09/16/2026
🍂 You might want to schedule your annual Colorado fall color trip a little earlier this year.
The prediction is that Colorado's fall colors may arrive about a week earlier than usual in 2026.
After a hot, dry year, many of Colorado's aspens are stressed. Drought can cause leaves to change sooner, and this year the color may also come and go more quickly.
In other words, this might not be the year to say, “We'll go next weekend.”
The good news is that Colorado's fall colors don't change all at once.
Leaves in northern Colorado start the glow, and then it moves south. The change also tends to start at the top of the mountain and move down into the valleys.
That gives leaf-peepers a pretty simple rule:
🍂 If the valley is still green, head higher.
🍂 If the top of the mountain is already past peak, head lower.
Colorado's aspens have also been dealing with insects, disease and drought stress for years, and the effects aren't uniform. One grove may be spectacular while another nearby has thinner foliage, damaged leaves or trees that are already dropping their leaves.
So don't judge an entire mountain—or Colorado's fall color season—by one grove.
Instead, chase the color.
And maybe we can help each other do that.
📸 Please share your best Colorado fall-color photos from 2026 in the comments—and tell us WHERE and WHEN you took them.
Together, we can create our own Colorado fall-color report and help everyone know where the color is happening right now.
2026 fall-color forecast: CBS Colorado
