When is peak fall color at Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest?

Our forecast puts peak color at Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest around 22 Sep. The four days to aim for are 21 to 24 Sep. We publish our error rate.

Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest?

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 color22 SepAim for 21 to 24 Sep

In the forest today, Sep 25Just past peak

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 Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Utah County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 8 days later than the forest’s own stands: the forest is just past peak. Salt Lake County, to the southwest, is 4 days behind. Cache County, to the northwest, is 1 day behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 4,873 to 10,972 feet. That’s 36 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 9, the low ground holds until about Oct 15, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 8,000 to 10,000 foot band.

10,000–12,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 912%
8,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2230%
6,000–8,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 340%
4,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1518%

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

Today from the NEON.D15.REDB.DP1.20002 camera, 15 km from Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest — See it now PhenoCam Network, Red Butte Creek camera, 15 km away, captured Sep 25.

That’s 1 day 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 21 September to Tuesday 22 September

You’ll find it fading up high, still green lower down.

Up at 10,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 9; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 15. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

10,000–12,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 9
8,000–10,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 22
6,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 3
4,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 15

Where to drive: Guardsman Pass, about 18 miles · Mirror Lake Highway (UT 150), about 19 miles · Alpine Scenic Loop (Routes 92 and 189), about 30 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, bigtooth maple, Gambel oak, serviceberry

What turns, and when

quaking aspen61%
bigtooth maple20%
Gambel oak16%
serviceberry4%

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