When is peak fall color at Kaibab National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Kaibab National Forest around 15 Oct. The four days to aim for are 14 to 17 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Kaibab National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Kaibab 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 color15 OctAim for 14 to 17 Oct

In the forest today, Sep 25Starting to turn

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 Kaibab National Forest Nearly all of the forest is in Coconino County, which is starting to turn today.

By elevation The forest runs from about 4,464 to 8,166 feet. That’s 11 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 10, the low ground holds until about Oct 21, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 7,000 foot band.

8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 106%
7,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1317%
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1539%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1924%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2114%

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.

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

Wednesday 14 October to Thursday 15 October

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

Up at 7,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 13; down at 5,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 21. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

7,000–8,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 13
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 15
5,000–6,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 19
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 21

Where to drive: Boulder Mountain (UT 12), about 149 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Gambel oak, bigtooth maple, serviceberry, willow

What turns, and when

quaking aspen61%
Gambel oak21%
bigtooth maple8%
serviceberry7%
willow3%

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

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