Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
Weather Hard frost Wednesday night. Peak may come early and go fast.
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 South San Juan Wilderness Archuleta County holds most of the wilderness and is starting to turn today. Conejos County, to the east, is 8 days ahead. Rio Grande County, to the northeast, is 9 days ahead.By elevation The wilderness runs from about 8,868 to 12,070 feet. That’s 10 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 28, the low ground holds until about Oct 8, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 8,000 to 9,000 foot band.
12,000–13,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 286%
11,000–12,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2642%
10,000–11,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2529%
9,000–10,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 216%
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 86%
SepOctNov
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 4 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.
Sunday 4 October to Monday 5 October
You’ll find it peak color.
That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.
11,000–12,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 26
10,000–11,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 25
9,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 2
Where to drive
Wolf Creek Pass (US 160), about 18 miles · Cumbres and La Manga passes (CO 17), about 19 miles · Million Dollar Highway (US 550), about 74 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, Gambel oak, water birch
What turns, and when
quaking aspen83%
narrowleaf cottonwood7%
willow5%
Gambel oak3%
water birch2%
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
