When is peak fall color at Bandelier National Monument?

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

Bandelier National Monument Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Bandelier National Monument?

Quaking Aspen, Narrowleaf Cottonwood, Gambel Oak, Rocky Mountain Maple, Bigtooth Maple. 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.

Peak color18 OctAim for 17 to 20 Oct

In the monument 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 Bandelier National Monument Sandoval County holds most of the monument and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 8 days earlier than the monument’s own stands: the monument is still green. Los Alamos County, to the north, is 1 day ahead. Santa Fe County, to the southeast, is 7 days ahead.

By elevation The monument runs from about 5,563 to 9,242 feet. That’s 10 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 10, the low ground holds until about Oct 20, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 7,000 foot band.

9,000–10,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 108%
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1210%
7,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1621%
6,000–7,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1842%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2019%

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

That’s 4 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.

The place

Bandelier National Monument protects over 33,000 acres of ruggedly beautiful canyon and mesa country. Petroglyphs, dwellings carved into the soft rock cliffs, and standing masonry walls pay tribute to the early days of a culture that still survives in the surrounding communities.

Established 1916.

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, nearly peak lower down.

Up at 9,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 10; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 20. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

9,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 10
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 12
7,000–8,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 16
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 18
5,000–6,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 20

Where to drive: Alpine Loop (NM 475), about 30 miles · High Road to Taos, about 36 miles · Sandia Crest Road (NM 536), about 41 miles
What turns: Gambel oak, quaking aspen, bigtooth maple, serviceberry

What turns, and when

Gambel oak41%
quaking aspen29%
bigtooth maple15%
serviceberry15%

Also named across New Mexico, outside what the canopy read measures here: Narrowleaf Cottonwood, Rocky Mountain Maple.

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.

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 New Mexico