National Park·California, Nevada·3,380,964 acres
Death Valley National Park
Forecast issued Nov 10, 7:57am ET
Photograph: More Than Just Parks
We don’t forecast fall color here. Mojave and Great Basin desert. No deciduous canopy. Our model reads latitude and elevation and will happily produce a date for anywhere; publishing one here would be a category error rather than an uncertain forecast, so we don’t.
That’s 1 day earlier than our model alone would say. This season’s reports from the ground moved it, and they outrank us.
The place
The largest national park in the Lower 48 at 3.4 million acres, and the hottest place on Earth. Badwater Basin sits 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America. In 1913, the thermometer hit 134 degrees Fahrenheit here. The land looks dead until you show up in February after a wet winter and the whole desert floor blooms.
Established 1994. About 1.1 million/year visitors.
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.
Saturday, October 24 to Sunday, October 25
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
- Where to drive
- Bishop Creek Road (Route 168), about 95 miles · US Route 395 (Eastern Sierra), about 120 miles · June Lake Loop (Route 158), about 141 miles
- What turns
- bigtooth maple, velvet ash, Fremont cottonwood, willow, Arizona walnut
- Entrance
- $30
What turns, and when
- bigtooth maple17%
- velvet ash17%
- Fremont cottonwood17%
- willow17%
- Arizona walnut8%
- chinkapin oak8%
Also named across California, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen, Black Oak, Bigleaf Maple, 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.
Across California as a whole: Late September to mid-October in the Sierra, late October to mid-November in Yosemite Valley.
Questions people ask about Death Valley National Park
- When is peak fall foliage at Death Valley National Park?
We don’t forecast fall color at Death Valley National Park. Mojave and Great Basin desert. No deciduous canopy. Publishing a modeled date here would be a category error rather than an uncertain forecast.
- Is there an entrance fee at Death Valley National Park?
Entrance fee $30.
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
Nearby, and when they turn
Spring Mountains and Kings Canyon and Inyo are on the map above, with their own date.
- Peak Oct 2 best Oct 1 to 4
- Peak Oct 16 best Oct 15 to 18
- Peak Oct 4 best Oct 3 to 6
Fall color roads near Death Valley National Park
Nearest first. Distances are straight-line from the park, so allow more by road.
- Bishop Creek Road (Route 168)
Climbs from the Owens Valley to South Lake and Lake Sabrina. Aspens line the creek the entire way, peaking in early-to-mid October.
- US Route 395 (Eastern Sierra)
The stretch from Bridgeport to Lone Pine. Every canyon draining the Sierra's east side holds aspens, and the backdrop of 14,000-foot peaks is unmatched.
- June Lake Loop (Route 158)
A short loop off US 395 with dense aspen groves around four alpine lakes. The most concentrated aspen color in California.