When is peak fall color at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area?

Our forecast puts peak color at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area around 10 Oct. The four days to aim for are 9 to 12 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area?

Quaking Aspen, Narrowleaf Cottonwood, Rocky Mountain Maple, Water Birch, Willow. The Tetons rising above the golden cottonwoods of the Snake River flats is one of the most famous fall landscapes in the American West, and the aspen groves at elevation add hillsides of gold.

Peak color10 OctAim for 9 to 12 Oct

In the recreation area today, Sep 25Starting to turn

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 Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area Sweetwater County holds most of the recreation area and is peak color today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 15 days earlier than the recreation area’s own stands: the recreation area is starting to turn. Daggett County, to the south, is 3 days ahead.

By elevation The recreation area runs from about 6,033 to 9,652 feet. That’s 21 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 18, the low ground holds until about Oct 9, 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 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1816%
8,000–9,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2513%
7,000–8,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 114%
6,000–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 957%

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

Friday 9 October to Saturday 10 October

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

Up at 9,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 18; down at 7,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 9. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

9,000–10,000 ftLeaves downpeak Sep 18
8,000–9,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 25
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 1
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 9

Where to drive: Mirror Lake Highway (UT 150), about 83 miles · Guardsman Pass, about 110 miles · Logan Canyon (US 89), about 117 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Gambel oak, narrowleaf cottonwood, serviceberry, bigtooth maple

What turns, and when

quaking aspen74%
Gambel oak9%
narrowleaf cottonwood5%
serviceberry5%
bigtooth maple4%
willow3%

Also named across Wyoming, outside what the canopy read measures here: Rocky Mountain Maple, Water Birch.

The Tetons rising above the golden cottonwoods of the Snake River flats is one of the most famous fall landscapes in the American West, and the aspen groves at elevation add hillsides of gold.

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 Wyoming