When is peak fall color at Coconino National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Coconino National Forest around 21 Oct. The four days to aim for are 20 to 23 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Coconino National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Coconino National Forest?

Quaking Aspen, Bigtooth Maple, Gambel Oak, Arizona Sycamore, Fremont Cottonwood. 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.

Peak color21 OctAim for 20 to 23 Oct

In the forest today, Sep 25Still green

Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.

16 reports came in from Coconino County this week, 15 of them still green and 1 of them patchy color. They moved our date 2 days earlier. See the county on the map.

Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.

Around Coconino National Forest Coconino County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 13 days earlier than the forest’s own stands: the forest is still green. Yavapai County, to the west, is 19 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 3,583 to 7,632 feet. That’s 16 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 16, the low ground holds until about Oct 27, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,000 to 6,000 foot band.

7,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1623%
6,000–7,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1839%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2118%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 249%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 279%

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 flagstaff camera, 31 km from Coconino National Forest — See it now PhenoCam Network, Forestdale camera, 31 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

Tuesday 20 October to Wednesday 21 October

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

Up at 7,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 16; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 27. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 16
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 18
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 21
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 24
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 27

What turns: Gambel oak, bigtooth maple, serviceberry, willow, velvet ash

What turns, and when

Gambel oak30%
bigtooth maple16%
serviceberry10%
willow9%
velvet ash8%
Fremont cottonwood8%

Also named across Arizona, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen, Arizona Sycamore.

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.

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. Out here we score it against NASA's satellite record of when the canopy shuts down, read inside each unit’s own boundary: two dates in three land within 12 days of it. How this map is made

All of Arizona