When is peak fall color at Sandia Mountain Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at Sandia Mountain Wilderness around 20 Oct. The four days to aim for are 19 to 22 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Sandia Mountain Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Sandia Mountain 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 color20 OctAim for 19 to 22 Oct

In the wilderness 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 Sandia Mountain Wilderness Bernalillo County holds most of the wilderness and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 8 days earlier than the wilderness’s own stands: the wilderness is still green. Sandoval County, to the northwest, is 2 days ahead.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 5,898 to 9,380 feet. That’s 10 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 11, the low ground holds until about Oct 21, 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 1110%
8,000–9,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1421%
7,000–8,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1732%
6,000–7,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2029%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 218%

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

Monday 19 October to Tuesday 20 October

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

Up at 9,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 11; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 21. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

9,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 11
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 14
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 17
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 20
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 21

Where to drive: Sandia Crest Road (NM 536), about 2 miles · Alpine Loop (NM 475), about 54 miles · High Road to Taos, about 69 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Gambel oak, bigtooth maple, serviceberry

What turns, and when

quaking aspen74%
Gambel oak15%
bigtooth maple5%
serviceberry5%

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