When is peak fall color at Capitol Reef National Park?

Our forecast puts peak color at Capitol Reef National Park around 23 Oct. The four days to aim for are 22 to 25 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Capitol Reef National Park Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Capitol Reef National Park?

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 color23 OctAim for 22 to 25 Oct

In the park today, Sep 25Still green

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

1 report came in from Wayne County this week, 1 of them patchy color. They moved our date 3 days later. 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 Capitol Reef National Park Garfield County holds most of the park and is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 26 days earlier than the park’s own stands: the park is still green. Wayne County, to the northeast, is 2 days behind.

By elevation The park runs from about 5,348 to 6,963 feet. That’s 12 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 10, the low ground holds until about Oct 22, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,000 to 5,500 foot band.

7,000–7,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 104%
6,500–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1317%
6,000–6,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1638%
5,500–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 1931%
5,000–5,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2210%

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 1 day later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.

The place

The most underrated national park in Utah, which is saying something in a state with five of them. Capitol Reef protects a 100-mile fold in the earth called the Waterpocket Fold, a wrinkle in the crust so massive you can see it from space. The old Mormon settlement of Fruita sits at the center, its orchards still producing peaches and apples you can pick yourself. Almost nobody is here.

Established 1971. About 1.4 million/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

Thursday 22 October to Friday 23 October

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

Up at 6,500 feet the stands peak around Oct 13; down at 5,500 feet they hold on until about Oct 22. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

6,500–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 13
6,000–6,500 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 16
5,500–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 19
5,000–5,500 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 22

Where to drive: Boulder Mountain (UT 12), about 17 miles · Fish Lake Scenic Byway (UT 25), about 39 miles · Nebo Loop, about 119 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Gambel oak, bigtooth maple, serviceberry
Entrance: $20

What turns, and when

quaking aspen41%
Gambel oak30%
bigtooth maple15%
serviceberry15%

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

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