When is peak fall color at Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge?

Our forecast puts peak color at Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge around 18 Oct. The four days to aim for are 17 to 20 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge?

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 refuge today, Sep 25Still green

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 Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Nearly all of the refuge is in Jefferson County, which is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 15 days earlier than the refuge’s own stands: the refuge is still green. Boulder County, to the northwest, is 9 days ahead.

By elevation The refuge runs from about 5,680 to 6,187 feet. That’s 2 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 15, the low ground holds until about Oct 17, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,500 to 5,750 foot band.

6,000–6,250 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1535%
5,750–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1648%
5,500–5,750 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1717%

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

Saturday 17 October to Sunday 18 October

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

Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 15; down at 5,750 feet they hold on until about Oct 17. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

6,000–6,250 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 15
5,750–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 16
5,500–5,750 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 17

Where to drive: Peak to Peak Scenic Byway (CO 7, 72 and 119), about 21 miles · Guanella Pass, about 34 miles · Bear Lake Road, about 38 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Gambel oak, bigtooth maple, serviceberry

What turns, and when

quaking aspen37%
Gambel oak33%
bigtooth maple15%
serviceberry15%

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