When is peak fall color at Idaho Panhandle National Forests?

Our forecast puts peak color at Idaho Panhandle National Forests around 2 Oct. The four days to aim for are 1 to 4 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Idaho Panhandle National Forests Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Idaho Panhandle National Forests?

Quaking Aspen, Black Cottonwood, Western Larch, Rocky Mountain Maple, Water Birch. 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.

Peak color, most of the stand2 OctAim for 1 to 4 Oct

In the forest today, Sep 25Nearly peak

quaking aspen and Rocky Mountain maple

western larch, peak Oct 16

Peak color should arrive around 1 Oct for the quaking aspen and Rocky Mountain maple, and around 16 Oct for the western larch.

Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.

Weather Wind to 38 mph Saturday. Color may come down before it turns.

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 Idaho Panhandle National Forests Shoshone County holds most of the forest and is starting to turn today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 4 days later than the forest’s own stands: the forest is nearly peak. Bonner County, to the north, is 4 days ahead. Boundary County, to the north, is 2 days ahead.

By elevation The forest runs from about 2,192 to 6,099 feet. That’s 11 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 2,000 to 3,000 foot band.

6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 166%
5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2218%
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2827%
3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 529%
2,000–3,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 418%

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.

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

Thursday 1 October to Friday 2 October

You’ll find it just past peak up high, nearly peak lower down.

Up at 5,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 22; down at 3,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 4. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 22
4,000–5,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 28
3,000–4,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 5
2,000–3,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 4

Where to drive: Sherman Pass Scenic Byway (Route 20), about 113 miles · Going-to-the-Sun Road, about 126 miles · Seeley-Swan Highway (MT 83), about 127 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Rocky Mountain maple, serviceberry, huckleberry, western larch

What turns, and when

quaking aspen47%
Rocky Mountain maple15%
serviceberry15%
huckleberry15%
western larch2%
willow2%

Also named across Idaho, outside what the canopy read measures here: Black Cottonwood, Water Birch.

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

All of Idaho