Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
No new reports from the ground here this week.
Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.
Around Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area Delta County holds most of the area and is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 23 days earlier than the area’s own stands: the area is still green. Montrose County, to the southwest, is 4 days behind.By elevation The area runs from about 5,258 to 7,134 feet. That’s 16 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 13, the low ground holds until about Oct 22, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,000 to 5,500 foot band.
6,500–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1311%
6,000–6,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1725%
5,500–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2039%
5,000–5,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2218%
SepOctNov
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 3 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Thursday 22 October to Friday 23 October
You’ll find it just past peak up high, peak color lower down.
Up at 6,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 13; down at 5,500 feet they hold on until about Oct 22. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
6,500–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 13
6,000–6,500 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 17
5,500–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 20
5,000–5,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 22
Where to drive
Grand Mesa Scenic Byway (CO 65), about 28 miles · Owl Creek Pass, about 36 miles · Dallas Divide (CO 62), about 40 miles
What turns
Gambel oak, quaking aspen, bigtooth maple, serviceberry, water birch
What turns, and when
Gambel oak39%
quaking aspen22%
bigtooth maple15%
serviceberry15%
water birch5%
narrowleaf cottonwood3%
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
