When is peak fall color at Coronado National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Coronado National Forest around 1 Nov. The four days to aim for are 31 Oct to 3 Nov. We publish our error rate.

Coronado National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Coronado 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 color1 NovAim for 31 Oct to 3 Nov

In the forest today, Sep 25Still green

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

No new reports from the ground here this week.

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

Around Coronado National Forest Cochise County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Santa Cruz County, to the southwest, is 2 days behind. Pima County, to the west, is 4 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 3,404 to 6,892 feet. That’s 12 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 22, the low ground holds until about Nov 3, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 4,000 to 5,000 foot band.

7,000–8,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 224%
6,000–7,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2610%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2931%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3138%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 317%

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 luckyhills camera, 33 km from Coronado National Forest — See it now PhenoCam Network, Walnut Gulch camera, 33 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

Saturday 31 October to Sunday 1 November

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

Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 26; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Nov 3. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 26
5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 29
4,000–5,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 31
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Nov 3

What turns: Gambel oak, bigtooth maple, quaking aspen, serviceberry, velvet ash

What turns, and when

Gambel oak26%
bigtooth maple17%
quaking aspen10%
serviceberry9%
velvet ash8%
Fremont cottonwood8%

Also named across Arizona, outside what the canopy read measures here: 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