National Forest·Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming·2,626,553 acres
Caribou-Targhee National Forest
Forecast issued 25 Sep, 5:21pm ET
Peak color2 OctAim for 1 to 4 Oct
In the forest today, Sep 25Nearly 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 Caribou-Targhee National Forest Fremont County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. Caribou County, to the southeast, is 1 day ahead. Clark County, to the north, is 4 days ahead.By elevation The forest runs from about 5,433 to 8,757 feet. That’s 32 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 16, the low ground holds until about Oct 4, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,000 to 6,000 foot band.
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1615%
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2234%
6,000–7,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2936%
5,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 49%
SepOctNov
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.
That’s 1 day later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Thursday 1 October to Friday 2 October
You’ll find it fading up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 16; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 4. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
8,000–9,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 16
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 22
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 29
5,000–6,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 4
Where to drive
Teton Scenic Byway (ID 31, 32 and 33), about 21 miles · Teton Park Road, about 44 miles · Logan Canyon (US 89), about 121 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, bigtooth maple, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, Gambel oak
What turns, and when
quaking aspen65%
bigtooth maple12%
narrowleaf cottonwood8%
willow6%
Gambel oak4%
water birch3%
Also named across Idaho, outside what the canopy read measures here: Black Cottonwood, Western Larch, Rocky Mountain Maple.
Aspens turn gold on the mountainsides, cottonwoods line the river corridors in yellow, and western larches in the northern panhandle go deep amber before dropping their needles.
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
