Ashley Karst National Recreation and Geologic Area National Recreation Area Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: When is peak fall color at Ashley Karst National Recreation and Geologic Area National Recreation Area?

Our forecast puts peak color at Ashley Karst National Recreation and Geologic Area National Recreation Area around 21 Sep. The four days to aim for are 20 to 23 Sep. We publish our error rate.

Q: What trees turn color at Ashley Karst National Recreation and Geologic Area National Recreation Area?

Quaking Aspen, Bigtooth Maple, Gambel Oak, Narrowleaf Cottonwood, Rocky Mountain Maple. Utah's fall is a dual show: aspens turn gold on the high plateaus while bigtooth maples along the Wasatch Front go vivid scarlet, creating one of the most colorful mountain fronts in the West.

Peak color21 SepAim for 20 to 23 Sep

In the recreation area today, Sep 25Just past peak

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

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

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 Ashley Karst National Recreation and Geologic Area National Recreation Area Uintah County holds most of the recreation area and is peak color today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 5 days later than the recreation area’s own stands: the recreation area is just past peak. Daggett County, to the northeast, is 4 days ahead.

By elevation The recreation area runs from about 6,871 to 11,247 feet. That’s 24 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 14, the low ground holds until about Oct 8, 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 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 148%
10,000–11,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1323%
9,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1929%
8,000–9,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2520%
7,000–8,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 213%
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 86%

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 2 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 20 September to Monday 21 September

You’ll find it just past peak up high, starting to turn lower down.

Up at 11,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 14; down at 8,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 2. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

11,000–12,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 14
10,000–11,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 13
9,000–10,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 19
8,000–9,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 25
7,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 2

Where to drive: Mirror Lake Highway (UT 150), about 65 miles · Guardsman Pass, about 92 miles · Alpine Scenic Loop (Routes 92 and 189), about 97 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow

What turns, and when

quaking aspen94%
narrowleaf cottonwood3%
willow2%

Every one of these turns yellow or gold here. The shades only tell the species apart.

Also named across Utah, outside what the canopy read measures here: Bigtooth Maple, Gambel Oak, Rocky Mountain Maple.

Utah's fall is a dual show: aspens turn gold on the high plateaus while bigtooth maples along the Wasatch Front go vivid scarlet, creating one of the most colorful mountain fronts in the West.

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 Utah