When is peak fall color at Guadalupe Mountains National Park?

Our forecast puts peak color at Guadalupe Mountains National Park around 31 Oct. The four days to aim for are 30 Oct to 2 Nov. We publish our error rate.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Guadalupe Mountains National Park?

Bald Cypress, Sweetgum, Red Oak, Bigtooth Maple, Sycamore. Bald cypresses turn copper and russet along the Hill Country rivers, bigtooth maples in the Guadalupe Mountains produce pockets of scarlet, and sweetgums color the Piney Woods red and purple.

Peak color31 OctAim for 30 Oct to 2 Nov

In the park 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 Guadalupe Mountains National Park Culberson County holds most of the park and is still green today. Hudspeth County, to the southwest, is 3 days behind.

By elevation The park runs from about 3,646 to 7,793 feet. That’s 13 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 25, the low ground holds until about Nov 5, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,000 to 6,000 foot band.

7,000–8,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2514%
6,000–7,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2822%
5,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 3116%
4,000–5,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 323%
3,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 522%

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

That’s 4 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.

The place

Far west Texas, in the middle of genuine nowhere. The park protects the world's most extensive Permian fossil reef, exposed after 250 million years of uplift and erosion. Guadalupe Peak hits 8,751 feet, the highest point in Texas. Most Texans have no idea it exists.

Established 1972. About 226,000/year visitors.

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

Friday 30 October to Saturday 31 October

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

Up at 7,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 25; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Nov 5. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 25
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 28
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 31
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Nov 3
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Nov 5

What turns: willow, velvet ash, Fremont cottonwood, Gambel oak, bigtooth maple
Entrance: $15

What turns, and when

willow14%
velvet ash14%
Fremont cottonwood14%
Gambel oak13%
bigtooth maple10%
Arizona walnut8%

Also named across Texas, outside what the canopy read measures here: Bald Cypress, Sweetgum, Red Oak, Sycamore.

Bald cypresses turn copper and russet along the Hill Country rivers, bigtooth maples in the Guadalupe Mountains produce pockets of scarlet, and sweetgums color the Piney Woods red and purple.

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 Texas