When is peak fall color at Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area?

Our forecast puts peak color at Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area around 18 Oct. The four days to aim for are 17 to 20 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area?

Quaking Aspen, Narrowleaf Cottonwood, Gambel Oak, Rocky Mountain Maple, Alder. Colorado aspens are the main event, turning entire mountainsides gold and amber while Gambel oaks add russet and orange at lower elevations and cottonwoods line the rivers in yellow.

Peak color18 OctAim for 17 to 20 Oct

In the wilderness today, Sep 25Still green

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

1 report came in from Mesa County this week, 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 Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area Mesa County holds most of the wilderness and is peak color today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 23 days earlier than the wilderness’s own stands: the wilderness is still green. Delta County, to the northeast, is 5 days behind.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 4,958 to 7,685 feet. That’s 17 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 9, the low ground holds until about Oct 26, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,000 to 6,000 foot band.

7,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 921%
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1542%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2131%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 266%

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

That’s 3 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 17 October to Sunday 18 October

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

Up at 7,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 9; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 21. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 9
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 15
5,000–6,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 21

Where to drive: Grand Mesa Scenic Byway (CO 65), about 28 miles · Dallas Divide (CO 62), about 53 miles · Last Dollar Road, about 59 miles
What turns: Gambel oak, quaking aspen, bigtooth maple, serviceberry, narrowleaf cottonwood

What turns, and when

Gambel oak30%
quaking aspen25%
bigtooth maple13%
serviceberry13%
narrowleaf cottonwood12%
willow8%

Also named across Colorado, outside what the canopy read measures here: Rocky Mountain Maple, Alder.

Colorado aspens are the main event, turning entire mountainsides gold and amber while Gambel oaks add russet and orange at lower elevations and cottonwoods line the rivers in 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 Colorado