When is peak fall color at Rio Grande National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Rio Grande National Forest around 30 Sep. The four days to aim for are 29 Sep to 2 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Rio Grande National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Rio Grande National Forest?

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 color30 SepAim for 29 Sep to 2 Oct

In the forest today, Sep 25Nearly peak

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 Rio Grande National Forest Saguache County holds most of the forest and is peak color today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 5 days earlier than the forest’s own stands: the forest is nearly peak. Mineral County, to the west, is 2 days behind. Rio Grande County, to the southeast, is 3 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 8,469 to 12,152 feet. That’s 17 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 26, the low ground holds until about Oct 6, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 9,000 to 10,000 foot band.

12,000–13,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 268%
11,000–12,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2525%
10,000–11,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2432%
9,000–10,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 3023%
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 610%

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.

That’s 4 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

Tuesday 29 September to Wednesday 30 September

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

Up at 11,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 25; down at 9,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 6. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

11,000–12,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 25
10,000–11,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 24
9,000–10,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 30
8,000–9,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 6

Where to drive: Wolf Creek Pass (US 160), about 20 miles · Cumbres and La Manga passes (CO 17), about 50 miles · Owl Creek Pass, about 60 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow

What turns, and when

quaking aspen87%
narrowleaf cottonwood8%
willow5%

Every one of these turns yellow or gold here. The shades only tell the species apart.

Also named across Colorado, outside what the canopy read measures here: 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.

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