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Forecast issued 25 Sep, 5:21pm ET

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New Mexico Fall Foliage Map 2026

Forecast issued 25 Sep, 5:21pm ET

Photograph: More Than Just Parks

Peak color lands around Oct 24 in most of New Mexico, but it moves 31 days across the state. Here’s where, and when, and how sure we are.

New Mexico’s season, place by place

The 24 places closest to their peak in New Mexico, each set on the calendar at its peak and painted by how far along it is today, Sep 25.

First: Cruces Basin Wilderness, Oct 4. Last: Bandelier Wilderness Area, Oct 19.

The dashed rule is today; the solid one is the median of the places on this chart, Oct 18. The date at the top of the page is the median county, which includes the low ground between them.

The county map today

Cruces Basin WildernessWheeler Peak WildernessLatir Peak WildernessPecos WildernessSan Pedro Parks WildernessValles Caldera National PreserveColumbine-Hondo WildernessRìo San Antonio Wilderness AreaCuba-Rio Puerco Land Utilization ProjectFort Union
New Mexico, Sep 25 Still green to peak to past peak, the map’s own scale. Open the live map to scrub the day.

Where to go in New Mexico

The destinations we cover in New Mexico, in the order their color arrives. Each carries its own forecast and its own band, because a state isn’t one place.

  1. Cruces Basin WildernessNew Mexico
    Near peakPeak 4 Oct best 3 to 6 Oct
  2. Wheeler Peak WildernessNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 6 Oct best 5 to 8 Oct
  3. Latir Peak WildernessNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 7 Oct best 6 to 9 Oct
  4. Pecos WildernessNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 9 Oct best 8 to 11 Oct
  5. San Pedro Parks WildernessNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 11 Oct best 10 to 13 Oct
  6. Valles Caldera National PreserveNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 12 Oct best 11 to 14 Oct
  7. Columbine-Hondo WildernessNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 12 Oct best 11 to 14 Oct
  8. Rìo San Antonio Wilderness AreaNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 12 Oct best 11 to 14 Oct
  9. Cuba-Rio Puerco Land Utilization ProjectNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 16 Oct best 15 to 18 Oct
  10. Fort Union National MonumentNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 17 Oct best 16 to 19 Oct
  11. El Malpais National Conservation AreaNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
  12. Cebolla Wilderness AreaNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
  13. West Malpais Wilderness AreaNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
  14. Bandelier National MonumentNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
  15. Chaco Culture National Historical ParkNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
  16. Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation AreaNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
  17. Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness AreaNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
  18. El Morro National MonumentNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 18 Oct best 17 to 20 Oct
  19. Carson National ForestNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct
  20. El Malpais National MonumentNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct
  21. Jemez National Recreation AreaNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct
  22. Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness AreaNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct
  23. Chama River Canyon WildernessNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct
  24. Bandelier Wilderness AreaNew Mexico
    Too earlyPeak 19 Oct best 18 to 21 Oct

Also forecast in New MexicoApache-Sitgreaves National ForestsCarlsbad Caverns National ParkCibola National ForestCoronado National ForestGila National ForestGuadalupe Mountains National ParkLincoln National ForestSandia Mountain WildernessSanta Fe National ForestWhite Sands National Park

When to go

Across 33 counties, peak color is forecast to arrive first in Santa Fe County around Oct 3 and last in Lea County around Nov 3. Most of the state peaks near Oct 24.

Each date is the middle of the four days we’d aim a trip at, and each place page names them. We publish what the model got wrong, region by region.

This autumn is running 4 days late in New Mexico. September has run warmer than the 1991 to 2020 normal so far, and the dates above already include that. It’s a real signal but a modest one: temperature explains under a tenth of how much peak color moves year to year.

1 of 33 counties here are corrected by people who have actually looked at the trees this season. 4 reports from official state sources have moved those dates off the model and narrowed their windows. Counties with neither keep the model forecast and say so. Which is which is marked in the table below.

Late September at 10,000 feet, early-to-mid October at lower elevations is how New Mexico is usually described.

What actually turns

Aspens turn gold in the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez mountains, Gambel oaks go russet and orange at lower elevations, and cottonwoods line the Rio Grande bosque in butter yellow.

  • Quaking Aspen
  • Narrowleaf Cottonwood
  • Gambel Oak
  • Rocky Mountain Maple
  • Bigtooth Maple

The Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway near Taos loops through some of the finest aspen color in the southern Rockies, peaking in late September to early October.

Worth the drive

Taos County

Taos County in northern New Mexico contains the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway and some of the finest aspen color in the southern Rockies. The aspens on the slopes of Wheeler Peak (New Mexico's highest at 13,167 feet) and in the Rio Fernando de Taos valley produce gold that glows against adobe and sage. The drive from Taos through the Sangre de Cristos to Red River and Angel Fire is a 84-mile loop of almost continuous aspen.

Every county, by peak week

Elevation does most of the work here. Color runs down a mountain at roughly a day per 100 meters, so a ridge and the valley below it can be a week or two apart in the same county.

Oct 3 to Oct 6

Colfax, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe corrected, Taos

Oct 8 to Oct 12

Bernalillo, Cibola, Los Alamos regional, Mora, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval regional

Oct 14 to Oct 20

Catron, Lincoln, McKinley, Otero, Torrance

Oct 24 to Oct 27

Chaves, Guadalupe, Harding, Union, Valencia

Oct 28 to Nov 3

Curry, De Baca, Doña Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lea, Luna, Quay, Roosevelt, Sierra, Socorro

How this map is madeThe trees, the elevation, this September’s weather and reports from the ground, scored against 68 forest cameras. Median error 6 days.

Every date on this site is a forecast: a model corrected by ground reports, carrying a measured error, published in full. Check conditions with the land manager before you travel. Last reviewed September 2026. Open the live map