Peak color lands around Oct 25 in most of California, but it moves 38 days across the state. Here’s where, and when, and how sure we are.
California’s season, place by place
The 24 places closest to their peak in California, each set on the calendar at its peak and painted by how far along it is today, Sep 25.
First: Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Botanical Area, Sep 28. Last: Desolation Wilderness, Oct 14.
The dashed rule is today; the solid one is the median of the places on this chart, Oct 10. The date at the top of the page is the median county, which includes the low ground between them.
The county map today
Where to go in California
The destinations we cover in California, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.
- PeakPeak 28 Sep best 27 to 30 Sep
- PeakPeak 29 Sep best 28 Sep to 1 Oct
- PeakPeak 1 Oct best 30 Sep to 3 Oct
- PeakPeak 1 Oct best 30 Sep to 3 Oct
- Bridgeport Winter Recreation AreaNear peakPeak 3 Oct best 2 to 5 Oct
- Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness AreaToo earlyPeak 5 Oct best 4 to 7 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 5 Oct best 4 to 7 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 6 Oct best 5 to 8 Oct
- White Mountains WildernessToo earlyPeak 8 Oct best 7 to 10 Oct
- Caribou WildernessToo earlyPeak 8 Oct best 7 to 10 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 9 Oct best 8 to 11 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 9 Oct best 8 to 11 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 10 Oct best 9 to 12 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 10 Oct best 9 to 12 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 10 Oct best 9 to 12 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 12 Oct best 11 to 14 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 12 Oct best 11 to 14 Oct
- Thousand Lakes WildernessToo earlyPeak 12 Oct best 11 to 14 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 13 Oct best 12 to 15 Oct
- Siskiyou WildernessToo earlyPeak 13 Oct, Oregon white oak 28 Oct best 12 to 15 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 14 Oct, Oregon white oak 26 Oct best 13 to 16 Oct
- Too earlyPeak 14 Oct, Oregon white oak 29 Oct best 13 to 16 Oct
- South Warner WildernessToo earlyPeak 14 Oct best 13 to 16 Oct
- Desolation WildernessToo earlyPeak 14 Oct best 13 to 16 Oct
Also forecast in CaliforniaAngeles National ForestAnsel Adams WildernessChannel Islands National ParkCleveland National ForestDeath Valley National ParkEldorado National ForestGolden Gate National Recreation AreaJoshua Tree National ParkLassen National ForestLos Padres National ForestMendocino National ForestMokelumne WildernessMono Basin National Scenic AreaPinnacles National ParkPlumas National ForestPoint Reyes National SeashoreRedwood National ParkRogue River-Siskiyou National ForestSan Bernardino National ForestSanta Monica Mountains National Recreation AreaSequoia National ForestShasta-Trinity National ForestSierra National ForestSix Rivers National ForestTahoe National ForestWhiskeytown Shasta-Trinity National Recreation AreaYosemite National Park
When to go
Across 58 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Mono County around Oct 1 and last in Mariposa County around Nov 8. Most of the state peaks near Oct 25.
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.
1 of 58 counties here are corrected by people who have actually looked at the trees this season. 3 reports 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 to mid-October in the Sierra, late October to mid-November in Yosemite Valley is how California is usually described.
What actually turns
Eastern Sierra aspens turn brilliant gold against granite walls, black oaks in Yosemite Valley go bronze and russet, and cottonwoods line the desert creeks in pale yellow.
- Quaking Aspen
- Black Oak
- Bigleaf Maple
- Fremont Cottonwood
- White Alder
The June Lake Loop off US 395 is the most concentrated aspen color in California, with dense groves reflected in four alpine lakes.
Worth the drive
Mono County on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada contains the June Lake Loop, Convict Lake, and the northern end of the US 395 aspen corridor. The aspens here grow in dense groves in every canyon draining the Sierra's east face, and the backdrop of 12,000-foot granite peaks reflected in alpine lakes makes this one of the most photogenic fall landscapes in America. Photographers treat this as an annual pilgrimage.
Fresno County contains the western slope of the Sierra Nevada including Kings Canyon and portions of the Sierra National Forest. The black oaks and dogwoods in the mid-elevation forests produce a warm, golden fall that peaks later than the eastern Sierra aspens. Kings Canyon's Grant Grove and the road down to Cedar Grove pass through groves of black oak and bigleaf maple that color in late 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.
Mono corrected
Alpine
Butte, Del Norte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Inyo, Kern, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Yuba
Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Yolo
Fresno, Kings, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, Trinity, Ventura
Imperial, Mariposa, Orange, San Benito, Tuolumne
Every date on this site is a forecast: a model corrected by ground reports, carrying a measured error, published in full. Check conditions with the land manager before you travel. Last reviewed September 2026. Open the live map