When is peak fall color at Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Botanical Area?

Our forecast puts peak color at Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Botanical Area around 28 Sep. The four days to aim for are 27 to 30 Sep. We publish our error rate.

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Botanical Area Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Botanical Area?

Quaking Aspen, Black Oak, Bigleaf Maple, Fremont Cottonwood, White Alder. 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.

Peak color28 SepAim for 27 to 30 Sep

In the area today, Sep 25Nearly peak

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

3 reports came in from Inyo County this week, 2 of them still green and 1 of them at peak. Our date held. 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 Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Botanical Area Inyo County holds most of the area and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 17 days later than the area’s own stands: the area is nearly peak. Mono County, to the northwest, is 14 days ahead.

By elevation The area runs from about 8,558 to 11,110 feet. That’s 11 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 23, the low ground holds until about Oct 4, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 9,000 to 10,000 foot band.

11,000–12,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 236%
10,000–11,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2245%
9,000–10,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2835%
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 413%

Height off 3DEP inside the area’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the area stands in it.

That’s 1 day 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

Sunday 27 September to Monday 28 September

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

Up at 10,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 22; down at 9,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 4. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

10,000–11,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 22
9,000–10,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 28
8,000–9,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 4

Where to drive: Bishop Creek Road (Route 168), about 25 miles · US Route 395 (Eastern Sierra), about 36 miles · June Lake Loop (Route 158), about 56 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Gambel oak, bigtooth maple, serviceberry

What turns, and when

quaking aspen44%
Gambel oak28%
bigtooth maple14%
serviceberry14%

Also named across California, outside what the canopy read measures here: Black Oak, Bigleaf Maple, Fremont Cottonwood, White Alder.

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.

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 California