Fall Foliage in Colorado: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Peak color in Colorado typically runs September 20 to October 5. Exact timing shifts one to two weeks year to year — a warm, wet autumn pushes peak later, while drought stress or an early hard frost accelerates it.

Color usually becomes noticeable around September 10, starting with High country above 9,000 ft (mid to late September) and spreading across the state over the following weeks.

Most years the show is largely over by October 15. Front Range foothills holds color latest (early October), and oak-dominated woods keep muted color for another week or two beyond the maples.

Kebler Pass (the largest aspen grove in North America); Maroon Bells Scenic Loop; Million Dollar Highway (US 550). Go midweek during the peak window if you can — the marquee routes draw serious weekend traffic at peak.

The palette here is built on quaking aspen — gold, occasionally orange-red in dry years. Reds and oranges come from anthocyanins that sugar maples and red maples manufacture in sunny, cool-night weather; the yellows in birch and aspen are carotenoids that were in the leaf all summer, unmasked when chlorophyll breaks down.

The recipe for a great year is a moist growing season followed by a sunny September of warm days and cool — not freezing — nights. Watch late-summer drought maps: stressed trees turn early and dull. The windows on this page are the reliable planning anchor either way.

In any single spot, expect 5–10 good days. Statewide, the window runs September 20 to October 5 because High country above 9,000 ft (mid to late September) and Front Range foothills (early October) are staggered — if you can move, Colorado gives you weeks of peak somewhere.

Chase the stagger: earlier terrain has already peaked, later terrain hasn't yet. Arrive too early and head for High country above 9,000 ft; too late, drop to Front Range foothills. The color map on this page shows today's estimated status across the area you search.