When is peak fall color at Pecos Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at Pecos Wilderness around 9 Oct. The four days to aim for are 8 to 11 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Pecos Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Pecos 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 color9 OctAim for 8 to 11 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.

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 Pecos Wilderness San Miguel County holds most of the wilderness and is starting to turn today. Santa Fe County, to the southwest, is 7 days ahead. Mora County, to the east, is 2 days ahead.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 8,241 to 11,805 feet. That’s 13 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 4, the low ground holds until about Oct 12, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 9,000 to 10,000 foot band.

11,000–12,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 421%
10,000–11,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 631%
9,000–10,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 929%
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1213%

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

Thursday 8 October to Friday 9 October

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

Up at 11,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 4; down at 9,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 12. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

11,000–12,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 4
10,000–11,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 6
9,000–10,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 9
8,000–9,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 12

Where to drive: High Road to Taos, about 9 miles · Alpine Loop (NM 475), about 13 miles · Enchanted Circle (NM 38, 522 and 64), about 50 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Gambel oak, bigtooth maple, serviceberry

What turns, and when

quaking aspen79%
Gambel oak12%
bigtooth maple4%
serviceberry4%

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