 Oct best 21 to 24 Oct
21. Apache Creek WildernessArizona
    Too earlyPeak 22 Oct best 21 to 24 Oct
22. Red Rock-Secret Mountain WildernessArizona
    Too earlyPeak 23 Oct best 22 to 25 Oct
23. Wupatki National MonumentArizona
    Too earlyPeak 23 Oct best 22 to 25 Oct
24. Granite Mountain Wilderness (Az)Arizona
    Too earlyPeak 23 Oct best 22 to 25 Oct

Also forecast in ArizonaCoronado National Forest · Glen Canyon National Recreation Area · Grand Canyon National Park · Lake Mead National Recreation Area · Prescott National Forest · Saguaro National Park · Tonto National Forest

When to go

Across 15 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Coconino County around Oct 8 and last in Yuma County around Nov 10. Most of the state peaks near Oct 30.

Each date is the middle of the four days we’d aim a trip at, and each place page names them. We publish what the model got wrong, region by region.

This autumn is running 2 days late in Arizona. September has run warmer than the 1991 to 2020 normal so far, and the dates above already include that. It’s a real signal but a modest one: temperature explains under a tenth of how much peak color moves year to year.

1 of 15 counties here are corrected by people who have actually looked at the trees this season. 1 report from official state sources have moved those dates off the model and narrowed their windows. Counties with neither keep the model forecast and say so. Which is which is marked in the table below.

Late September at high elevations, mid-October in the canyons is how Arizona is usually described.

What actually turns

Aspens on the San Francisco Peaks turn gold above 8,000 feet, Gambel oaks go orange and russet at mid-elevations, and cottonwoods line the creek bottoms in butter yellow.

• Quaking Aspen
• Bigtooth Maple
• Gambel Oak
• Arizona Sycamore
• Fremont Cottonwood

The Inner Basin Trail on the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff walks through one of the densest aspen groves in the Southwest, peaking in early October.

Every county, by peak week

Elevation does most of the work here. Color runs down a mountain at roughly a day per 100 meters, so a ridge and the valley below it can be a week or two apart in the same county.