When is peak fall color at Jemez National Recreation Area?

Our forecast puts peak color at Jemez National Recreation Area around 19 Oct. The four days to aim for are 18 to 21 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Jemez National Recreation Area Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Jemez National Recreation Area?

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 color19 OctAim for 18 to 21 Oct

In the recreation area 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 Jemez National Recreation Area Nearly all of the recreation area is in Sandoval County, which is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 9 days earlier than the recreation area’s own stands: the recreation area is still green.

By elevation The recreation area runs from about 5,941 to 9,162 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 5,000 to 6,000 foot band.

9,000–10,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 107%
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1244%
7,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1525%
6,000–7,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1818%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 206%

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

Sunday 18 October to Monday 19 October

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

Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 12; down at 7,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 18. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 12
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 15
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 18

Where to drive: Sandia Crest Road (NM 536), about 43 miles · Alpine Loop (NM 475), about 48 miles · High Road to Taos, about 53 miles
What turns: Gambel oak, quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, bigtooth maple

What turns, and when

Gambel oak23%
quaking aspen20%
narrowleaf cottonwood20%
willow13%
bigtooth maple8%
serviceberry8%

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

All of New Mexico