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 Carson National Forest Rio Arriba County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 13 days earlier than the forest’s own stands: the forest is still green. Taos County, to the east, is 2 days ahead.By elevation The forest runs from about 6,556 to 10,957 feet. That’s 21 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 28, the low ground holds until about Oct 19, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 7,000 foot band.
11,000–12,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 285%
10,000–11,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 112%
9,000–10,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 622%
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1023%
7,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1525%
6,000–7,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1914%
SepOctNov
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.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Sunday 18 October to Monday 19 October
You’ll find it fading up high, peak color lower down.
Up at 10,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 1; down at 7,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 19. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
10,000–11,000 ftFadingpeak Oct 1
9,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Oct 6
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 10
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 15
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 19
Where to drive
Enchanted Circle (NM 38, 522 and 64), about 36 miles · High Road to Taos, about 40 miles · Cumbres and La Manga passes (CO 17), about 41 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, Gambel oak, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, bigtooth maple
What turns, and when
quaking aspen79%
Gambel oak7%
narrowleaf cottonwood5%
willow3%
bigtooth maple3%
serviceberry3%
Also named across New Mexico, outside what the canopy read measures here: 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
