When is peak fall color at Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests?

Our forecast puts peak color at Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests around 4 Oct. The four days to aim for are 3 to 6 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests?

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 color4 OctAim for 3 to 6 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.

17 reports came in from Gunnison County this week, 5 of them past peak and 4 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 Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests Gunnison County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 6 days earlier than the forest’s own stands: the forest is starting to turn. San Miguel County, to the southwest, is 1 day behind. Ouray County, to the southwest, is 2 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 6,768 to 12,141 feet. That’s 19 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 23, the low ground holds until about Oct 12, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 8,000 to 10,000 foot band.

12,000–14,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 237%
10,000–12,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1835%
8,000–10,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2940%
6,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1218%

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.

Today from the snodgrass3 camera, 19 km from Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests — See it now PhenoCam Network, SNOD-MA camera, 19 km away, captured Sep 25.

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 3 October to Sunday 4 October

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

Up at 10,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 18; down at 8,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 12. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

10,000–12,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 18
8,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 29
6,000–8,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 12

Where to drive: Kebler Pass Road (County Road 12), about 27 miles · Owl Creek Pass, about 27 miles · McClure Pass (CO 133), about 39 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, Gambel oak, willow, bigtooth maple

What turns, and when

quaking aspen67%
narrowleaf cottonwood12%
Gambel oak8%
willow8%
bigtooth maple3%
serviceberry3%

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