Fall foliage

Fall foliage in Colorado

Fall 2026 · updated daily

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Colorado’s color is almost entirely above eight thousand feet and arrives within a short span.

Hillsides of gold aspen with patches of orange scrub oak and gray rock outcrops under a clear blue sky.
Aspen at Kebler PassPhoto: Aakash sahai · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
A broad, bare-topped mountain above slopes of gold and orange aspen mixed with dark evergreens, under a blue sky with thin clouds.
Aspen country near Crested ButtePhoto: RON RAFFETY · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Gold aspens and cottonwoods in front of a hillside of red scrub oak and pale gold aspen, with a wooden rail fence at the bottom.
Gold trees and red scrub oak in AspenPhoto: RCHop · CC BY 3.0 · source

Aspen on Kebler and McClure passes and around Crested Butte and Aspen turns in the first days of October;

The town of Leadville with yellow aspens and cottonwoods among its streets, Turquoise Lake and wide mountains beyond.
Leadville, with Turquoise Lake beyondPhoto: Clyde Charles Brown · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
A dirt path through a meadow of tall yellow aspens, with picnic tables, a forested ridge and a blue sky with clouds.
Aspens at Golden Gate Canyon State ParkPhoto: Tony Webster · CC BY 2.0 · source

Telluride, Leadville, Steamboat and the Front Range follow within about two weeks.

The high passes drop quickly once the wind comes, and the last color is along the Colorado River around Palisade and Grand Junction in the third week of October.

The state is mostly yellow; scrub oak on the lower slopes provides what red there is.

In a typical year

Bordering states

Color: Fallcast, the same map as the app. Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors, Protomaps. Place outlines: U.S. Census Bureau.