When is peak fall color at Latir Peak Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at Latir Peak Wilderness around 7 Oct. The four days to aim for are 6 to 9 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Latir Peak Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Latir Peak Wilderness?

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 color7 OctAim for 6 to 9 Oct

In the wilderness today, Sep 25Starting to turn

Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.

Weather Hard frost Thursday night. Peak may come early and go fast.

1 report came in from Taos County this week, 1 of them still green. Our date held. See the county on the map.

Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.

Around Latir Peak Wilderness Nearly all of the wilderness is in Taos County, which is starting to turn today.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 8,612 to 12,096 feet. That’s 10 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 29, the low ground holds until about Oct 9, 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 297%
11,000–12,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2725%
10,000–11,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2826%
9,000–10,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 430%
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 913%

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.

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

Tuesday 6 October to Wednesday 7 October

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

Up at 11,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 27; down at 9,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 9. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

11,000–12,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 27
10,000–11,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 28
9,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 4
8,000–9,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 9

Where to drive: Enchanted Circle (NM 38, 522 and 64), about 13 miles · Highway of Legends (CO 12), about 46 miles · Cumbres and La Manga passes (CO 17), about 55 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, Gambel oak, willow

What turns, and when

quaking aspen91%
narrowleaf cottonwood4%
Gambel oak3%
willow2%

Also named across New Mexico, outside what the canopy read measures here: 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.

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